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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    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    How to Solve Our Human Problems, Pt. 1 [EP]
    The music draws on two decades of musicianship to showcase the indie veterans’ trademark versatility. Anthemic “We Were Beautiful” melds euphoric horns with programmed drum machines; elsewhere, “The Girl Doesn’t Get It” floats its lyrics across a sea of synths. Best of all is delicate opener “Sweet Dew Lee,” on which Stuart Murdoch’s honeyed delivery posits him as the missing link between Simon and Garfunkel.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Berberian Sound Studio
    Berberian Sound Studio is like a notebook filled with a lost love's handwriting.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Dreamer/The Believer
    All of the tracks are produced by No I.D., with a fluid, melodic head-bobbing nod to R&B, giving Common plenty of room to weave his dreams.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dean Wareham
    They recorded this in James’s studio in Louisville, Ky., and nearly each song has a compelling depth.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Live at the Fillmore East: October 4th & 5th, 1968 [Box Set]
    There’s enough variety here that you understand why the whole shebang needed to come out--and vintage audiophiles will just about bow down before the quality of these tapes.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Marissa Nadler
    The singer-guitarist's mien is again that of a siren dressed in black mourning and white lace, beckoning lovers and loners through the misty moors.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ritual in Repeat
    The performances finally have weight, if not depth.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    War & Leisure
    The shimmering War & Leisure, the singer’s fourth LP, finds him operating in a similarly creative groove [as on 2015's Wildheart] but tamping down wolfish eroticism in favor of breezier, tropical vibes.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oczy Mlody
    The Lips return with a moody, industrial, and hypnotic CD that’s probably what Major Tom would be listening to, sitting in his tin can.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    True [EP]
    This isn't pop music in her sister's obvious, melismatic, and melodramatic mold; rather it's pop music for people who didn't know they were looking for pop music.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Exit
    Exit, which was mixed and recorded on a laptop, using a popular program called Pro Tools, is a tribute to the unexpected beauty of everyday things.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Letter
    It's a back-to-basics collection of beautifully sung and arranged tracks emphasizing romance and devotion.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Volume 3
    Deschanel comes from the tradition of singers not technically impressive but charismatic enough to cast a spell. Ward’s fretwork is excellent throughout, and it’s nice to hear his voice on a spirited duet of “Baby.”
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Born In The Echoes
    The veteran duo and its guests are challenging and provocative throughout Born in the Echoes, even as they creatively blow up dance floors.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Night Falls Over Kortedala
    With such a sweeping sonic palette, it's a pleasant surprise that the record doesn't crumble under its own auspices.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Signed and Sealed in Blood
    The Boston-accented mash-up of Irish folk and punk is still infectious.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eraser Stargazer
    Eraser Stargazer is exactly the sort of album that pushes a local scene to be greater.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tassili
    With Tassili, Tinariwen reasserts its leadership through a return to roots - setting aside electric guitars and leaving off the female singers who added drive and bustle to previous albums, and going lean and acoustic in sessions recorded under a tent in the Algerian desert.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The King Is Dead
    The King Is Dead is the Portland, Ore., band's most streamlined effort since 2005's "Picaresque," and it's a welcome reminder that frontman Colin Meloy can write evocative songs where the words stand on their own.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Traveler
    Funny, poignant, melodic, and warm, Miller shows that his travels have served him well as a songwriter.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Out of the Game
    Masterful... this new album marks a return to the pop chops and killer hooks that initially made Wainwright so celebrated.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965-1966
    It’s fascinating to hear how some songs started in one direction and darted into another one entirely.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Evil Empire of Everything
    While it's naive to think PE will ever have the same impact it did back then, there's still too many strong moments on Evil Empire to dismiss it.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
    Dave Grohl and company have assembled a strong assortment of the band's familiar, well-built tuneage, from muscular rockers and sinuous ballads to good-natured power-pop and riff-heavy radio anthems.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shall Noise Upon
    Apollo Sunshine still aspires to create a self-contained immersion experience, an attitude that, more than any particular strain of their dabbling, makes the band a welcome kind of happening.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Manners
    Refreshed and uplifted. Those are two things that the best pop records leave you feeling, and that's definitely the end result of listening to Manners, the debut album from Passion Pit.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz
    Her latest has a surplus of them [uniformly great songs]. It suggests Cyrus, at 22, has figured out how to present her views in a way that’s still powerful but also musically interesting and cohesive.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Asking For Flowers
    Edwards brings on none of the filler that watered down her earlier albums as she moves steadily from scathing to soothing, from rocking country to Gothic sketches, from strength to strength.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Carrie & Lowell
    As it stands, Stevens’s words drive these songs, and not always in the most linear fashion. Lyrics that meander in unruly metric on the page are parsed into eloquent couplets that, somehow, sound conversational.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Attention Deficit
    Well, there’s no doubt that he delivers with a rigorous, intelligent set, but let’s not go overboard. Attention Deficit proves there’s still room for growth.
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