For 3,519 reviews, this publication has graded:
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81% higher than the average critic
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1% same as the average critic
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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: | The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do | |
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Lowest review score: | Playing With Fire |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 3,085 out of 3519
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Mixed: 407 out of 3519
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Negative: 27 out of 3519
3519
music
reviews
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- Entertainment Weekly
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- Critic Score
Girls' melding of new wave and indie pop literally sounds timeless... [3/9/2001, p.82]- Entertainment Weekly
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Late Registration is more cumbersome and burdened than its predecessor--a little less cohesive, a lot less fun--but it rarely fails to engross at nearly every step. [2 Sep 2005, p.77]- Entertainment Weekly
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Damn if an already nearly perfect album doesn't, with these bonus tracks, gets a little better itself. [18 Jul 2008, p.64]- Entertainment Weekly
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The payoff is the boldest work yet from a band famous for subtlety--the sound of the xx hitting the caps-lock key.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jan 12, 2017
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Still, if the songs on Midnights aren't her stickiest, it doesn't much matter while they're playing, given how effectively they generate a mood and paint effective pictures.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Oct 21, 2022
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On Helplessness Blues, their second disc of intimate, obsessively crafted folk, the bearded Seattleites take a giant step forward in their quest to turn the clock backward.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Apr 29, 2011
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- Entertainment Weekly
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It's their trademark boisterous hyper-melodies... that will have you involuntarily humming their praises for weeks (months!) to come. [26 Aug 2005, p.59]- Entertainment Weekly
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Moon's two cohesive CDs prove as emotionally powerful as anything in his catalog. [1 Jun 2007, p.68]- Entertainment Weekly
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Just the sort of punky reggae party he was born to throw. [24 Oct 2003, p.106]- Entertainment Weekly
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- Entertainment Weekly
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While Newsom remains the most intricate lyricist currently working ?outside of rap, her melodies have become cleaner, her ?arrangements less mannered, and her singing more ?straightforwardly heartfelt.- Entertainment Weekly
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They remain one of rock's most pleasurable hand-me-down discoveries. [29 Apr 2005, p.148]- Entertainment Weekly
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If the second half brings diminishing returns, it's still more than worth the trip.- Entertainment Weekly
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Somehow the band makes it work, though, pulling all those disparate sounds together in a unified style that's all the more glorious for its strangeness.- Entertainment Weekly
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There's no denying this is the sound of a band at its onstage peak. [18 Nov 2005, p.135]- Entertainment Weekly
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They're profane, bursting with rage and lust, and they deliver more laughs than anyone since Richard Pryor.- Entertainment Weekly
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Alt-rock blues darker and scarier than Jon Spencer or even Jack White ever imagined. [24 Dec 2004, p.66]- Entertainment Weekly
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A vertiginous rainbow swirl that crams so many ideas into so many tight spaces that each track is like a perfectly rendered Joseph Cornell box.- Entertainment Weekly
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They embellish what they long ago mastered: making shaggy, dreamy, cuddly, explosive indie rock. [15 Sep 2006, p.72]- Entertainment Weekly
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A rich exploration of Appalachian roots. [25 Nov 2011, p.71]- Entertainment Weekly
Posted Nov 23, 2011 -
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Jasper beats her '90s efforts.... Yet any personality dissipates amid the average tunes. [23 Sep 2005, p.91]- Entertainment Weekly
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With thrash-and-burn riffs, shout-along rants, E Street Band-style blue-collar blues, and tin-can acoustics, these Jersey boys' debut album The Airing of Grievances burns all the way down from its big mouth to its black liver.- Entertainment Weekly
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Everett finally delivers the absolute stone masterpiece fans have always known lurked inside his dour heart. [29 Apr 2005, p.147]- Entertainment Weekly
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Like the great college radio station that never was. [29 Oct 2004, p.69]- Entertainment Weekly
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The man in the suit still commands a room, telling tales of forgiveness, heaven, and alcohol. [3/10 Feb 2012, p.112]- Entertainment Weekly
Posted Jan 30, 2012 -
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On several tracks, the swirls of organ they've added to their hyper-literate stomping suggest Deep Purple with a library card. [6 Oct 2006, p.68]- Entertainment Weekly
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On Pure Comedy, Father John Misty is just about clever enough to glide entirely on his intellectualism, but by emotionally removing himself from his own narratives, he’s ended up making a record that’s smarter than it is affecting.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Apr 6, 2017
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There is still something unsettlingly Renaissance fair-meets-Wind in the Willows about her music, yet something lovely lives there as well. [24 Nov 2006, p.109]- Entertainment Weekly
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The richest and most fervent music the Jaxx have ever made. [24 Oct 2003, p.104]- Entertainment Weekly
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Revolution is a portrait of an artist in full possession of her powers, and the best mainstream-country album so far this year.- Entertainment Weekly
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It's cerebral and a little chilly, but also full of musical surprises. [23 Sep 2011, p.79]- Entertainment Weekly
Posted Oct 6, 2011 -
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Even if her fiery temper's not for everyone, she never stoops to teardrops-on-my-guitar banalities. [27 Apr 2007, p.139]- Entertainment Weekly
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Astroworld mostly holds itself together despite its aggressive number of moving parts.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Aug 6, 2018
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There's lots for the lovers, plus some surprises that might win over a few haters. [23 Aug 2002, p.142]- Entertainment Weekly
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Their fifth album High Violet is slow to blossom; its sumptuous layers and stately pace can feel almost funereal, and frontman Matt Berninger often sounds badly in need of Paxil. But Violet eventually burrows in, and stays.- Entertainment Weekly
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- Entertainment Weekly
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Here more than ever Bey indulges clashing impulses--between strength and escape, megapop and fresh sounds, big messages and resonant lyrics.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Dec 13, 2013
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Swift's lyric-writing abilities feel leveled-up on Evermore, its characters drawn in pointillistic detail. ... Similarly, the musical risks on Evermore are bigger, both in scope and in payoff. ... Freedom from expectations has, both with this album and its predecessor, led to Swift's leaps giving new heights to her already-pretty-skyscraping career.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Dec 11, 2020
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- Entertainment Weekly
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Combine the intense vocals and thin lyrics with the speed and exuberance of the songs (most are well under three minutes) and ''Fever to Tell'' feels a lot like a series of quickies -- exhausting, fun, but a bit empty.- Entertainment Weekly
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Organ raises the Saddle Creek bar in terms of sheer psychiatric-rock intensity. [Listen 2 This supplement, Mar 2003, p.10]- Entertainment Weekly
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Kaputt nods to Steely Dan and late Roxy Music, and its shimmering synths and moody soft rock would be the perfect soundtrack to a romantic urban noir.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jan 21, 2011
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The fourth album from these purveyors of Band-evoking Americana is as folksy and honed as a tale by Mark Twain, from whom the Felices borrowed the title.- Entertainment Weekly
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- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Mar 4, 2011
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Ted Leo turns gasping, insistent vocals into narratives that are political and pop, never compromising one for the other. [21 Feb 2003, p.150]- Entertainment Weekly
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Holmes races through genres like a mad cab driver running red lights, revving up a jittery, urban fever dream from a junk heap of beats and ragged exotica. [10/27/2000, p.120]- Entertainment Weekly
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The former Band drummer and cancer survivor's vocals sound grizzled and glorious on Electric Dirt.- Entertainment Weekly
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Sure, this speaker-frying style has been done before, but rarely with such confidence. [12 May 2006, p.83]- Entertainment Weekly
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What could've been a condescending gimmick yields some of the year's most haunting, and haunted, music.- Entertainment Weekly
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- Entertainment Weekly
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Many of these tunes sound like they could have been recorded at any point in his 17-year career - and that's great news for fans.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jan 3, 2011
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Golden-voiced Murphy, however, doesn't try for any cheap Bowie-baritone vocal mimicry, and his lyrics and musicianship have greater depth and polish. The best inspiration should come with improvements, and Murphy's are vast.- Entertainment Weekly
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It's as if every element of Sleigh Bells' genre-swerving sound--primitive guitar fuzz, pastiche beats, sugar-buzz?vocals--bypasses the default snark button and burrows?directly into jaded listeners' punch-drunk pleasure centers.- Entertainment Weekly
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It's when Rancid downshift that things get really interesting. [22/29 Aug 2003, p.131]- Entertainment Weekly
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- Entertainment Weekly
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While Kids See Ghosts feels more like a Cudi album than a Kanye one, it is a production showcase for both. ... The seven-song affair leaves you greedy for more when it’s over in a mere 23 minutes.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jun 11, 2018
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The result is a painstakingly composed batch of tracks that struggle to break free from their gorgeously constructed prisons.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted May 14, 2013
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Ndegeocello's dreamy vocal styles buttress this boudoir-freindly work. [28 Sep 2007, p.106]- Entertainment Weekly
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His meandering monologues contrast with the top-notch if uniformly pensive songs.- Entertainment Weekly
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They almost vindicate the near-deafening hoopla that preceded this major-label debut. [10 May 2002, p.80]- Entertainment Weekly
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Strings swoon, falsetto voices sigh, and counterpoint piano lines glide. Yet nothing sounds fussy. [20 May 2005, p.75]- Entertainment Weekly
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- Entertainment Weekly
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The best of Cash's nuanced compositions... turns her healing process into great art. [27 Jan 2006, p.84]- Entertainment Weekly
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Placing intricately detailed portraiture on massive musical backdrops has been a Springsteen trademark for years, of course, and Western Stars continues this legacy, transforming the enormous into the intimate. [14/21 Jun 2019, p.104]- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jun 8, 2019
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The vintage tunes inspire riskier improvs from Lovano, even when his rhythm section adheres to more straight-edged accompaniment.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Feb 1, 2011
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- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jun 17, 2013
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Miguel recognizes both the romance and the risk embedded in the City of Angels, a clear-eyed balance that makes Wildheart as bracing as a plunge into the Pacific.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jun 30, 2015
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Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is one of those ''taking stock'' records that collates and refines everything that came before. But what an inventory of sounds they've built.- Entertainment Weekly
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At times Takk almost rocks--as much as tiny ice-crystal elves from the magical land of Narnia can rock, but still. [16 Sep 2005, p.88]- Entertainment Weekly
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Included are (somewhat disappointing) new tunes from Air and My Bloody Valentine mastermind Kevin Shields. [10 Oct 2003, p.124]- Entertainment Weekly
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You'd be hard-pressed to find sounds this spookily evocative anywhere outside the grooves of scratchy old 78s. [Applies to both 'Alice' and 'Blood Money,' 10 May 2002, p.80]- Entertainment Weekly
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The Black Album's bling-bang reportage mostly rings redundant. [28 Nov 2003, p.121]- Entertainment Weekly
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Despite seven unessential bonus tracks, the remastered Ghosts feels haunting, hypnotic and fresh 25 years later. [14 Apr 2006, p.87]- Entertainment Weekly
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Where Cardi B struggles to perfect the timing of her flow, she makes up for it with the heft of her voice. Combining the gruff delivery of Biggie Smalls with the bird-flipping fire of Tupac Shakur and the bubbly aura of a tween star, Cardi deploys a hybridized power vocal that punctuates trap and bounce-heavy pop with a witty presence that makes her narrative universally accessible.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Apr 9, 2018
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Johnson occasionally lacks the depth of Cochran's bloodshot despair, but with guests like Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard, you can't blame him for not sounding sad in Living for a Song.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Oct 25, 2012
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Their lyrics reveal the mysteries of true rolling stones. [16 Oct 2009, p.59]- Entertainment Weekly
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The jarring faux-metal riffage of "When the War Came" exposes Meloy's limits, but several of these studies in heartbreak and homicide rank among his most moving. [6 Oct 2006, p.68]- Entertainment Weekly
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The cleaner take on Extraordinary Machine is like a trip to a less cluttered haunted house, and Apple's more nuanced delivery sticks the knife in, but slowly. It's both charming and devastating. [7 Oct 2005, p.72]- Entertainment Weekly
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Ghostface... comes off hungrier than ever to produce thrilling hip-hop. [14 May 2004, p.68]- Entertainment Weekly
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Songs like "Fight Test" and "Do You Realize" have various tics--but they're so sweet-souled that such sins are easily forgiven. [19 July 2002, p.74]- Entertainment Weekly
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Honestly isn't too different from Painters. [Listen 2 This supplement, Nov 2003, p.39]- Entertainment Weekly
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The guy's a six-string hero whose artistic sweep runs from plangent ballads to fiery barnstormers to, well, a heap of engaging styles in between. [1 Jun 2007, p.69]- Entertainment Weekly
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Neither of the albums they recorded before disbanding made it to the U.S.; thankfully, this long-overdue retrospective includes the choicest cuts from both. [22 Dec 2006, p.83]- Entertainment Weekly
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There’s a new kind of richness to frontman Kevin Parker’s lonely-astronaut experiments.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jul 17, 2015
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Once the shock of Beam's experimental bent wears off, it becomes clear that he's added dimension to his style without sacrificing its gorgeous tranquility. [28 Sep 2007, p.107]- Entertainment Weekly
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If even a hint of Jamiroquai makes you gag, stay away; otherwise, proceed to the dance floor, please. [22 Jul 2005, p.74]- Entertainment Weekly
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If the music here has the ebb and flow of more than one era, the lyrics wield sharper teeth. [2 Nov 2018, p.49]- Entertainment Weekly
Posted Oct 31, 2018 -
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When everything here lines up the right way--and it more often than not, it does--Modern Vampires is the perfect album for the coming Atlantic summer. Think of it like saltwater taffy: bright and sweet, with plenty to chew on.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted May 7, 2013
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- Entertainment Weekly
Posted May 29, 2012 -
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Cassius' Philippe Zdar and Boombass are at their best on 15 Again when they pair fuzzy beats with sleek, Steely Dan-inspired, soft-rock stylings.- Entertainment Weekly
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- Entertainment Weekly
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- Entertainment Weekly
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Just when this occasionally draggy album threatens to give in to its own malaise, the band interjects a lound, jarring organ or jagged noise. [23/30 Jan 2004, p.98]- Entertainment Weekly
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Sounds like a partnership ceremony between R.E.M. and the Magnetic Fields, with Phil Spector presiding. [Listen 2 This supplement, May 2003, p.25]- Entertainment Weekly
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They've teamed up with longtime producer Danger Mouse to do what they do best.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Nov 30, 2011
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The brushed drums and acoustic guitars of 'Anniversary' allow her whispery voice room to breathe. [10 Aug 2007, p. 69]- Entertainment Weekly
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Superfans may well die happy with this much concentrated Madge-estry: 36 tracks covering nearly every phase of her 25-year career. It all holds up surprisingly well.- Entertainment Weekly
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