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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    • 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.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    5:55
    These gauzy songs are an ideal fit for Gainsbourg's dreamy, impossibly light voice.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jarvis
    A collection of songs that proves nearly as personal, as socially aware, and as deft at intertwining the two, as was Pulp’s 1998 opus, ‘‘This Is Hardcore.’’
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Phantom Punch
    Unlike previous efforts at stylistic hop-scotch, "Phantom Punch" is Lerche's most comfortable album since "Faces Down."
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Loney, Noir
    Twee or not, there is a brilliant simplicity to Svanangen's music, though the tunes are never sparse.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    West
    Fortunately, the alt-country singer-songwriter’s gifts of soul mining are so acute that the songs — inspired by her mother’s passing and a wrenching breakup — enrich as well as exhaust, and engender cautious optimism.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
    Call it emo for adults.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Back Numbers
    The album casts the duo in a new light that may not quite eclipse their former work, but it has set them well on their way.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Cost
    The album is sophisticated and layered with deft orchestration. And yet, the band's songwriting and delivery display an earnestness and lack of pretension that's pure rock.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Living With The Living
    Leo manages to skip from tender, unadorned romantic pop crooning to full-throttle punk yowling to Celtic-flavored folk-rock without losing the listener, the beat, or the message.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Name Is Buddy
    The music can be enjoyed apart from the story, but either way, this is a must-have for true Cooder fans.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Magic Position
    Rarely has spilling one's heart been such a colorful affair.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cassadaga
    "Cassadaga"... delivers on the wildly unlikely promise that very young, very gifted artists can grow up without losing their balance.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    23
    "23" furthers the group's recent fascination with a sleeker presentation that favors sheen over squall.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Twelve
    Captivating.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Favourite Worst Nightmare
    Forget about the dreaded decline. Arctic Monkeys have moved from their alarmingly evolved infancy into rock toddlerhood with glibness, swagger, and whip-smart songs intact.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Year Zero
    It's classic Nine Inch Nails with a few extra-disturbing flourishes.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    American Doll Posse
    Grand conceit aside, "American Doll Posse" is a great art-pop album.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beyond
    Amazingly, "Beyond" picks up where 1988's "Bug" left off, with only slightly more streamlined polish but with the old love of volume and excess still sweetly intact.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everybody
    They take prime garage rock and global beats from past works and flirtatiously commingle them to craft a gossamer rock - steady creation.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    New Moon
    Far from a compilation of rough mixes and rejects, any of the songs on this disc -- as spare in sound as they are elegant in form -- would have fit beautifully on a mid-'90s Elliott Smith album.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Icky Thump
    It's fantastic.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Strength & Loyalty
    Together, they have their tricky, intricate flow intact, and the songs are supremely melodic, sharply arranged to remind you of how tuneful and infectious hip-hop can be.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sweet Warrior
    With nothing particularly unusual to recommend, non-fans will miss out on yet another in a long string of superb collections.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Build A Nation
    The music? Thrilling as ever.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At My Age
    The album traverses Ray Charles-like country soul, smoky late-night jazz, lush Western swing, and even a bit of Rockpile-style rockabilly.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Our Love To Admire
    The foreboding melancholy of "Turn on the Bright Lights" has eroded into a sound that's less idiosyncratic; by design or accident, that broad-brush aesthetic coincides with the band's move from an indie label (Matador) to a major one (Capitol).
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    An End Has A Start
    The band's sophomore disc, which teems with drama and dark dollops of piano that swarm beautifully around singer-guitarist Tom Smith's clarion-call voice, continues to make good on the hype while again drawing on the past.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
    From the terrific pulsing opener, "Don't Make Me a Target," to the curt horn and acoustic-guitar stomp of "The Underdog," these wonderfully produced and arranged songs brim with optimism and are pounded out purposefully.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cross
    Layers of production can obscure the organic--or at least faux-organic--sounds of a ripping performance. That's not the case on the debut full-length album from French house duo Justice, whose complex, dark, and heavily pop-rock-influenced dance tracks span banging disco grooves to instrumental electro-funk space operas to minimalist hip-hop.
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