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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    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Push and Shove
    It sounds like every last detail was worked out through numbing compromise.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cruel Summer
    While every second of Cruel Summer sounds high quality, it never feels cohesive.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Charmer
    Too many tracks flirt with flat inconsequentiality, and too often the lyrics slip by without the sting of Mann's normally incisive wordsmithery.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kiss
    Pleasant, sung well, and firmly in the middle of the road.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Based on a T.R.U. Story
    Unfortunately, this long-awaited CD from the Georgia MC relies on too many cliches to be a revelation.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Soul Sessions, Vol. 2
    Her confidence and grit have increased, though that's a double-edged sword. She's become especially reliant on a yowling vibrato that's a terrific fit for the brush-off of "(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count the Days" (a special edition bonus track) but doesn't leave much room for vulnerability.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Debo Band
    An enticing invitation to the group's live performance, sure, but often no more.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Fortune
    "Don't Wake Me Up," a thumping club cut that's irresistible on an otherwise forgettable album.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    That's Why God Made the Radio
    Not unlistenable, but simply not special.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Overexposed
    It marks the first time Maroon 5 has completely receded into its songs' glossy production.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Believe
    Lyrical awkwardness abounds.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Looking 4 Myself
    The groupthink does drain some of the individuality and soul from the process.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Valtari
    Without any sense of grounding, the record seems like an inconsequential fantasy.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hello [EP]
    On its official debut, Karmin sidesteps creative expectations by simply sounding like every other pop act going.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    A Joyful Noise
    Here they seem to have devolved, finally, into just plain pop.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Apocalyptic Love
    Slash and Kennedy rely on formula rather than chemistry and yield some thin songs tucked into the record's second half.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Only Place
    With Cosentino's voice free of effects and upfront in the mix, it's more apparent just how rudimentary her songwriting is.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Master of My Make-Believe
    Dazzling moments don't come often enough to make up for flat ones.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Blown Away
    This is nebulous pop music dressed up in country fringe, zoomed out so far that Underwood never nails anything in particular.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cynic's New Year
    While there's a charm to their baroque simplicity, the preponderance of shared elements speaks to the lack of movement in getting from the one to the other.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In the Time of Gods
    It's a lofty premise and, sadly, she overreaches with some unusually contrived lyric writing that spoils some of the great music behind it.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Picture Show
    The album feels artistically rudderless.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    New Life
    Despite being beautifully sung and slickly produced, Monica's seventh record is numbingly predictable.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Changed
    The title track may be about rebirth, but on Changed, Rascal Flatts remains the same as ever.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    I Love You, It's Cool
    By the time "World of Freakout" rolls past, the terrain is too familiar--the agreeable enough "Warm Water" and the dull wash of "Space Remains" prolong a tepid trend that sogs the album's last half.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Sonik Kicks
    The album finds Weller throwing sounds against the wall and seeing what sticks. Unfortunately, not much does.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sounds from Nowheresville
    The first five tracks stick more or less to the angular post-punk dance-party template....It's on the back half that Nowheresville turns crazily experimental
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Delta Spirit
    Though this overhaul is often passionate and catchy, it's also frustratingly generic and portentous.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Start the Revolution Without Me
    Two songs aren't enough to prop up this Revolution.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Arrow
    The ballads that dominate the disc's second half give her too much room to savor her elongated vowels and gulped consonants, contorting the words so much their meaning becomes indistinct.
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