The A.V. Club's Scores

Select another publication »
For 4,544 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 64% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 The Life Of Pablo
Lowest review score: 0 Graffiti
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,663 out of 4544
  2. Mixed: 771 out of 4544
  3. Negative: 110 out of 4544
4544 music reviews
view
per page
    • 60 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Storytone
    If A Letter Home worked to privilege and highlight songwriting tools like melody and lyricism, Storytone does the opposite, overwhelming any inherent heart or soul in Young’s original compositions.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    A Better Tomorrow
    A Better Tomorrow has very little to do with the music of 20 years ago, but it has even less to do with the music of today; it’s completely out of joint, an island of irrelevance forced into being by the labor- and drama-intensive nature of the group.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Dystopia
    The music is ferocious, catchy, and arguably the band’s best since the early ’90s; but many of Dystopia’s lyrics have nauseating connotations.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    The Search for Everything
    He’s delivered a batch of songs that feel relentlessly focus-tested in an attempt to win back his female fan base, but that have, in the process, sanded away the edges that gave him personality in the first place.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    in•ter a•li•a
    Inter Alia sounds unmistakably bored with itself.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Prophets of Rage
    It is an album of obvious statements set to equally thudding music, liable to move and inspire no one.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    44/876
    Mostly, 44/876 is just unremarkable, limply competent reggae lite, designed for Sandals resort lobbies and Sting’s office.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Horrorscope
    Horrorscope is glossy, artless, proficient, and dull enough to be easily tuned out...
    • 63 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Survivor
    Even lineup changes and inter-group squabbling couldn't stop the trio's commercial winning streak, but a massive shot of independence just might. Brilliantly crafted songs from some of pop music's top songwriting ringers have played a key role in Destiny's Child's success, but Survivor finds frontwoman Beyoncé Knowles taking over the reins, co-writing and co-producing nearly every track.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Songs From an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile
    It vacillates between insignificant fluff and confessional songs that have nothing new to confess.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Ghetto Postage
    Ghetto Postage illustrates P's unwillingness to learn from past mistakes. The names may change, with No Limit newcomers like Krazy, Afficial, and Slay Sean filling in for the AWOL Mystikal and the inexplicably absent Mia X, but P's formula of endlessly repeated choruses, feeble thug-life lyrics, and generic, low-end-heavy beats remains as tiresome and unrewarding as ever.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Liz Phair
    Worst of all, the album closes with three decent songs, reminders of Phair's talent that are muted by what's come before.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Stealing Of A Nation
    Shows how slavish reproduction curdles into artistic bankruptcy.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Lions
    With Lions, the band has dropped its biggest dud, a moribund disaster with no more than a tiny handful of salvageable songs.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    American Life
    Even modest expectations can't salvage the clunky, ponderous American Life, which fares only slightly better than "Hanky Panky" and Swept Away on her list of offenses.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    St. Anger
    St. Anger suffers mightily for its thin, washed-out sound.... A messy, unsatisfying misfire.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Crown Royal
    The musical equivalent of Willie Mays stumbling around in the outfield years after his skills were gone, Crown Royal fails in the most arbitrary, impersonal way possible, piling on so many ringers that Run DMC often seems like a guest at its own party.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Monkey Business
    The group's vaunted eclecticism starts to feel random and jittery, the mark of short attention spans and an inability to maintain a cohesive tone. Furthermore, the Peas' lyrics--already their Achilles heel--have somehow managed to devolve even further.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    A Time To Love
    This is more a marketing plan than an album.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 16 Critic Score
    One Of The Boys
    While undeniably catchy, the hyper-produced songs have a familiar radio-ready quality that becomes infuriatingly mind-numbing over time, and Perry's vocals sound like a less-soulful Kelly Clarkson at best, a drunken, spurned sorority girl at worst.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 16 Critic Score
    The Rebirth Of Venus
    The Rebirth Of Venus, his seventh full-length, offers a more direct kind of terrible.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 16 Critic Score
    The Colossus
    Frustratingly, there are whiffs of worthwhile beats buried among the blandness.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 16 Critic Score
    Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
    Pretentious yet lunkheaded, the disc's only charm is its slick, fist-pumping arrogance.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Britney
    An unmitigated drag.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    Graffiti
    Musically, Graffiti is a fairly ingratiating affair: The production is clean and often lively, and Brown sings well enough. The problem is what he’s singing.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    The Beginning
    The Beginning's shameless hit-mongering and MOR club stance gives this set about as much oomph as Cher's Believe.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    The Great Escape Artist
    Great Escape is a bold, erratic, pathetic attempt to recontextualize Jane's for the 21st century.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    The Path of Totality
    To Korn's credit, The Path Of Totality is its most radical reinvention to date. It's also the worst slab of sludge it ever shat.
next
Page: