Boston Globe's Scores

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For 2,093 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 66% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 31% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 City of Refuge
Lowest review score: 10 Lulu
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,670 out of 2093
  2. Mixed: 412 out of 2093
  3. Negative: 11 out of 2093
2093 music reviews
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    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pain Killer
    The aptly named album is all killer, no filler.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Are Not Alone
    The entire set speaks directly to the struggles and fears of an America desperately searching for some meaning and uplift. Staples and Tweedy have crafted a record with heart and grace, but also some toughness--all of them necessary if the goal is transcending troubled times.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pacific Ocean Blue [Reissue]
    The album manages to co-opt elements of the Beach Boys - soaring harmonies, tack piano, orchestral arrangements - yet doesn't particularly sound as if it were recorded by the group.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    True Love Cast Out All Evil
    This album isn't for everyone, but it's as open-hearted and grittily triumphant as any you'll hear this year.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Water for Your Soul
    The result is a great effort from a still-striving free spirit.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    1000 Forms of Fear
    Luckily, Sia also puts those pipes to good use on her own material, including her dynamite new album, 1000 Forms of Fear.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The 2nd Law
    A concept album based on the second law of thermodynamics would likely be awful if done by Radiohead or Coldplay, but Muse nails it on The 2nd Law, creating a tale about survival within an imploding society.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Old
    What unifies the album is the superb production, which marries indie-rock values to street-rap style.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Back to Love
    The smooth-groove classicism here is just part of Hamilton's mature command of the form, with none of neo-soul's studied Afro-Sheen patina.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dark Was The Night
    All of these songs could stand alone on separate albums; it just so happens that this good music supports a good cause.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lost In the Dream
    Tone is everything for the War on Drugs. You hear tone, a silvery shade of effortless cool, in the electric guitars that ring out in ricocheting patterns and in singer-songwriter-visionary Adam Granduciel’s expansive vocals.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Octahedron
    Guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala are the creative duo driving the band and once again deliver on a standing promise to blow any mind that is willing to stay open.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oshin
    As in most dreams, it seems to make perfect sense when you're hearing it.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No Coast
    Despite the time away, it sounds like the band has emerged with all of their tricks intact.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Y Not
    At this point, Starr’s limitations as a vocalist and a songwriter are well known. But if you’ve been on the Starr trip thus far, Y Not shouldn’t jostle you off.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Johnny Boy Would Love This: A Tribute to John Martyn
    As tributes go, this one rates high marks.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pajama Club
    With burping synths, herky-jerky rhythms, intimate vocals, and booming beats it sounds like Finn and friends took everything they love and giddily smashed it together.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Songs for Robots
    Simply put, Love Songs for Robots is gorgeous. It’s also mysterious; it doesn’t reveal all its layers on first listen.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Remedy
    Their catalog is crammed with albums that replicate the unbridled joy and communion of their live shows. Remedy is the newest one to do that.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Traveling Kind
    Harris and Crowell cowrote six of the 11 tracks, and some are polished gems, including the title track.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dreamin' Man Live '92
    Even in their nascent form, these songs are powerful, soulful, and hopeful.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This Is Happening
    The songs that take their time developing are the ones that demonstrate Murphy’s talent for building simple beats and riffs into audio addictions.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    If I've Only One Time Askin'
    A magnificent, subtle reshaping of classic honky-tonk sounds and sentiment, fulfills that promise and then some.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hell Can Wait [EP]
    He makes his points quickly and it feels like a small but potent dose of reality.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Gliss Riffer
    The album comes across as an adrenaline-filled milestone, filled with whimsical and personal transactions between the past and present.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Neighborhoods
    Blink-182 again delivers a record with nothing outright awful and enough dynamite songs to pack a punch at future tours.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jet Lag
    Upon first impression, Milosh’s latest solo effort appears somewhat slight, but it deepens and reveals multiple layers with each listen.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Third
    Portishead's methods are hardly frozen in time. And that evolution is what makes these elaborately layered tracks such a knotty, mesmerizing listen.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Little Windows
    Whatever the particular style, Little Windows is a series of sparkling pop gems; clocking in at just under 26 minutes, the only thing the record leaves you wanting is more of it.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Sea
    The eleven songs on The Sea are richer, much less accessible, and marked by a sense of loss and introspection. Bailey Rae moves closer to capturing the vividness of her live shows as she allows her bluesier and rock sides to emerge with hints of jazz in her vocal phrasings.
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