Splendid's Scores
- Music
For 793 reviews, this publication has graded:
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65% higher than the average critic
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2% same as the average critic
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33% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.8 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 75
Highest review score: | Humming By The Flowered Vine | |
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Lowest review score: | Fire |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 654 out of 793
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Mixed: 119 out of 793
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Negative: 20 out of 793
793
music
reviews
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- Critic Score
The aggressive stance taken on some of the songs brings an unwelcome "Is this Orgy?" feel to the affair.... If Gwenmars can produce more show-stoppers, and perhaps tone-down some of the aggresive stylings that creep in, they might become more than just a throwback.- Splendid
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If you'd never heard Gotham!, you might very well find much to like about Stealing of a Nation.- Splendid
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The technical skill and creativity at work here are enough reason to give DJ Me DJ You more than a passing listen, even if the songs don't make your head bob up and down and your feet tap.- Splendid
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There are some bands who were just meant to be great pop acts -- pop in the George Michael sense, pop in the Fleetwood Mac sense. Phoenix make music that your mom would like, and it's not a bad thing.- Splendid
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While Face The Truth rarely presents a side of its creator that has not already been seen, loved, and cried over, it's a passable, even better-than-average album.- Splendid
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Harmless and happy, with an underbelly of serious sadness, Keep it Together dares to be average, and comes out sounding and feeling pretty decent.- Splendid
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People who listened to Sahara Hotnights' albums in their proper sequence will appreciate their improvement, but those who heard Jennie Bomb first may well end up preferring it.- Splendid
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It's good stuff, to be sure -- but if Hot Shots II excites you at all, it's probably time to lay off the pot.- Splendid
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Unless you're fifteen and were raised with a mouse constantly in hand, the Mae Shi can get overwhelming... but their saving graces (lots of genuine energy, naming their songs things like "Hieronymus Bosch is a Dead Man") charm you into liking them.- Splendid
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The brittle treble-heavy assault is replaced with clarity, greater exploration of texture and more "professional" recording.- Splendid
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Mercifully, Frusciante has toned down the screechy howl that made his earlier work almost unbearable, and while his songs aren't quite diamond-sharp, they have evolved into soft-focus pop tunes that display a keen melodic intuition and gift for beautiful torment.- Splendid
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The band sounds richer, fuller and more confident. Sometimes they also sound a little too slick for their own good -- a nagging concern with "Disappear", among others -- but the studio glitz is matched by artistic maturity.- Splendid
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The Ponys have achieved a certain level of competence, and if you're willing to accept that in place of originality or innovation, Celebration Castle is worth checking out.- Splendid
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While there's undoubtedly a wealth of ideas to be found here, listenability is the real wildcard.- Splendid
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There's enough strong material on The Story of My Life to score Carter time on CMT and get her in good with the Borders crowd, cementing her cross-genre appeal.- Splendid
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As a political album, Liberation may only be half-successful, but I'd still take angry Trans Am over the schlocky Trans Am of TA any day.- Splendid
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There's definitely nothing earth-shattering here... but there's nothing that's going to alienate the fanbase, either.- Splendid
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There are too many ambitious singer/songwriter albums out there to easily justify any water-treading.- Splendid
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Opener "Glisten" is anybody's masterpiece.... This instrumental brings so much anticipation to the rest of this record, it's no wonder I'm partly disappointed with The Listener: Gelb can't and doesn't deliver a dozen more songs like "Glisten".- Splendid
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Less cohesively engaging than March on Electric Children, Burn, Piano Island, Burn is, by turns, spasmodically inviting and gratingly repulsive to all but the most patient of noisemongers.- Splendid
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A mostly "hit" but occasionally "miss" effort that showcases both the band's maturation and its residual shortcomings.- Splendid
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If "We Are A&C" was the album's low point, the album would be in great shape -- but there are a few half-hearted tracks that stake a more legitimate claim to that dubious honor.- Splendid
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Their rehashed rawk riffage is relentlessly enthralling, but their beat-you-over-the-head scream-tactics lend themselves to a sludgy sameness that, by album's end, has worn its welcome pencil-thin.- Splendid
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Gray is wise to continue experimenting and testing the boundaries of his art, but his changes don't need to be this bold. In this case, he comes up short: his minimalist mastery does not translate to resounding baroque success.- Splendid
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Murdoch, finally free to take charge of his band, has done so in spades, and the result is a confident, assured affair...that, to many listeners, will seem utterly out of character.- Splendid
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If you peel away the pretense, there's actually a fascinating album at work here.- Splendid
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