PopMatters' Scores

  • TV
  • Music
For 11,047 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 43% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 53% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 69
Highest review score: 100 Desire, I Want To Turn into You
Lowest review score: 0 Travistan
Score distribution:
11047 music reviews
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    At least half of the 30 songs in The Beatles stand among the best of their career. Now, with this carefully detailed and appreciative restoration of how they were developed (from the beginning to end), this boxed set is yet more proof that genius doesn't take time so much as concerted, focused effort, and there is no way to trace the roots of perfect sonic chemistry. You just know it when you hear it.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Ramones will remain a launching pad for artists and bands around the globe, as a sense of “Hey, I can do that, too!” is born upon your first listen. It either grabs you for life or scares the shit out of you. Either way, the simplicity is the genius.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    At the end of the day, few people will doubt Pinkerton's power, and whether you're hearing it for the first time or just for the first time in a few months, it remains as visceral a listen as ever.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Easily one of the best classic re-releases yet.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The remastered version on the reissued Sticky Fingers sounds better than ever, and it affirms that during their peak years, the Rolling Stones indeed were the world’s preeminent band.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The original album is unblemished, all the contemporary b-sides are accounted for, the Peel Sessions are a nice bonus, and as usual, the striking packaging by Vaughan Oliver is incomparable.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Basement Tapes Complete is more historical document than album, one more interested in being comprehensive than being moment-to-moment marvelous.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    In their short time together and in their subsequent careers as solo artists, Morrissey and Marr have yet to equal or surpass what they accomplished here. This one belongs to the ages.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    No matter how many releases we get from the Davis archives, no matter how familiar you are with his mid-'60s work, LIVE in Europe 1967 will surprise you and remind you that, even in lean times, even when the trends of the genre he championed were moving away from him, even when his country stopped caring, Miles Davis found a way to press forward, to reinvent, and to give us yet another classic sound, and perhaps the final thrilling word on Jazz as he knew it.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    In four and a half hours, Wadada Leo Smith writes one of America's defining events in sound, and the story is all of ours.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Every song is an open-and-shut case, a tightly-sealed, end-of-story work of pop-rock perfection. Which means items like discs of live material and outtakes are superfluous at best.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Abbey Road Anniversary Super Deluxe proves they were a cohesive unit through to the end. Their work once again sounds fresh and experimental yet always in the pocket of the melody. We can hear that the Beatles were eager to work together one more time to pour more musical flavors into their magic elixir.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    he Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 is more than just music--it’s cultural history of colossal significance. This collection is a resource that fans and students of Dylan’s work will reference again and again as the years and decades pass and these classic albums are introduced to new generations of music fans.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    These outtakes give a sort of new context for the album itself, which sounds brilliant in this remaster, but they don’t exactly give us a complete story. Even the huge booklet and documentary about the band here don’t exactly give us the clear picture of Spiderland.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While it’s nice to have the original albums properly contextualized, the impact of a stand-alone live release would have been just that much more impactful. As it stands, these mammoth four-disc sets offer just about all the PiL you could ever hope for from two very different eras and incarnations of the band.
    • 98 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The improvement over the seven previously released tracks is one thing, but the treasure here is the 11 unreleased performances.... Few bands ever had a year like the Velvet Underground did in 1969. Even fewer have a set that documents a year like that as beautifully as this one.
    • 98 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This 2012 Remix/Remaster version of the album, with its rich mastering, is the one to own.... But it is not Massive Attack's masterpiece. Though some would disagree, that honor goes to 1994 follow-up Protection.
    • 98 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    This entire collection proves one thing: Paul Simon and Graceland will remain as one of the most relevant pop records of all time.
    • 98 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It's bold, it's demanding, and it might very well go down as the finest full-length Fiona Apple has ever made.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sound System errs firmly on the side of inclusion in virtually every way. This means, of course, inclusion of the albums Sony Legacy assumes we already own, so true fans might want to quickly Ebay their last purchase of the first five albums to afford the hefty price tag of Sound System.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A top-notch set chronicling one of the most important phases of Coltrane's career.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Released 40 years to the day since its initial release, this deluxe edition confirms what critics have long said about this, yes, “summative” recording: this is an album that gives a lot, and then keeps on giving.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The most obvious aspect that takes away from Smile's luster however, is an uncomfortable sense that the album has morphed into a quaint piece of nostalgia rather than the masterwork it was expected to be.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The fact that a woman of Lynn's tenure can slide so easily into what is essentially an alt-country environment without losing any of her down-home authenticity simply underscores her versatility and timelessness.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Each song is a story. And that’s greatness in this kind of music.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The three discs represent lightning captured in a bottle.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It’s a rare record that gives us a call to action, something to act on after the beats drop out and we’re left in silence.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The anguish a parent feels for losing their child is harrowing and Ghosteen masterfully captures Cave's grief and spiraling rumination on mortality.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    It wouldn’t be hyperbolic to declare Keep an Eye on the Sky an indispensable cornerstone of any serious music fan’s collection, and one of the greatest box sets ever assembled. Finally, Big Star get their due chance to shine.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    [Disc Two is] a winning set that sounds surprisingly clear and crisp for a live recording. ... Disc Three is meant for Automatic diehards, but fans of all stripes will find plenty to enjoy. ... This is an album of elegant simplicity, full of grand, sweeping gestures.