Entertainment Weekly's Scores

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For 3,519 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 81% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 18% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 78
Highest review score: 100 The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do
Lowest review score: 0 Playing With Fire
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,085 out of 3519
  2. Mixed: 407 out of 3519
  3. Negative: 27 out of 3519
3519 music reviews
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    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Magic & Medicine
    Though lacking the [debut'] exhilarating peaks, Magic is more consistent. [13 Feb 2004, p.71]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Two Suns
    Suns is slightly less immediate, but the Brit's floaty vocals and pagan-princess themes still bewitch.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
    Gonzalez wraps both hooks and hallucinations in bubbly melodies only occasionally bogged down by murky sprawl. [28 Oct 2011, p.73]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Nov 15, 2011
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Here We Rest
    The ex-Drive-By Trucker cranks things up a gear with this terrific collection of Muscle Shoals-recorded country-rock. [15 Apr 2011, p. 87]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Apr 8, 2011
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Myth Takes
    Few can match their percussive intensity. Weaker are their attempts at acutal songs, of which there are a few too many here. [9 Mar 2007, p.109]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Choice of Weapon
    [Lead singer, Ian Astbury's] twisted carnival-barker delivery is more haunting and weathered than ever. [May 25 2012, p.75]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted May 21, 2012
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    It's A Bit Complicated
    Idiosyncratic yet entertaining guitar-based pop. [22 Jun 2007, p.69]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Ghetto Bells
    Too bad Bells' laborious folk arrangements aren't as appetizing as the singer's weird words. [25 Mar 2005, p.73]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras From The Illinois Album
    These wistful folk-pop leftovers are better than most acts' A game.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Yes, I'm A Witch
    An excellent refresher course on Yoko Ono's endlessly underappreciated musical career. [9 Feb 2007, p.74]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Real Emotional Trash
    Even as he skewers fakery with surprising directness, the husband and father remains largely at a feline remove himself. [14 Mar 2008, p.75]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Endgame
    Endgame, rife with doomsday images, plays to both the band's strengths (shout-from-the-rooftops melodies) and weaknesses (a flair for the melodramatic).
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Back Room
    Bands like Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen are hard acts to follow, especially when they're followed so deliberately. [24 Mar 2006, p.70]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Aaliyah
    Aaliyah only missteps when she tries to stretch outside of her musical comfort zones, indulging in Latin pop and cheesy metal on ''Read Between the Lines'' and ''What If,'' respectively.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    All Around
    The triple-guitar front splits the difference between New Zealand new-wave sparkle and classic Detroit hard rock, with Virat Shukla dropping some impressive precision-strike leads.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Whole New You
    Now that she's on the mommy track, Colvin writes about the impossibility of leaving, much less returning, with a torch. [3/30/2001, p.68]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Tres Cosas
    A luminous combination of fragile folk and bubbling electronica. [4 June 2004, p.80]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Street Songs of Love
    Hints of glam and punk inform the rootsy proceedings, giving these alternately gritty and lyrical songs a satisfying glow.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Souled Out
    The coolest party soundtrack for a parallel dimension where the future of R&B arrived a long time ago.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    La Radiolina
    And though he sings mostly in French or Spanish, Chao's music is so sonically vivid, so gloriously evocative, translation seems almost superfluous.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Thank You, Happy Birthday
    Charismatic lead shrieker Matt Shultz wears his slacker influences proudly.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Year Zero
    Amid its carefully calibrated sonic assaults, Year Zero has a number of tracks that will stop you in yours.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Smart Flesh
    Smart Flesh is a quiet, modest success, if a bit monochrome.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Wolfroy Goes To Town
    He's sticking to what he does best. [7 Oct 2011, p.75]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Oct 6, 2011
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Everything's OK
    There's nothing grievously wrong here, but there's nothing transcendent, either. [18 Mar 2005, p.66]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Rare
    A varsity-squad production team, including various Max Martin-affiliated Swedes and the ace songwriting duo of Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels, bring their considerable contributions — though their job, of course, is to make Gomez sound like nothing less than her own woman: a girl interrupted but now returned, in Rare form.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    At.Long.Last.A$AP
    It never sounds disjointed, thanks to the powerful adhesive that is Rocky's dangerous charm. [12 Jun 2015, p.74]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Jun 8, 2015
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Depression Cherry
    Singer Victoria Legrand has a refreshingly unshowy croon that’s one of the most seductive in pop, and her gorgeous synth drones and guitarist Alex Scally’s effects-laden riffs are exquisite.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    So Far Gone [EP]
    For those unfamiliar with Drake's ambidextrous style — crooning Auto-Tune love songs one moment, spitting clever bars the next — it's a handy primer. Everyone else can put the neurosis-exploring new cut ''Fear'' on repeat and continue anticipating.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Get Closer
    The singer and husband of Nicole Kidman sounds a bit more at ease here, which doesn't mean Get Closer lacks for pop-country pep; on no fewer than three songs do we find him jumping into a car and chasing his troubles away.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Arrow
    The Austin garage stalwarts' barroom stompers and country-inflected ballads are elevated to another league by the strident yet emotionally nuanced vocals of front-woman Erika Wennerstrom. [17 Feb 2012, p.72]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Feb 14, 2012
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Chrome Dreams II
    It is his most enjoyable and well-rounded one in, like, an eternity.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Ralph Stanley
    Stanley proves once again that everything old is new again. Including, of course, himself.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Boss
    He's backed by the best production he's had since his Dr. Dre-helmed debut.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Spirit Stereo Frequency
    Think the Polyphonic Spree, minus the robes and choir theatrics. [27 Feb 2004, p.98]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Free All Angels
    Ash have returned to the clean, uncomplicated sound of their mid-'90s debut. [2 Aug 2002, p.74]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    You're the One
    No one weds the conversational and cosmological -- or acoustic pop and ethnological studies -- quite so gracefully.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Before The Dawn Heals Us
    [A] sublime soundtrack to dancing in the moonlight. [21 Jan 2005, p.88]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Soberish
    Revels in nervy song structures and unexpected instrumental touches even on its more straightforward tracks, such as the "Polyester Bride"-echoing "Good Side." The horns that rise up to accompany Phair's solidified sense of self on the slow-burning "Soul Sucker" give her inner journey a heroic feel, while her voice's airy upper register makes the plea at the heart of "Lonely St." even more potent.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Manners
    While the midtempo tunes often venture into cheesy '80s-pop territory, the album's dense sound rewards repeat listens.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Together Through Life
    While Dylan's grim-reaper ruminations are familiar territory, Together Through Life does offer some surprises.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A River Ain't Too Much To Love
    An exquisite mix that conjures train tracks and piney woods. [3 Jun 2005, p.86]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    That Don't Make Me A Bad Guy
    Toby Keith's 14th studio album That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy maintains a purity of country form many of his pop- leaning peers lack, an abundance of steel guitar and lonesome vocal twang anchoring lyrics awash in mysterious women, lost love, and personal failings he doesn't always apologize for.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Attack & Release
    Somehow the quirks enhance the power of the desolation at the core, and prove that gut-grabbing and ear stroking needn't be mutually exclusive. [4 Apr 2008, p.61]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Secret Migration
    Much of the CD's faux poetry... sounds like the work of a New Age band. [20 May 2005, p.75]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Good, The Bad & The Queen
    The mood is more melancholy than the lineup would suggest — much of the album sounds like ''Waterloo Sunset''-era Kinks set to languid dub grooves.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    USA (United State Of Atlanta)
    Prove[s] they have something in common with Common: They can be conscious without being soft. [24 Jun 2005, p.162]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance
    Murdoch's acute storytelling eye remains laser-focused.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Before The Poison
    [Harvey's] raw, blues-tinged tracks greedily indulge Faithfull's exquisitely tattered voice. [28 Jan 2005, p.84]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Belong
    The Brooklyn noise-pop fetishists are finally crafting songs substantial enough to withstand repeated listens and justify their devotion to guileless twee. [8 Apr 2011, p.59]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Apr 8, 2011
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Optimist LP
    Given the right melody... Turin Brakes make fragile, delicately understated music... But just as often, they're weighed down by draggy tunes and unintentionally amusing lyrics. [4 May 2001, p.69]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Atlas
    Gives Kinky's vacuum-tight sound some breathing room. [5 Dec 2003, p.98]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    We'll Never Turn Back
    Staples' voice outshines all: rich, weathered, and full of fire, sometimes resolving in a cracked tone or a dark, knowing chuckle, her eyes still on the prize.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Loon
    The Loon excites with twisty guitar tangents, an airtight country two-step, and commanding choruses that Grier belts out with the fervor of a preacher. [28 Jul 2006, p.67]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Wilco (The Album)
    Tweedy's ability to craft great hooks does make this worth a listen, and maybe the band simply needs a pause to catch its creative breath. Let's just hope the next one isn't called Wilco (another album).
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Masts of Manhatta
    The music straddles that urban/rural divide with tasty jazz-roots arrangements by Beck's ex-guitarist Smokey Hormel. But it's Bonham's wryly literate lyrics that bring you along for the ride.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Wolfmother
    Wolfmother's ultraconfident tracks could unclog rock radio's weakened arteries. [28 Apr 2006, p.136]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Here
    The combination of her subject matter and her urgent delivery makes Here her most vital release in years--and a welcome addition to 2016’s rich canon of albums from Beyoncé, Solange, Frank Ocean, Common, and Dev Hynes that address black life in America.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Circuital
    Focus on Circuital's sounds, not its content.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    1000 Forms of Fear
    Fear shows off her ear for stentorian melodies, her quirky way with lyrics ("I'm your groundhog/And I'm skating on thin ice," she sings on "Cellophane"), and her astonishing voice, with its unplaceable accent.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    I'm Going Away
    Fans can breathe easy: The weirdness that so delights them isn't Going anywhere just yet.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Runners Four
    In the end, however, the band's stamina outlasts our own. [11 Nov 2005, p.72]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Dangerous Woman
    While the hooks may not be as irresistible as her 2014 double whammy of “Problem” and “Break Free,” Grande compensates by having something meaningful to say with that jaw-dropping voice.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Beat Pyramid
    As a tribute, the album is nearly impeccable. As an original piece of artistry? Not so much. [14 Mar 2008, p.77]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lost Planets & Phantom Voices
    When Sprout is both tuneful and coherent... he achieves pure bliss. [14 Mar 2003, p.67]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Anti-Pop Consortium Vs. Matthew Shipp
    The loose song structures will lose less dedicated listeners, but those seeking hip-hop on a higher level need look no further. [7 Mar 2003, p.73]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Shake the Spirit
    Sassy yet surprisingly vulnerable. [19/26 Oct 2018, p.95]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Oct 19, 2018
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Kicking The National Habit
    This is reggae-inflected rock filtered through Gorillaz-style genre restlessness. [31 Mar 2006, p.65]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Golden Ocean
    [Hersh's] clamorous return to Electric Ladyland does little, though, except to cover some fair tunes with layers of cathartic thrashing. [11 Mar 2005, p.102]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Bullets in the Gun
    Only one of these tracks qualifies as obnoxious. The rest are solidly enjoyable commercial country, and there's something to be said for that.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Farm
    Frontman J Mascis is more than capable of stirring up a whirlwind of melodic feedback, suitable for heshers of any age.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Low Country Blues
    Allman's latest, Low Country Blues, pays homage to the music he fell in love with as a youngster.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Gossamer
    If you can get behind all the cheery falsetto and high-on-life lyrics, their shiny, Flaming Lips-y thing works. [3 Aug 2012, p.74]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Jul 27, 2012
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Woodstock--40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm
    40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm is a dandy primer and/or refresher course in why that mythic, muddy lovefest mattered, man.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Blame The Vain
    Yoakam trots out all his hallmarks--the Buck Owens/Bakersfield beat, the Elvis vocal snarl and sneer, the out-on-the-ledge laments of love gone cold. [8 Jul 2005, p.71]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Back Numbers
    A mix of breathy covers and intimate originals spiked with Wareham's laconic talk-singing and smoothed out by Phillips' icy purr.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Maritime
    A pleasant surprise. [12 Aug 2005, p.79]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Watch the Throne
    They sound like they're on the same page only during fleeting moments, and when those slip by, listening inevitably is more frustrating than fulfilling.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Yours, Dreamily
    Frontman Dan Auerbach’s new project lands right in the meaty part of the psychedelic curve with jolts of lush hypno-soul and tough garage-edelia.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Tender Buttons
    Overall, the depleted group's signal is weakened. [23 Sep 2005, p.90]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    1989
    In some small-minded circles, country has a junior-varsity rep, while pop is the Olympics. And Swift wants us to know she’s ready for her shot at an all-around gold medal. With 1989, she should earn at least a silver.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sign [EP]
    Ineffably gorgeous. [18 Jan 2002, p.80]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Haunted
    Haunted's evocative sound collages--guitar, voice samples, percussion, synth--broaden standard notions of "song" while steering clear of self-indulgent meandering. [11/3/2000, p.83]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Power In Numbers
    Bad rap is no way to repair a bad rep. [21 Oct 2002]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Stereo
    Thankfully, our hero hasn't lost his knack for breaking your heart with a turn of phrase or a gauzy guitar motif. [26 Apr 2002, p.148]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Echoes
    Sounds fresher and more diverse than previous releases or live shows would've suggested. [Listen 2 This supplement, Oct 2003, p.14]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    You Can't Fight What You Can't See
    The bruising ferocity of these songs ensures that GVSB will retain their noisy-boy cult status for as long as that's the musical context they prefer. [17 May 2002, p.78]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Lay Down The Law
    Switches justify their cockiness with talent, excelling in the feisty hooks and high-pitched oo-oo-oos that hark back to the glam era at its best.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Roadhouse Sun
    Bingham isn't an innovator, he's a reanimator, and on Roadhouse Sun the 28-year-old breathes new life into alt-country clichés through the power of his weathered croon and his stiff-jangle arrangements.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Odd Couple
    The Odd couple is a complusively listenable, if somber, effort. [28 Mar 2008, p.65]
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Out Of The Woods
    A tasteful disco effort. [23 Mar 2007, p.61]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Ruminations
    For good and bad--mostly very good--Ruminations is a vulnerable Conor Oberst cracked open, spilling his soul. Pain is its recurring theme and though Oberst comes close to wallowing in it, the gift is his ability to embrace and absorb it and make it something beautiful.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Darkness and Light
    As always, his perfectly raspy croon is the connective tissue, but it’s an awkward match on pop plays like the uplifting-anthem-by-numbers “Love Me Now” and the synth-heavy “What You Do to Me,” co-written with hitmakers Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels. Those tracks aside, Legend is mostly in his soulful comfort zone.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Familia
    Ten years into her career — and despite the multitude of insecurities she addresses throughout Familia — the 25-year-old appears more sure of herself than ever.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Bare Bones
    The smart and emotional material makes for an impressive step away from the retro ghetto.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Easy Tiger
    Easy Tiger keeps it simple: beguiling melodies, an ace band, and Adams' elastic tenor.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Union
    On The Union, Leon Russell's raspy wail makes an apt foil for Sir Elton's still-luxuriant croon, and the duo settles cozily into producer T Bone Burnett's arrangements.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Putting The Days To Bed
    Roderick's knotty tales never wrap up neatly--and they're all the better for it. [4 Aug 2006, p.69]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Ready For Love
    Hammond's own raucous come-on, "Slick Crown Vic," fits in perfectly. [21 Feb 2003, p.150]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Everybody Got Their Something
    An intoxicating starburst of self affirming R&B...
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