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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    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Before the Dawn [Live]
    That feeling of perpetual potential is apparent in even the bleakest of Bush’s years-old songs, which are shot through with clear devotion to constant development of her craft.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    First Comes the Night
    No one does heartbreak and yearning quite like this veteran singer-songwriter, who sounds renewed here with a streamlined sound in these 12 carefully observed, beautifully sung songs.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cardinology
    If only a few of the tracks rise to the greatest heights of which Adams is capable--like the poignant closing salute to sobriety, 'Stop'--the rest remain impressive pictures of craftsmanship.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Da Realist
    On his third and finest CD in 16 short months, the Florida-based MC has emerged as one of hip-hop's best by dropping unvarnished, aggressive songs with unsparing detail.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Treasure
    Older songs such as Young's "Are You Ready for the Country?" and Buffalo Springfield's "Flying on the Ground Is Wrong" sound made for this setting of shorter, tighter robust song arrangements. "Southern Pacific" and "Motor City" are nice revivals from "Re-ac-tor." But it's the batch of previously unreleased material that justifies the album's title.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mutineers
    He still flashes his intellect--two songs are inspired by poets--but most of the album reveals a romantic and spiritual bliss that feels just as good as it sounds.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    For the Good Times
    They're kindred spirits whose affection for these country classics, from tearjerkers to barn burners, is unabashed. But they're also not afraid to put their stamp on them.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Man Plans God Laughs
    The disc clocks in at less than 30 minutes, but its short songs hit like a hatchet to the head.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nothing Was the Same
    Desolation becomes part of the landscape, the canvas on which Drake puts his words front and center. Guests appear on occasion (Jay Z drops by on “Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2”), but no one draws focus quite like Drake.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Man On The Moon: The End Of Day
    It’s spacey, adventurous, and ridiculously intriguing if only because it’s so different.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Songs of Innocence
    Yes, it’s big and shiny and sometimes bombastic, but it also takes chances and pushes forward the band’s legacy.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cassadaga
    "Cassadaga"... delivers on the wildly unlikely promise that very young, very gifted artists can grow up without losing their balance.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    White Chalk
    The music is positively spectral, as if she's set up her sound board in the spaces where her absent lover, unborn child, and grandmother used to be.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Amok
    AMOK is heady dance music, in love with its jittery rhythms but never content to give over to them completely.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rain On The City
    Freedy Johnston last released an album of new music in 2001 (he put out an engaging covers collection in 2008), but the years since have yielded a gorgeous pop record.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Upside Down Mountain
    Conor Oberst has long exhibited an affinity for reinvention. One thing remains consistent, however, and it’s abundant on his latest: a raw laying bare of emotion delivered with a poet’s ear for lyrical specificity.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Green Naugahyde
    Overall, the writing is richer, peaking with the somber songcraft of "Last Salmon Man."
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Very Last Day
    An unusual but rewarding album.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fantasies
    The Canadian quartet is back with Fantasies, another extra-strength pop album, anchored by 'Help I'm Alive,' another extra-strength pop anthem.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mystery Glue
    Parker is in fine voice, and despite a few vague lyrics the songs are strong, especially when guitarist Brinsley Schwarz adds his distinctive punctuation.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wine Dark Sea
    This is Holland in full bloom: singular and wild-eyed.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Buffet Hotel
    What makes this tower over some Buffett albums is the ballads.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
    "My Love" are the first two words you hear on Erykah Badu’s beguiling new album, and they set the tone for the entire set. Unlike the politically charged mix of funk and hip-hop of New Amerykah Part One (Third World War), this chapter is a warmer, more sensuous blend of organic R&B and jazzy pop.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Double Vision
    None of it would work without Royce’s supple voice and sweet charisma, which help to make offerings like the glitchy “Handcuffs,” which in less skilled hands could sound like a slippery commitment-phobe’s insincere come-on, recall a soul pried open.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hawk
    At times it feels like this music will rise above simple pleasure, to something more fearsome or fearless, something unquantifiable and haunted--for now, however, the dichotomy between male and female will have to do.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Union
    While Elton John may be the more famous half of this spirited collaboration, the inspiration was Leon Russell.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    B'lieve I'm Goin' Down
    Now six solo albums in, Vile sounds like no one but himself.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All Nerve
    The Breeders have never sounded so determined to make a great record, and with All Nerve their efforts have paid off.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Uptown Special
    Uptown Special sounds like a true labor of love; it’s also a sinful amount of fun and unabashed in its pursuit of a good time.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All the Women I Am
    This is her 34th studio disc and one of her best efforts. It blends hard-edged, modern country-rock with some profoundly tender ballad singing
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