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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    • 65 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    Different Gear, Still Speeding
    Speaking of The Beatles, Different Gear continues the Gallagher quest for the perfect Lennon impression. It's yet to be found.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 51 Critic Score
    The Blueprint 3
    Jay overreaches, leaning too heavily on by-the-numbers production from Kanye West and Timbaland, and muffling his own voice in favor of a guest-heavy tracklist.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Konk
    Konk is a bit too glossy for its own good, with neatly distorted guitars, swooning multi-tracked harmonies and perfectly manicured choruses working against the energy inherent in the performances.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 54 Critic Score
    Top Ten Hits of the End of the World
    Stripped of its clever concept, Top Ten Hits for the End of the World can be apocalyptically bland.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    AIM
    AIM isn’t nearly as ambitious. It’s just busywork, M.I.A. watching the clock, scanning the news, occupied, but idle.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    9
    While not as panoramic or varied as its predecessor, 9 is marked by a similar mix of poised control and impulsive gestures backed by dramatically arranged, lyrical instrumentation. [Dec 2006, p.92]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 64 Metascore
    • 43 Critic Score
    Chinese Democracy
    Too bad the epitaph’s already scrawled in Chinese Democracy’s anachronistic margins: a bottomless pit dug by disposable income, a persecution complex and egomania.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 59 Critic Score
    Anxiety
    While Anxiety is not a trainwreck, it's a missed opportunity given the strength of her foundation.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    That's Why God Made the Radio
    While all members sound terrific behind the microphone, particularly when the harmonies are at their thickest, Love's lead turns on the god-awful "Daybreak Over the Ocean" and "Beaches in Mind" are excruciatingly over-played in their winky retro-ness and, quite frankly, an embarrassment.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Dr. Dee
    Unfortunately, an undertaking as complicated as Dr Dee needs all the accessibility that would-be fans can get. And instead it's nothing more than rabbit-hole music for Dr. Damon.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 54 Critic Score
    Penny Sparkle
    A nicely composed mix, no doubt, and one that's often gorgeous to boot, but Penny Sparkle mostly sounds like a band getting complacent with age.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Violet Cries
    Violet Cries is broadly, nebulously goth, with very little to distinguish the band from their peers and forebears.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Everybody Knows
    Unfortunately, Everybody Knows is the sound of two classic artists playing the 18th hole of their intertwined and decorated careers.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Be Set Free
    These are mediocre, and sometimes painfully inept, approximations of classic lovelorn folk tunes. At a short 38 minutes, the times aren’t changin’ fast enough.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head
    Trouble Man is less senile in general than "Hello," but for too many of the album's 71 minutes, we listen in horror as T.I., 32, tries flaccidly to get down with the kids.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fly by Wire
    Even if the whole thing isn’t world-upheaving. Those standalone tracks make it worth a whirl.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hello Everything
    Hello Everything is short on revelations but not quality. [Dec 2006, p.97]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    9th Ward Pickin' Parlor
    [A] solid, satisfying effort. [Feb/Mar 2006, p.95]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Brain Thrust Mastery
    The Brooklyn band’s innate charm and accessibility allows forgiveness of its near-abandonment of bass-driven new wave.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    WYWH
    WYWH is all about atmosphere, but it's an atmosphere that doesn't always leave an impression, which makes this album a very tentative step in the right direction.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Weezer (Red Album)
    Now we get Cuomo name-dropping Eddie Rabbit, Joan Baez and "a Cat named Stevens," which makes Weezer sounds like a retread of "Built To Spill," who did the recycled-classic-rock-cliché thing back in 1999. Did it better, too.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Enough Thunder [EP]
    There are flashes of the brilliance that made the youngster such a trendy buzzname, but it's hard work wading through the awkward muck.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Rockpango
    The bad news: Los Lonely Boys are much better players than they are songwriters.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Endless Wire
    The songs are mostly weird, overly familiar, or simply bland. [Dec 2006, p.89]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There's A Fire
    Eloquently combines elements of pop, spaced-out electronic rock and even dirty garage. [Aug/Sep 2005, p.121]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Psychic Lovers
    It sounds a bit like you took Captain and Tennille (or at least Captain) and down-sampled their music, ran the vocals through a pipe organ, and then shot one of their hits (say, “Muskrat Love” or “Love Will Keep Us Together”) full of amphetamines.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Made In China
    There's clarity visible beneath the waterline, sharp lyrics and even some hummable choruses. [Oct/Nov 2005, p.141]
    • Paste Magazine
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Farmer's Daughter
    All in all, Farmer's Daughter is better than you might expect, which isn't to say it's great. Too many tracks aim straight for the middle.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 57 Critic Score
    Put Your Sad Down [EP]
    Put Your Sad Down is full of great ideas--it's the execution that's often shaky.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
    There are hints of the band's previous life here--"Oasis" seems to strikes the roots-pop balance they're going for, and "Goodbye Kiss" is perfectly fine barroom reggae--and Potter rarely misses a chance to show off her killer voice, but The Nocturnals' crucial swagger has sadly been scrubbed clean away.
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