Paste Magazine's Scores

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For 4,070 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 67% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 30% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 76
Highest review score: 100 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [50th Anniversary Edition Deluxe Version]
Lowest review score: 10 Songs From Black Mountain
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,634 out of 4070
  2. Mixed: 400 out of 4070
  3. Negative: 36 out of 4070
4070 music reviews
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    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Changes
    It’s a record in total lust and fealty to Hailey; you’ll probably want to duck out to use the bathroom halfway through.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Golden Delicious
    For fans who’ve followed the singer/songwriter since the demise of Soul Coughing, there’s a lot to recommend on Golden Delicious.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Live on I-5
    It's pretty much a greatest hits album, which conceptually blows an opportunity right off the bat.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 37 Critic Score
    YOKOKIMTHURSTON
    It plays into all the worst assumptions of these artists without offering much reward for the endurance test.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 39 Critic Score
    Raditude
    Raditude is an album of surface appeal--there’s no heart beating inside these plasticized tunes.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Awake Is The New Sleep
    With Awake, Lee has become a writer so adept at communicating his personality through song, that it’s easy to feel like you know him after just a few listens.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lasers
    So the political nails are hidden deeply enough in the candy that sometimes it's hard to tell whether the juxtaposition is truly bracingly subversive or oddly self-defeating. Depending on your mood or disposition, maybe it's neither, either or both. A musical Rorschach test if there ever was one.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Modern Rituals
    With the power of their harmony and a few well-arranged standout tracks, Chief have managed to assemble a respectable record, and escape being written off as yet another batch of copycat folkies.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Why You So Crazy
    Why You So Crazy is fun for the brain and the body. Weird enough to find something new with every listen, while remaining as slick and infectious and delightful as much of the Dandys’ dandy discography.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pipes of Peace [Deluxe Edition]
    Pipes Of Peace as a whole isn’t a masterpiece by any stretch. There are songs that drag the album down, but there’s also a bevy of material with enough meat to make it a hearty collection.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Sacred Hearts Club
    Foster’s dismal allusions to The Great Gatsby and Daniel Johnston are clever, yet it strays from the collective sanguinity of the rest of the album. Despite those handful of flaws, Sacred Hearts Club is an enjoyable listen.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Haerts
    Everything is likable, and that’s the formula for successful pop. But ultimately, this is the kind of polarizing release that will see the indie purists drawing a line in the sand as to what they’re willing to call their own moving forward.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Dancing at the Blue Lagoon
    There may not be as many earworms on this release, but they’ve approached it with patience and a finesse that allowed the songs to flourish into deep sonic explorations that leave the listener eager for more.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Whatever's On Your Mind
    The music in their latest release, Whatever's On Your Mind, stays on a pop path that's decorated with tinges of folk, blues, electronic, and whatever else they feel like throwing in.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Reasons To Live
    At 42 minutes, Reasons begins to drag a bit, and it may not bring Klein the attention she enjoyed with her former band, but it is a sonically captivating and promising first effort that reveals itself a little more with each listen.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Monastic Living [EP]
    While it would be foolish to dismiss Monastic Living as simply unlistenable, its concept far outweighs its content.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    Closer Than Together
    High points feel scattered among a patchwork of pillowy piano tunes, conspicuous genre experiments and politically charged trial balloons. There are good things and not-so-good things here, but there is no cohesion in the overall work. Closer Than Together doesn’t hang together as a whole.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    At The End Of Paths Taken
    Good songs make for good Cowboy Junkies albums, and the ratio here tilts in their favor. [May 2007, p.60]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 56 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Sound of Sunshine
    This is an album that's best enjoyed with a sweating Red Stripe, at least 95% humidity and an abandonment of cares.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    The Temper Trap
    Unfortunately, the only thing that The Temper Trap's self-titled album proves is that they may have been a one-hit wonder all along.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Forgiven
    Forgiven has bits and pieces, like a bunch of base hits, but not even one song possessing homer status, much less a grand slam like “Heaven.”
    • 55 Metascore
    • 77 Critic Score
    Based on a T.R.U. Story
    With the no-bullshit, spare-n-catchy Based on a T.R.U. Story, Chainz confirms himself as the quintessential 2012 rapper.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 56 Critic Score
    Hymns
    There are glimpses of vitality on Hymns, but The Spirit is flaky.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 79 Critic Score
    Hold My Home
    Hold My Home is arguably the strongest record--with the most consistent highlights--that the band has yet to deliver, and it bodes well for their future.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Simpatico
    All in all, it's a strange but refreshing and likely unintentional throwback. [Sep 2006, p.81]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 55 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Havoc and Bright Lights
    Havoc embodies relief, release and refuge.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 54 Critic Score
    The Weight of Your Love
    The ideas behind Weight have some potential, but Editors can’t seem to pull them off successfully.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 57 Critic Score
    Play On
    On Play On her approach results in a scattershot collection that too often mistakes bombast for sincerity ('Unapologize') and sap for sentiment ('Temporary Home').
    • 54 Metascore
    • 61 Critic Score
    Down To Earth
    It’s every bit as uneven as that bracing debut.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Earth vs. the Pipettes
    Together, Bobby and Rushent steer the Pipettes into charming territory, making up for the girls' gauzy voices with killer songwriting and period-appropriate production.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 27 Critic Score
    Jesus Is King
    There’s little to defend from a musical or lyrical perspective here: This is easily Kanye’s worst album to date, an impressive feat following last year’s ye.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Light
    The biggest problem with his reggae is simpler: He's unequivocally terrible at it. Not only do we get fake patois, but also raging electric guitars and cluttered hip-hop production.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Fly from Here
    Yes have released their best work since the '70s.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 53 Critic Score
    Universal Mind Control
    Common’s inability to sound sincere about a man he spent two years championing is the most telling part of this consciously shallow caricature of hip-hop’s dregs.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Make Believe
    Neither the best nor the worst album this band has recorded.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Back Home
    Back Home embodies the featureless, sickeningly pleasant sounds piped unmercifully into department-store elevators. [Oct/Nov 2005, p.121]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 52 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    SuperHeavy
    Rather than synthesizing these various styles, they sound like they're working at cross-purposes, with every component so errantly fitted with the rest that SuperHeavy sounds schizophrenic.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Unpredictable
    It's better to be the imitation Ray Charles than the poor man's R. Kelly. [Feb/Mar 2006, p.94]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 52 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Black Swan
    When alone, the sweeping choruses that swarm Athlete’s fourth record, Black Swan, shoot for the rafters without any substantial emotional anchor—the songs get lost in the clouds.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Break Up
    Between Yorn’s ingratiating tunes, Johansson’s harmonies and the lush, inventive production, Break Up ultimately succeeds in its ambitious goal of capturing the spirit--if not the sound--of the late-’60s musical partnership between Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot
    • 51 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Body Faucet
    Body Faucet is an improvement over Oblangle in nearly every respect, but it's definitely not as surprising as that lovely little EP.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Revival
    Overall, the album is fairly easy listening.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Songs From Black Mountain
    Earnestly pompous. [Apr/May 2006, p.105]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 50 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Fiction Family
    Since both Switchfoot and Nickel Creek were touring during this record’s gestation, Foreman and Watkins wrote songs individually and passed them back and forth in parts. They make a pretty solid team as-is, and if their approach to songwriting were more unified, their sound probably would be too.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    L.A. Divine
    For a 14-track album that feels interminably long at only 44 minutes, three songs is not enough to save L.A. Divine from sustained mediocrity.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 33 Critic Score
    Forget the World
    It quickly becomes evident that Forget the World is less an album than a haphazard collection of B-sides and leftovers that were for whatever reason deemed unmarketable as singles.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Monkey Business
    Undeniably and increasingly danceable. [#16, p.148]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 48 Metascore
    • 29 Critic Score
    Jordi
    A flaccid smattering of pop trends that have long since passed and melodies so transparently halfhearted, it barely sounds like a person even made them.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Have Mercy
    Unfortunately, “almost as good as Steve Miller” is about as good as things get.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Tourist
    Instantly forgettable. [#16, p.139]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 46 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    (Together) [EP]
    (together) is still a decent collection for hardcores that couldn't get enough of the Antlers after Burst Apart... but casual listeners might be left confused, bored and, well - bummed.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Lulu
    It's not an especially good album, but its failures are noble rather than ignoble-byproducts of ambition rather than hubris.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    All That I Am
    The only satisfying songs here are the two Spanish-language tracks that kick off the album with booty-shaking brilliance. [Dec 2005, p.107]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 43 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    The Rebirth Of Venus
    While Lee’s preachy lyrics often feel forced and rarely reach beneath the surface of the issues, the man known for homespun sing-alongs retains his catchy strumming and perfect blend of sweet and funny musings, making it difficult not to root for him.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    NOW + 4EVA
    The result is one of the more confidently presented, mostly inoffensive and ultimately inconsequential albums in recent memory.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    One
    When so much music is so bleak, a little unlikely optimism might be a crucial palliative measure, rather than Pollyanna-ish head-burying, and it’s sanguinity that Dirty Vegas delivers in spades.
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