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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    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My One And Only Thrill
    A model of crisp economy and deep craft, Gardot's singular vision spans bossa nova ("Les Etoile"), blues ('Who Will Comfort Me'), noir ('Your Heart Is as Black as Night'), art song ('The Rain'), and a fistful of romantic ballads that are at once timeless and thrillingly original.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Voice
    Jones has modified his elongated flow, though he doesn't show much growth as an MC. Still, compared to the obsessive self-promotion of his debut, the restraint here makes it infinitely more listenable.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!
    The singer's material is tackled competently and faithfully throughout, resulting in a collection of tracks that are pleasant if not particularly earth-shattering (an admittedly tall task for a musical genre that lacks subwoofers).
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Yes
    Pet Shop Boys have been deeply entrenched in their sound for several albums now. They're practically a genre unto themselves; not many bands, much less American ones, are still making the sweeping, orchestral dance pop that PSB pioneered.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sounds Of The Universe
    Its 12th full-length album fits neatly into its discography while sounding contemporary and building on the trio's lean electro-rock.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Potato Hole
    There are no chart-baiting superstar guest vocalists or gimmicks, just gut-punching, funky, loose-limbed, rock 'n' soul jams recorded in down-and-dirty sessions without an inch of fat.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Asleep In The Bread Aisle
    The quality of Roth's rhymes varies wildly, from sophomoric to inspired, but when the two collide, as on the funky rant 'Bad Day,' he hits the sweet spot and the funny bone.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mean Everything To Nothing
    The unabashed emotion in their all-out approach will surely appeal to fans of raw yet sentimental Southern rock, Weezer and Modest Mouse followers, and angst-ridden teens.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love The Future
    Could this really be Chester French's first album? Love the Future sounds too wise--and too catchy--to possibly be the debut from recent Harvard grads D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Bright Mississippi
    The results are coolly sophisticated, an unfussy, mostly instrumental set of slink-and-slide joints shot through with a harmonic imagination that turns even a traditional hymn into an after-hours swing.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Heard It Today
    The production throughout is more soulful and seamless than on previous efforts.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dance Mother
    For all its immediately recognizable debts, "Dance Mother" is something fresh.
    • 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.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Two Suns
    No question this is meant to be a haunting mood piece, and her gorgeous voice--somewhere between Björk and Tori Amos, to name the obvious referents--makes up in some part for what's lacking in dynamics and compelling hooks.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jigsaw
    Jigsaw is ultimately another mash-up of big electro-dance beats and hip-hop swagger.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Fork In The Road
    Road is a similarly one-dimensional variation on the singer's Grumpy Uncle Neil mode. A semi-concept album revolving around eco-cars and the failing economy, it. . . You've already walked away, haven't you?
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Yonder Is The Clock
    The band does not so much make this record as keep it from flying apart. The intoxicating sound is matched with incisive word play, with the Felices using quirky laments and dark, urban poetry to bridge hillbilly and hipster.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Now We Can See
    There's a pervasive sameness throughout, so even highlights like the title track suffer from diminishing returns.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Unstoppable
    Crisply produced, the album's biggest problem is the one that has always dogged Rascal Flatts: All the songs bleed into one another with rarely a shift in structure or mood.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    It's Blitz
    After 10 songs, the digital version It's Blitz! is padded out with four acoustic renditions of songs on the album. But even with an acoustic guitar at the forefront and Karen O harmonizing with string sections and pianos, the songs--and, crucially, the melodies - still don't convey much.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Woman, A Man, Walked By
    On A Woman, A Man Walked By, they create a world both beautiful and depraved, an unhinged record heavy on heartache and bristling with aggression.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Living Thing
    The Stockholm-based trio has also piped in a good deal of lyrical gravity--another contrast to PB&J's persistently perky first album--and the best tunes have a welcome heft.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Quiet Nights
    The line between dreamy and sleepy is a fine one, and many jazz singers have fallen on the wrong side of it when attempting bossa nova. Diana Krall, however, negotiates it skillfully on Quiet Nights, her first album of all bossas.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    R.O.O.T.S
    The problem is that he shows no growth--besides realizing, along with his producers, that if you throw every hook known to man into the pop ocean, you are bound to catch something.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    LotusFlow3r
    LotusFlow3r is perhaps the most palatable of the three albums, a guitar-driven collection of rockers and slow jams. There's a lot to like here....Still, they can't save the album from its turkeys.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    MPLSound
    'Dance 4 Me' cribs the throwback electro beat of 'Erotic City,' while 'Here' should be served with a tall glass of wine to wash down all the cheese. 'Valentina,' the album's most unintentionally hilarious song, is a musical valentine to actress Salma Hayek.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Elixer
    Polite and polished, the music amounts to little more than R&B lite with washes of bossa nova and strings.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fever Ray
    Spare and quirky, like a dub remix of some forgotten 1980s Top 40 hit, it slowly, repeatedly builds to a swooping chorus all the more melodious for its relative rarity.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Junior
    With fewer instrumental tracks than previous efforts, the band's lovelorn and off-kilter view of the universe finally gets a starring role.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crack The Skye
    The album will be attractive to head bangers, math rockers, and now even classic-rock devotees thanks to guitarists Brent Hinds's and Bill Kelliher's deep devotion to the almighty riff.
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