The A.V. Club's Scores

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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
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    • 73 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    VII: Sturm und Drang
    A generic album.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Who Killed The Zutons
    The band doesn't seem to have recombined The Coral's sources in a personal way; instead, it's made a crisp copy, with no spirit of its own.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Afrodisiac
    Analbum that flirts with the mundane just enough to tease out moments of brilliance.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Production
    What could have been a huge breakthrough instead sounds staid, as if he were so used to rocking the house that he didn't want to risk rocking the boat.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Best of Gloucester County
    So while chants of "I love my Lord!" were deemed acceptable by listeners not used to listening to such things, Smith has finally offered something that might be a bit too unsettling: straightforward pop songs.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Desperate Ground
    Desperate Ground has a tendency to sound monochromatic and homogenous.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Other People's Lives
    Sounds too much like a man chasing trends.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    36 Seasons
    Even at its best, however, 36 Seasons lacks the maniacal forward drive that propels Ghostface’s most electrifying works.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Kidsticks
    In the end, Kidsticks’ raw material is sound, and Orton’s attention to detail is impressive. But this adventurous approach could use a bit more structure and cohesion next time around.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise
    Yes, it's pleasant escapism, but when there's nothing genuinely heartfelt at stake, who's going to care after the credits roll?
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wanna Buy a Monkey?
    Automator has described Monkey as an opportunity for listeners to journey inside his mind, but given his past discography, that trip should be a lot wilder and weirder than this relatively straightforward record.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    '64 - '95
    None of the samples really evoke the years in question, and Lemon Jelly doesn't put the years in any kind of relevant order, so the overall point of '64-'95 seems a little vague.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Descended Like Vultures
    Though it's generally enjoyable throughout, Descended Like Vultures feels more stunted than it should, as though Rogue were afraid to open up these songs too much.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    No Sounds Are Out of Bounds
    Overall it’s a baggy mixed bag of dub grooves and warmed-over house beats, dominated by an exhausting tower of babbling dialogue samples that, like No Sounds itself, rarely have much to say.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    King Night
    The rest of King Night is, for the most part, similarly forgettable.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    Turn Blue
    Feelings are always “heavy” or a “burden,” and love is consistently “dark” or “light”; it’s thematic territory that feels stale for the band, and the result is an album that aspires to talk about the complex nature of relationships, yet has nothing meaningful to say.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Jessica Rabbit
    Sleigh Bells has grown up plenty since their 2009 lightning-strike arrival, but perhaps that strike is starting to feel like more of a distant memory than it should.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    No Line On The Horizon
    U2 might try to pass Horizon off as atmospheric, but it's really just a grab bag of underdeveloped ideas that never seemed to command the band's full attention.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Love Is Here
    Love Is Here radiates as-yet-unfulfilled potential, like the work of a band going through the motions to get its foot in the door.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Purple Haze
    Purple Haze lumbers drearily through a sea of gangsta-rap clichés.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Born to Sing: No Plan B
    The remainder of Born To Sing is salvaged by solid, serviceable, latter-day Morrison material.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Extreme Witchcraft
    The songs on Extreme Witchcraft that don’t work simply blend into the background. ... Moments that do work—and there are a handful—combine Everett’s peerless gift for melody and pacing. ... Ultimately, however, there isn’t much in the way of subtext here.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    How To Walk Away
    If only there was more of this devilish grit on How To Walk Away.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Let's Be Still
    Let’s Be Still falters in its lethargy.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Documentary
    Lots of great rappers draw inspiration from hip-hop classics, but The Game seems to be equally influenced by an almost obsessive-compulsive need to rattle off classic album titles.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Visitations
    Unfortunately, for those who've been hanging around waiting for Clinic to eclipse its past achievements, Visitations feels like one step forward, too many steps back.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Planetarium
    It generally just plays like a wash of ideas without much of a through-line, despite its galaxy-driven conceit.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Yours Conditionally
    Even with some outstanding singles, the album as a whole finds the group somewhere between its comfort zone and a confident next step, with many of the songs bleeding forgettably into one another.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Dove
    Shaving a few of the middling cuts like “Heartstrings” and “Stars Align” would have helped the album overall, as Belly’s comeback songs runs together in a cranky sea of relationship angst.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Baby I'm Bored
    The biggest problem with Baby I'm Bored is that getting to the good stuff requires slogging through the initial four tracks.
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