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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    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Let It Go
    The darkest record that McGraw has ever made.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bittersweet World
    Simpson has always been the most appealingly self-aware of her pop-tart peers, and for the most part, she works wisely within her simple, spunky skill set.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I Remember Me
    Thankfully, these are stronger, and Hudson sounds more poised.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Serotonin
    At its best, Serotonin dresses nostalgia in neatly pressed new clothes; it's easy to catch yourself singing along as if you'd known some of these songs for half of your life.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Warrior
    Too many cooks in the kitchen notwithstanding, it amounts to 12 songs here with some 40 perfectly crafted hooks.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    G I R L
    “Happy” is a strong ambassador for the mostly beguiling, sometimes meandering “G I R L,” Pharrell’s new album his first solo effort in eight years.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bish Bosch
    It's not just that it's larded with harsh dissonance; the compositions, arrangements, poesy, and performances come at the listener in discrete shards.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tramp
    For a few tracks, like "Magic Chords," her sound starts becoming a trap for a song that never quite coalesces. But the flip side is "All I Can," which reveals a streak of slow-build adult pop craft that's kept under wraps for much of the album.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Awakening
    It's been a trying but triumphant past few years for Melissa Etheridge. Her celebratory new album reflects those times with some of her most compelling songwriting in years (particularly 'Map of the Stars') cast in her usual power-rock framework.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    4:13 Dream
    Not all this mope-a-dope sounds fresh, but let's hope Smith doesn't find his cure for pain just yet.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Soul of All Natural Things
    At times a bit too slick and overproduced, her new songs are rooted in the same mysticism and concern for humanity that marked her early work, except now she’s updated her sound with contributions from musicians such as Julia Holter and Ramona Gonzalez from Nite Jewel.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    True Sadness
    [An] unapologetically polished album, which reframes their music without sapping their identity.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It's Album Time
    It’s Album Time is mostly instrumental, and devoted to sustaining one long groove that touches down on disco, lounge, and chillwave.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Era Vulgaris
    Somehow, it all works together, from the psychedelic guitar warble to the bits of prog to the almost country-style harmonies.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Woman to Woman
    The songs are uniformly good and produced with restraint to allow the singer room to breathe life into the first-person narratives. Unfortunately, there are two requisite MC cameos, which threaten to sink strong songs.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dear Miss Lonelyhearts
    At least seven of the 10 tracks score immediately.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Grace/Confusion
    Grace/Confusion goes above and beyond the call of pop, and signals grander adventures to come.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    100 Miles from Memphis
    Unfortunately, the desire to capture that vibe outweighs strong melodies or a tight sense of dynamics on the first half of the album.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    21st Century Breakdown
    As a thinker, Armstrong isn't always comprehensible or original, but he knows how to communicate his frenzied thoughts enjoyably.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Monomania
    For the album’s driving first half, the messiness is captivating, culminating in “Dream Captain,” reminiscent of T. Rex on “Bang a Gong.” The second half teeters on standard bohemian dissipation, but with a sly and rare self-knowingness.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lasers
    Lasers oscillates between angsty rap-metal crossover tracks laden with political platitudes and blatantly clubby, bass-thumping radio-rap jams.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pretty.Odd.
    What Ross didn't say was Pretty borrows liberally from the things that made [the Beatles and the Who] superficially interesting--the practiced eccentricity, the constant innovation--without paying tribute to the cultural and political sensibilities that made them great.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
    The band's held on to its drive and focus, and the hits outnumber the misses.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Off With Their Heads
    The hurtling, new wave keyboard rush of 'Never Miss a Beat,' the pop-radio swirl of 'Like It Too Much,' and the casually brilliant bass-bounce of 'Good Days Bad Days' prove the band still has more than enough hooks, and brash charm, to get it through even the longest of songwriting winters.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Everybody Looking
    There’s less party and more perspective. He sees the troubles he went through before prison for what they are.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    24 Hours
    He smartly revisits songs from Bruce Springsteen ('The Hitter') and, for those who miss the raw, hungry Jones, he delivers a roaring rendition of Tommy James & the Shondell's 'I'm Alive.'
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Born Sinner
    The flawed set is buoyed by its clear vision and diverse musicality.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Uno!
    Ironically, it's not their youthful flair but their depth of experience that pulls it off.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Suck It and See
    With their fourth album, they settle nicely into a solid career as a guitar rock band as interested in frantic danceable rhythms as smoother, but still fidgety, ballads marked by lush, reverb-laden crooning.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    B.O.A.T.S. II: #METIME
    2 Chainz’s fixations are the same: money, women , clothes, drugs, and lots of trap beats. Still, things come off more polished.
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