Boston Globe's Scores

Select another publication »
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
view
per page
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    OH (Ohio)
    His dry, enunciative singing style still achieve a remarkable combination of pretension and playfulness. Lambchop may be evolving, but its capacity for sounding like nothing else remains intact.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Offend Maggie
    There are no "eureka" moments on Offend Maggie but plenty of small epiphanies.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Futuristically Speaking...Never Be Afraid
    A lot of these songs will have people bouncing off club walls with the rhythmic shifts and frenzied beats that merge electro with crunk and house. But this adds up to nothing more than party music with a bit of attitude and sex-obsessed defiance.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Break Up The Concrete
    Her ninth studio album, recorded in just two weeks with an entirely new crew of Pretenders, just might be her most congenial, and certainly rootsiest, collection yet.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Living And The Dead
    The music--Holland co-produced the disc--is stripped to its essence but is often upbeat and graceful with cameos by guitarists M. Ward and Marc Ribot.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
    With a musician as important as Bob Dylan, our appetite for fresh material and new insights is as deep as the artist's song trove, and Tell Tale Signs, the eighth installment of the songwriter's Bootleg Series, is a feast for casual fans and Dylanologists alike.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Way To Normal
    While Folds has antic down to an art, Way to Normal sometimes wilts a bit under the weight of that jittery, borderline venomous energy, spilling into an angry place that may be honest but can be discomfiting.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jennifer Hudson
    Despite its flaws, Hudson's debut comes on much like her "Dreamgirls" character, with admirable self-assurance and real-girl sensuality.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Something Else
    Amid the attempts at sexual healing and cosmic, eco-soul unity, Thicke crafts some beautiful atmospheres.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Paper Trail
    Paper Trail tops them both [previous two albums] simply by being content driven, from the plot to the refined delivery.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Red Letter Year
    Much of the album sounds like she's simply going through the motions, occasionally picking imagery seemingly just because it rhymes.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Covers
    Taylor's new collection of covers is a bit of trifle, composed of musical chestnuts recorded with his "Band of Legends" in a 10-day period in a converted barn on Taylor's western Massachusetts property.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Leucocyte
    One thing we do know after listening to Leucocyte--the Esbjorn Svensson Trio's grandest achievement--is that its leader had much more to say, much more to explore.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Feed The Animals
    Some couplings are brilliant.... Too often, though, the sheer familiarity of Girl Talk's building blocks detracts from his particular accomplishment.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dear Science,
    It's that sprawling sense of humanity that makes Dear Science such a rich listen.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Loyalty To Loyalty
    Loyalty is more low-key than its predecessor and less focused.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Doll Domination
    The Pussycats' debut from 2005 was that kind of disc, and though this follow-up tries darn hard to follow that formula, it comes up just short.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Acid Tongue
    What it has in common with its superb predecessors is Lewis's invaluable understanding of what works for her.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Hungry Saw
    The years away may have recharged Staples's batteries, but the music itself sounds much the same, which is a good thing.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Gift Of Screws
    Gift of Screws is only his fifth solo record. Perhaps that's why the singer and guitarist (who turns 60 next month) still sounds so vital and passionate, especially on the voluptuous, opening songs 'Great Day' and 'Time Precious Time,' where his luminescent riffs and nimble finger-picking shine.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Who Killed Amanda Palmer
    What is both surprising and remarkable, then, is how unflinchingly direct, bracingly unfiltered, and wholly intimate the new album, which is out today, sounds and feels.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Learn To Live
    If you're going to be tooling down the middle of the road, Learn to Love is perfectly pleasant accompaniment.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Way I See It
    On his latest effort, Saadiq creates a seamless, supremely melodic set that evokes '60s and '70s soul.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Brass Knuckles
    Brass Knuckles is 14 songs long. All of them could be singles. None of them could be hits.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Knowle West Boy
    Knowle West Boy marks a long-overdue return to form from one of the founding fathers of trip-hop.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Day After Tomorrow
    Baez has never sounded wiser, or more deeply human.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lightbulbs
    Building on a foundation of shameless proto-gangsta synths and witty but under-enunciated lyrics, Fujiya & Miyagi makes party music that is fresh but not (that) foolish.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Stand Ins
    Whether The Stand Ins is a sequel to "The Stage Names" album, a companion piece, or a reimagining hardly matters; its pleasures and frustrations are entirely approachable on their own terms.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Alphabutt
    Alphabutt doesn't do Dawson many favors by putting her twee infantility into its proper context.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    That Lucky Old Sun
    What makes the record work, though, is Wilson's ability to create melodies that blend the childlike and enthusiastic with the melancholic and nostalgic.
Page: