The Boston Phoenix's Scores

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For 1,091 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Pink
Lowest review score: 0 Last of a Dyin' Breed
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 956 out of 1091
  2. Mixed: 88 out of 1091
  3. Negative: 47 out of 1091
1091 music reviews
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    • 68 Metascore
    • 37 Critic Score
    Too Beautiful to Work
    The Luyas do supply some exquisite instrumental ingredients--a French horn sent through pedals, an obscure zither-like contraption called the Moodswinger, and various electronic effects--but they have a tough time making anything memorable out of them. Timidity eventually renders their work tedious.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 37 Critic Score
    Mumps, Etc.
    Lifeless and boring.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 37 Critic Score
    Back On My B.S.
    B.S. includes far more filler than it needed to.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Childish Prodigy
    Throughout, a messy æsthetic attempts to cover up pop sympathies--or simply proves that dissonance and sweetness needn't be kept in their separate corners.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Happy In Galoshes
    It might be one of the year's worst albums, an underwritten, overarranged mess of factory-floor guitar fuzz, go-nowhere vocal melodies, limp electronic beats, and lyrical clunkers.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Daybreak
    Though Daybreak generally fulfils that longing for the simpler days of 2001's Stay What You Are, it's ultimately hard to understand why it's taken almost three years to make such a simplistic record.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Take My Breath Away
    This may work as a singles record, but it lacks the depth to hold much interest.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Ukulele Songs
    The songs, a handful of covers and about a dozen originals, aren't terrible, but the ukulele gets really old, really quick.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Drawing Down the Moon
    The collection itself is haphazard; what's worse is that the individual tracks build and remain suspended in mid air by very thin and awkward threads, rarely growing into full-fledged arrangements.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    The Flexible Entertainer
    Davis-Jeffers sounds bored throughout The Flexible Entertainer, and her languid, half-rapped vocals are entirely affectless.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Blood of My Enemies
    Insipid lyrics, absolutely zero feel, and derivative riffs that make Godsmack seem ingenious add up to everything that gives metal a bad name.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Alpinisms
    With a clearer eye to the cultures whose stereotypes they’re furthering, the Bells could have made a provocative connection between the European forms they’re comfortable with and any number of traditional Middle Eastern and Indian instruments and forms they’re interested in but not serious about.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 12 Critic Score
    Bring on the Comets
    For the most part, singer-songwriter Craig Pfunder doesn't justify the presence of vocals and lyrics.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 12 Critic Score
    All Things Bright and Beautiful
    All Things Bright and Beautiful, 12 sterilized laptop clunkers that are indeed bright but far from beautiful. There's no maturity in sight.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Violet Cries
    If Esben and the Witch don't quell their sonic histrionics, they may not get a second curtain call.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    Last of a Dyin' Breed
    On Dyin' Breed, they stoop to some depressing new lows.
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