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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    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rock'n'Roll
    Way too much of Rock N Roll falls into the same trap that catches The Strokes: No matter how good a rock 'n' roll song sounds, it usually needs a certain amount of heart or heft.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Live It Out
    Metric has a hard time balancing its pop side and its experimental side, and not enough of the new record is as memorable as its simmering regret ballad "Too Little Too Late" or the frenzied retro-dance cut "Monster Hospital."
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Girl In The Other Room
    The Girl In The Other Room represents an experiment for Krall, and not an entirely successful one, but at the end of the record, having demonstrated the confidence to explain herself, she comes out with some of her most persuasive music yet.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Odyssey
    Fischerspooner still underdevelops its melodies and overcooks its mixes, but Odyssey contains a fair number of songs like the opener, "Just Let Go," a lean dance track with a memorable chorus, buzzing guitars, and some deft keywork.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Underachievers Please Try Harder
    If Camera Obscura weren't roughly the thousandth band to recombine the pastoral sounds and adolescent exploitation of the '60s, it would be easier to work up some enthusiasm for Underachievers, especially since the group's melodies are catchy enough that they don't need the cutesy trappings.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Are You Passionate?
    For the most part, Are You Passionate? feels like an after-hours session, its songs weary and a little lost, but at times, Young makes those qualities work for him.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Iron Flag
    More interesting than essential, Iron Flag may not win over those who gave up on Wu-Tang Clan around the time of Wu-Tang Forever, but the group's dedication to its own idiosyncratic path remains impressive.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Feminist Sweepstakes
    Lacking some of its predecessor's musical inventiveness, Feminist Sweepstakes revisits similar terrain, but Hanna's increasing bitterness makes it hard to tell whether even she believes what she's saying.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Songs For Silverman
    Folds remains tasteful to a fault, and while Songs For Silverman is arguably his most mature work to date it's almost indisputably his most middle-aged album, which isn't an entirely positive development.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Per Second, Per Second, Per Second... Every Second
    The band seems to be making a conscious effort to alienate its old fan base.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    All That You Can't Leave Behind
    Ten albums into its career, U2's emphasis on its basics--chiming guitars, a war-themed lament here and there, the enormous choruses of songs like "Beautiful Day"--is a refreshing reminder of the group's core virtues. But in terms of execution, it splits about 50-50 between soaring hits and dispiriting misses.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Amazing Grace
    At its best, Amazing Grace® finds Pierce and his many supporting players piecing their disparate moods and sounds into moments of catharsis only Spiritualized could create. But too often, those ingredients are doled out separately, as the album jerks through jarringly integrated fragments that should have run together seamlessly.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    thickfreakness
    A steamy, boozy, looser take on the amped-up miserablism of the band's overly rigid 2002 debut The Big Come Up.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Emoh
    This set of songs disappoints with its unwillingness to take real chances. Seemingly afraid to sound foolish, Barlow now sounds just okay.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Silver & Gold
    This is Young's strongest set of songs in years, but the disc just isn't compelling.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    When The Pawn...
    Apple is ... crafty, covering up her rambling, dorm-friendly lyrics with sharp arrangements and sturdy songcraft.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hot Fuss
    Most of Hot Fuss slides by without creating much of a stir, but it's got too many memorable moments to be written off.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Long Gone Before Daylight
    Fans who enjoyed The Cardigans' evolution toward the challenging art-disco of Gran Turismo will likely be disappointed by Daylight, which at least superficially sounds like the kind of easygoing roots-lite better associated with Sheryl Crow or Bonnie Raitt.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Photo Album
    Its 38-minute run time is often marked by pleasant but static, middle-of-the-road material.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sugar Ray
    An amiable assortment of summer-radio fare, its only cardinal sins being its calculated and characteristic adherence to trends and "Stay On," an ill-conceived collaboration with 311's Nick Hexum.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Loneliest Punk
    As long as listeners don't expect an album full of songs as painfully brilliant as "What's Up Fatlip?", Punk marks a fairly solid return from an artist who lost nearly everything, but retained his scruffy underdog charm.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rock Steady
    Everything its predecessor wasn't: bouncy, joyful, carefree, and mostly engaging.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Road Rock Volume 1
    It's no small achievement that Young makes these seasoned vets sound like a loose bar band, reveling in sloppiness and barely held together by his searing guitar work.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    New Favorite
    One of the few creatively adventurous singers to maintain a presence on country radio, Krauss continues to subtly press the boundaries of her sound, but it's hard to imagine anything on New Favorite alienating the masses.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Welcome Back
    Sometimes infectious but often empty.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Drag It Up
    Drag It Up is a proper full-length, but it occasionally plays like an odds-and-ends collection.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Volume 2
    Volume 2 features some nice experiments, notably the droning "Schram And Sheddle 262," the Krautrock-cum-punk of "Telstar Recovery" and "High Pitch Needs," and the Eno-pop of "Circulation," but the disc is too diffuse, disjointed, and (in its own sloppy way) derivative to hold together. Interesting ideas abound, though, and Volume 2's lack of cohesion could lead to a breakthrough some time soon, especially considering Warren's rapid evolution and incessant output.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Waiting For The Sirens' Call
    In the context of New Order's catalog, it may sink to the bottom, but listening to a great (or at least once-great) band phone it in can at least occasionally be rewarding enough to make the effort worthwhile.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Come to Where I'm From
    Arthur's shortcomings as a lyricist make his emotional palette seem as limited as his sonic palette is varied and, however layered the production, his songwriting nearly always follows suit.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Cure
    Nothing on The Cure really soars.
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