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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    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Como te Llama
    Working more closely with his band, Hammond has given his songs more dimension, and the ambition.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Two Men With The Blues
    Ten exuberant, tender, casually elegant tracks later you realize - much to your surprise, if you're like me--that the pairing of the grizzled country star and the suave jazz master is an unmitigated, ear-tickling success.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    LP3
    At this point in their career, Mast and Stroud's brand of whip-smart laptop rock secures them a spot on any dance party playlist. Alas, some songs here sound more fit for a party's background music than music for people to actually dance to.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails
    These guys, backed by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, don't flash too much leather; they make the routine plays and put good wood on the ball.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    T.O.S. (Terminate On Sight)
    After sifting through the storyline, it's just hard to figure out why these guys are important anymore.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
    With Med sud, the band proves its indie-pop potential while remaining rooted in its unique brand of spaced-out alt-rock.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Real Animal
    Taken as a whole, Real Animal shows a man content with the life he has lived, even as the rest of us hope that his final statement is still some ways off.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Party Intellectuals
    More than ever, Ribot's creativity and versatility astound, confound, and frighten.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Digi Snacks
    RZA, the Wu Tang Clan's great producer and MC, brings his third chapter in the saga of Bobby Digital, and it's a fragmented, often compelling set.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Viva La Vida
    Viva La Vida is just such an escape, a dreamy place to visit. And if it's not quite perfect, at least you get the sense that the members of Coldplay gave it their best shot.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At Mount Zoomer
    Upping the studio gloss, turning the amps up--way up--and reining in their more twee impulses, the Montreal bloggers' heroes unleash their inner beast, growing by taking a page out of their colleagues' playbooks.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    One Of The Boys
    Careering from tart-tongued vixen to rough-and-tumble tomboy to woeful lonelyheart may reflect her real life, but it makes for a thematically bumpy ride.
    • 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.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Nostradamus
    Some of the music is brilliant, some is numbingly indulgent.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
    On her second album, Wainwright occasionally overshoots in trying to write songs that rise to heights of the sound she can produce, but she's rarely boring.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Flavors Of Entanglement
    It's a cluttered affair with bleeping, buzzing lows (harshly ambient tracks like "Straightjacket" and "Versions of Violence") and a handful of humble high points in a pair of lovely piano ballads.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All I Intended To Be
    On her new album, Harris has meticulously written and chosen a group of folk and country songs that support the nuances of that voice perfectly.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tha Carter III
    That said, it's not an instant classic, but it is the best rap album since Kanye West dropped "Graduation" last year.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Seeing Things
    Dylan, as a songwriter, may have lost interest in grand rock-band arrangements but not his sense of melody or storytelling.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    To Survive
    Its title notwithstanding, To Survive is JAPW's happy-in-love album, and the lack of tension--romantic, musical, or otherwise--causes it to drag.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Loverly
    As always, Wilson loves to toy with melody and phrasing, a penchant that often yields delicious results.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Hard Way
    On one of this year's smoothest and best discs, Hunter makes The Hard Way go down so easy.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Definition Of Real
    He comes across as a Southern-fried early DMX with his unabated aggression; raw, explosive verse; and hints of conscience.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    See You Happy
    From the sound of the duo's new album, not much has changed since then. They're still in synch and still seem to be having a good time together. Except now they're making music that's joyous, infectious, and occasionally delicate (OK, many would say twee).
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Beautiful Lie
    Harcourt's fourth album certifies his musical genius with songs that are catchy enough to be plastered all over the summer airwaves, bathing us in sweeping melodies and infectious beats.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Weezer (Red Album)
    The songs are consistently vibrant, catchy, and well-built.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    @#%&*! Smilers
    As usual that pep is paired with tunes that seep into your brain with the stealth of Mann's own beguiling murmur and lyrics that range from poetic to narrative.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Declaration
    After four years away, Ashanti declares that she's back, but this middling, familiar set of songs is unlikely to reclaim her spotlight.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Don't Do Anything
    Anyone who rues the scarcity of smart, serious pop music for grown-ups should snap up the entire Sam Phillips catalog. On second thought, skip "Omnipop." But don't miss Phillips's splendid new effort, Don't Do Anything, a collection that dances in her signature mystery space between darkness and light with strange grace, emotional candor, and winsome hooks.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Here I Stand
    The honesty on display in the songwriting and the deft, diverse production are both startling and satisfying.
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