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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    • 84 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Tha Carter III
    For merely running in place, TC3 can be transfixing. But it is not enough. [20 June 2008, p.66]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Good Souls Better Angels
    Most fully realized work in more than 20 years. [May 2020, p.101]
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Cobblestone Runway
    His encouraging lyrics are creatively conceived and cliche-free, while his music has a folky, redemptive grace. [11 Oct 2002, p.83]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Fine Art of Self-Destruction
    Thankfully, Malin has the heart -- and the tunes -- to pull off the tattered-troubadour trip.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Violet Hour
    Was it worth the wait? Well, it is for those who favor the kind of retro-futurist pop that recalls the mood-drenched fog of Galaxie 500 decorated with Byrdsian guitar filigrees.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Letting Go
    The effect is soothing, though it crosses the line into uncharacteristic blandness at times. [22 Sep 2006, p.94]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Tipping Point
    Not everything lands, and not everything that lands sticks. Even so, there aren't many 17-year hiatuses that end by presenting a group with plenty of gas left in the tank. "When I'm 40 years older/When I'm wrinkled and wise," sings Orzabal — and The Tipping Point makes a compelling argument that it will be worth the wait.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Secret Wars
    This bracing sixth full-length funnels the frenzy into more easily digestible bites. [6 Feb 2004, p.140]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
    New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh's comfortable style only makes it that much easier to get pleasantly lost in.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Patch the Sky
    A lot of these songs address loneliness, despair, and relationships ending, which gives Patch the Sky an extra slug to the gut. It’s not as depressing as it sounds--lyrics take a backseat to the group’s joyful noise, after all--and the good news is Mould has found a silver lining in his music
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Truly She Is None Other
    A set of appealing folk-rock ditties shot through with girl-group sweetness and a soupcon of punky attitude. [1 Aug 2003, p.79]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Out of Season
    The songwriting isn't always as artful as the renderings. Yet, like Beck's Sea Change, it cultivates a seamless, sumptuous melancholy. [Listen 2 This supplement, Dec 2002, p.32]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Harry's House
    Styles has put together an album that's so solid, even moments that would be cringeworthy when handled by lesser pop stars feel earned. ... Harry's House is also emotionally heavy at times, with Styles' understated delivery adding power to his plainspoken lyrics.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Food & Liquor
    A messy, ambitious CD by a deeply thoughtful MC. [6 Oct 2006, p.71]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Prima Donna [EP]
    Given its lyrical and musical density, the EP’s short runtime feels particularly abrupt. Nevertheless, it’s an accomplished collection from one of rap’s most promising young talents.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Old
    Old positively vibrates with Brown's nasally helter-skelter energy. [4 Oct 2013, p.64]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Sep 30, 2013
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Game Theory
    It's all ghetto vérité and political paranoia, with claustrophobic production to match the doom and gloom.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Tempest
    Thirty-five albums in, Dylan remains as magical and mysterious as ever.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Love Is The Answer
    Not exactly galvanizing stuff, but the woman still sings like buttah.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Blunderbuss
    There's a certain Opryland jam-session charm to it all, but Blunderbuss lacks the electric jolt that made previous outfits the White Stripes and the Dead Weather so exciting.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Apologies To The Queen Mary
    Apologies is the stuff fanzine dreams are made of, and if it is very, very good without being spectacular, well, that's okay. [30 Sep 2005, p.95]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Love
    You could figure it as a sop to today's interactive mash-up culture. Or you could say it's just extending the medley-ish, segue-happy ethos of Abbey Road to the band's entire catalog. Really, it's both, and it's bliss.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Like Red On A Rose
    Startlingly good. [29 Sep 2006, p.80]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Remote Part
    It's overshadowed by many of the band's recent, U.K.-only B sides. [21 Mar 2003, p.113]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2
    Hot Sauce is a lot like Daniel Craig's übercool James Bond - another stripped-down return to a franchise's best virtues after a decade or so of wandering the desert. It took a little time, but the Boys are back with a license to ill.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    An Evening with Silk Sonic
    The pair are clearly having fun with their loverman shtick here — a knowing throwback to a more-cowbell era when all the cars were Monte Carlos, the lamps were lava, and #MeToo was but a distant, joy-killing dream. Mostly that comes through with an obvious wink; other times it lands somewhere between Pepé Le Pew and Ron Burgundy on the self-awareness scale.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sour
    Sour doesn't try to be "the next" anyone; instead, Rodrigo distills her life and her listening habits into powerful, hooky pop that hints at an even brighter future.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Red Dirt Road
    The CD hits a high point with the churning, turboed bluegrass of ''Caroline.'' But it's all just a warm-up for the title track, in which the pair's recollections of rites of passage form a gutsy account of the terrible beauty of coming of age.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    In Search Of... [Second Version]
    ''In Search Of...'' has a crackling vigor missing from the first stab, and its mélange of genres makes for music unlike anything else around.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Me & Giuliani Down By the School Yard (A True Story) [EP]
    It's a funky spin on the dance-punk of late-'70s/early-'80s acts like Gang of Four. [6 Jun 2003, p.78]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Escondida
    Starbucks should replace Norah Jones with Holland as its mood musician of choice; her compositional brew is smooth, with jolts of witty malice.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Once In A Lifetime
    Avoid the last disc, groove on the first two, and ruminate on the strange beauty of this sui generis body of work.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Good News For People Who Love Bad News
    [A] Tom Waits-ian reinvention. [9 Apr 2004, p.84]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
    'Honey's' squiggly bass line and cute but inane sentiments (''Honey, you so sweet/Sugar got a long way to catch you'') are perhaps the safest, least interesting efforts on the album. Thankfully, Badu spent 10 other tracks showing us exactly what she can do.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Wounded Rhymes
    While her 2008 breakout, Youth Novels, was quirky and coy, Wounded Rhymes is hungry, dark, dirty.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Compass
    His tone carries the weight and grandeur of fine marble, but sometimes the disc's lengthy array of tunescapes is a reminder that less is more.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Be
    Be's leanness signals awesome growth even without pushing sonic boundaries. [27 May 2005, p.136]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Blue Water Road
    Most songs on the brisk 37-minute LP unfold like a breezy coastal drive — you can practically feel the beachy wind in your hair and hear the lulling tides lapping at the shore, waiting to pull you in. This is vibe music. But more upbeat cuts like "Any Given Sunday," featuring blxst, and the Justin Bieber duet "Up At Night" offer more of a jolt.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Brighter Than Creation's Dark
    Southern-rock riffs still anchor the tunes, but Brighter also throbs with pedal steel and creamy keys played by veteran R&B session guuy Spooner Oldham. [25 Jan 2008, p.68]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Hunter
    Those hybrids mutate awesomely, creating one burly, beastly adrenaline spike. [30 Sep 2011, p.74]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Sep 28, 2011
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Wild Flag
    Wild Flag is rock's first great all-female supergroup album. And it's about time.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Identity Crisis
    Lynne is so in her element... that you have to believe the title's a deliberate misnomer. [26 Sep 2003, p.94]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Midnite Vultures
    He's given us the year's most relentless gas--laughing or otherwise--of a party album.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Master And Everyone
    If you can find 30 minutes in your day for a Friends rerun, surely you can carve out time to give this gentle sigh of a record the attention it deserves. [14 Feb 2003, p.73]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Grinderman
    This is some of the singer's rawest music since he fronted the Birthday Party. [13 Apr 2007, p.72]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    You Could Have It So Much Better
    What's remarkable is how Franz Ferdinand make their camp so compelling. [14 Oct 2005, p.147]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    It Still Moves
    At times, the results can be distancing. [22/29 Aug 2003, p.132]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    SVIIB
    It’s a fully-realized vision of the dreamy shoegaze-pop they’d sought to prefect for years.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    A Written Testimony
    A Written Testimony is an accomplished album with decent rewind factor, but it feels somewhat hampered by the seismic impact of the rapper's work a decade ago. That it doesn’t have forceful songs like “Exhibit C,” “Dear Moleskine,” or “The Ghost of Christopher Wallace” could draw naysayers, even if it picks up where Jay Elec left off. It exists nonetheless, and that’s a righteous step forward.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Visiter
    This is cerebral twisted folk that's as wistful as it is strident. [04 Apr 2008, p.63]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Love On The Inside
    Love on the Inside, the third CD from the duo of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, is, in part, a welcome return to that kind of bygone lyricism, where songs that hooked into the details of human foible and frailty could flourish.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    God's Favorite Customer
    When Tillman is good, he is very very good: a master of classic melody, even if the source is meta, and something like a true poet when he wants to be.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    We're New Here
    Scott-Heron's raspy vocals anchor Smith's spectral diddlings; the results on We're New Here are pleasantly moody.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Sunset Tree
    He sometimes wastes these tales on coy indie-folk, but when he cuts to the bone... the results can be extraordinary. [13 May 2005, p.89]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Nikki Nack
    On her third full-length, Nikki Nack, her love of music that's rich with history still makes for propulsive listening, even if some references are willfully obscure.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Nashville
    Bring your hankie. [29 Sep 2006, p.80]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Idiology
    Even when it all threatens to implode, MOM's restless imagination provides the necessary ballast. [18 May 2001, p.81]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Four the Record
    Four is her most vivid effort yet, with brilliantly observed songs about lust (''Fine Tune'') and disappointment (''Same Old You''), as well as a stirring celebration of diversity (''All Kinds of Kinds'').
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Lianne La Havas
    Fans may be disappointed by La Havas' reserved lyricism here, but the femme gem "Sour Flower" and a take on Radiohead's "Weird Fishes" should be enough to compensate. [Jul 2020, p.75]
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Love Behind The Melody
    Had he been born a few decades earlier, he could have been a major pop sales force. For now, he'll have to settle for making music that transcends today's commercial rules.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Star Wars
    At its weirdest and fuzziest moments, Star Wars retains an infectious joie de vivre--it’s the sound of dudes who love tapping into one another’s talent and humanity.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow
    His most cohesive album in a decade. [16 Nov 2001, p.172]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    American Gangster
    There are also sparse, programmed beats from the Neptunes and lesser-knowns like No I.D., with Jay-Z fixing his flow accordingly. What unites the collection more than a specific sound is a narrative arc that loosely parallels Lucas' rise and decline.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Revelación [EP]
    Revelación proves that Gomez is up to the task — and a far more versatile musician than she's been given credit for.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Morph The Cat
    With its precisely calibrated funk grooves, exquisitely tasteful playing, and general air of blissed-out languor, Morph is firmly in the smoothed-out tradition of latter-day Dan discs like Gaucho. [17 Mar 2006, p.111]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    23
    It's an enthralling listen, proving once and for all that they deserve the wide success of fellow travelers like Radiohead and Sonic Youth.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Life Will See You Now
    Yielding vibrant optimism where Lekman had typically sulked with a smile. Life is the perfect pick-me-up for the winter of our discontent.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Black Up
    It's a shame that Palaceer Lazaro uses his nee project to spit flimsy verses about back-in-the-day cliches. [1 Jul 2011, p.74]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Aug 10, 2011
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Hive Mind
    There’s something enjoyably old-school about Syd’s leisurely approach.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Andorra
    The only problem with this symphonic daydream is that at just nine songs and 43 minutes, it's over far too soon. [24 Aug 2007, p.130]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Unreasonable Behavior
    His sound has grown, and his latest unleashes acoustic bass, free-jazzy horns, and assorted birds in a rugged electro-soundscape. [10/20/2000, p.79]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    OST
    As an album, easily stands on its own.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Come to Where I'm From
    The songs adhere to the beautiful-loser template established by Leonard Cohen, to which Arthur adds bumpier, near-hip-hop rhythms and desolate-angel sentiments like ''Now Jesus he came down here just to die for all my sins/I need him to come back here and die for me again.''
    • 83 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    A Boot And A Shoe
    Phillips flirts with Depression-era stylings and pre-World War II cabaret to brilliantly convey a chaotic world of subdued rage. [7 May 2004, p.86]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Whole Love
    With The Whole Love, Wilco make noise-pop exciting again, perhaps because the pop part doesn't come easy.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Transgender Dysphoria Blues
    Blues is rawer than the band's last two excellent, arena-fied albums. [31 Jan/7 Feb 2014, p.104]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Jan 24, 2014
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Blood Mountain
    Major-label metal hasn't sounded this hungry since Metallica got haircuts. [20 Oct 2006, p.81]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Teen Dream
    None of the changes are drastic, but together they're just enough to cover Beach House's once-monochrome canvases with washes of brilliant color.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    ()
    The Icelandic quartet again create an ethereal stir with sparse, atmospheric melodies and a falsetto wail, often recalling the sonic swirl of Stateside slow-core acts like Low. [1 Nov 2002, p.70]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Nine Types of Light
    Light shines brightest when it mellows.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
    This club-crawler's-eye-view perspective sets Turner apart from his contemporaries, as does the music. [24 Feb 2006, p.60]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    This Is Country Music
    The whole record plays like a best-of sampler--not just for Paisley, but for the history of the art form.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Poses
    With Broadway-worthy new standards, and a strong supporting cast, Wainwright delivers a flawless, flip-flopless performance. [8 June 2001, p.76]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Deliverance
    A sober rumination about life in the poor, white, rural South. [3 Oct 2003, p.72]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    American V: A Hundred Highways
    If this is, as Rubin has said, ''Johnny's final statement''... then it is a fitting one, completely representative of the faithful old man he had become, having long ago shed his outlaw image no matter how often others tried to resaddle him with it.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Intimacy: Album III
    The arrangements on his third LP embody the title's Intimacy, complementing his honeyed vocals with gentle acoustic strumming, soft taps on a snare drum, and occasional understated keyboard and brass lines.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Utopia
    Utopia is almost completely a sensory experience, fantastical soundscapes designed for secret snowflake rituals and Valkyrie picnics. In the midst of so much esoterica, it’s hard sometimes not to miss the more accessible Björk of the ’90s and early 2000s.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Crack The Skye
    Happily, the Atlanta quartet has jettisoned most of its sludge aesthetic and now crafts a dynamic sort of hard-rocking head music, equal parts King Crimson and King's X.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Electric Lady
    While the vibe's heady, the music can drift into syrupy cabaret or oversoft funk. But she maintains her chill over skillet-hot tracks like the disco-rocking "We Were Rock n' Roll" and the jumping "Dance Apocalyptic."
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    ...Like Clockwork
    Stoner-rock heavyweight Josh Homme shows no ring rust on QOTSA's first new album in six years. [14 Jun 2013, p.94]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Jun 7, 2013
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Singles
    Their fourth album is their tightest, most complete effort yet. [4 Apr 2014, p.64]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Mar 28, 2014
    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Cookie: The Anthropological Mix Tape
    Another set of songs that are political and unflinchingly personal, but still manage to entertain. [7 June 2002, p. 76]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Read & Burn 02 [EP]
    It's a still-thrilling combo, even if these new songs lack the tuneful pop smarts that made Pink Flag tracks like "Field Day for the Sundays" classics. [Review of EPs 01 and 02, 21 Oct 2002]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Blacklisted
    In this trans-American setting, Case emerges as a roots powerhouse. [13 Sep 2002, p.156]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Bright Yellow Bright Orange
    Smart, sitting-room songcraft barbed with bright guitars. [21 Feb 2003, p.150]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Our Shadows Will Remain
    [An] especially forceful and cohesive album. [12 Nov 2004, p.120]
    • Entertainment Weekly
    • 82 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Woman I Am
    Her fourth album ditches modish pop-country for old school songs about cheating and her pistol-packin' great grandma. But she shines brightest on the autobiographical title track. [15 Nov 2013, p.79]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Nov 14, 2013
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Weather
    Weather reflects a bracingly tough-minded attitude toward love. [18 Nov 2011, p.103]
    • Entertainment Weekly
      • Posted Nov 15, 2011
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Stephen Malkmus
    This is silly stuff, obviously, but it's a welcome return to the giddy wit that had dimmed as Pavement tried to contort itself into a conventional rock band.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Demon Days
    Spookier, blippier, and more on edge. It's also not as cohesive. [27 May 2005, p.136]
    • Entertainment Weekly
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