The Guardian's Scores

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For 5,502 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 49% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 48% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 All Born Screaming
Lowest review score: 10 Unpredictable
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,965 out of 5502
  2. Mixed: 2,460 out of 5502
  3. Negative: 77 out of 5502
5502 music reviews
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    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Boy Who Knew Too Much
    At the core of these songs are gleaming melodies that rarely fail to hit the mark, which is why even the single 'We Are Golden' is tolerable despite the best efforts of a gang of horribly exuberant kiddie backing singers.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    45
    Clocking in at little over half an hour, the record is pleasingly deft – because, let’s face it, even from a songwriter as sharp as Brewis, the phrase “Donald Trump funk musical” doesn’t promise the most thrilling of listens.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Invariable Heartache
    The result is charming enough to warrant their plucking from country ditty heaven.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Jaded & Faded
    It's still one for punk fans only--claims for greater melody and less speed are all relative, and you certainly shouldn't approach Jaded & Faded expecting McBusted--but it's a flash of fun.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Broke With Expensive Taste
    While Broke With Expensive Taste’s overarching direction is a thrill, its execution doesn’t always match up.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Triage
    Webb is capable of nimble vocals, but he often opts for a deliberately strained tone, as if trying to push his woes through his colon. His gift for hooks means that even this peculiarity will find fans.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    High Hopes
    High Hopes may be a stopgap, but it is one assembled with tender, loving care.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Running Still
    The romance of it all doesn't play quite so well in Britain, but this album is still a palatable addition to the adult-contemporary genre.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dig Out Your Soul
    Oasis can still occasionally produce songs suggestive of the breezy insouciance that marked their early years--the new single 'The Shock of the Lightning' among them--but more often on Dig Out Your Soul, they sound as though they're killing themselves trying to come up with something that'll do.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Goblin
    Goblin is undeniably, intentionally unpleasant, and any attempt to wave away the unpleasantness is bogus.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Pageant Material
    Though her songwriting partners--Nashville A-listers Luke Laird and Shane McAnally--are on board again, the acuity is lessened.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Impossible Dream
    Impossible Dream undoubtedly boasts the kind of bright melodies, satisfying hooks and nice turns of phrase that can worm their way into your psyche. Whether Bonar’s songs are distinctive enough to leave a mark there, though, is not quite so certain.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Colorado
    The end result is another Neil Young album to add to the pile of the not-bad and the OK he’s amassed over the last decade, while a steady stream of archive releases highlight how great Neil Young can be at his best: as good as any artist in rock history, and certainly better than this.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Babel
    Essentially it's a honing of their 2009 debut, Sigh No More, but with more of the ferocity you encounter in their live show.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Guadalupe Plata (2015)
    It’s not that it’s bad, by any means, more that music that depends so much on charismatic performance for impact doesn’t really translate to the studio.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hercules And Love Affair
    While it lasts, Hercules and Love Affair sound as original and exotic as their backgrounds.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Adam Ant Is the BlueBlack Hussar In Marrying The Gunner's Daughter
    The 17 tracks offer a rickety but entertaining mix of the best elements of his imperial period.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Brink
    Largely regressive, but somehow satisfying.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sound City: Real to Reel
    Some tracks (the Rick Springfield-augmented The Man That Never Was) sound like Foos-by-numbers. However, Grohl and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic have coaxed a jewel from Paul McCartney: the raging, White Album-ish Cut Me Some Slack must be the rawest thing he's recorded in over 40 years.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    No Pier Pressure
    No Pier Pressure doesn’t bother trying to sound current, instead aiming to attract casual listeners with special guests, not all of whom complement Wilson.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    See My Friends
    See My Friends sees him plunder his back catalogue, with generally pleasurable results.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    12 Memories
    This pretty diffidence, coupled with the fact the loss of producer Nigel Godrich and his sexifying sheen, makes Travis's fourth album feel small and woebegone.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Coming Home
    Bridges has a fantastic voice, but you sense he’s also yet to truly find it.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Up All Night
    Originality may not be Razorlight's strong point, but Borrell's raw charisma carries the day.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    TP.3 Reloaded
    It's not that R lacks imagination, but Sex in the Kitchen, Sex Weed and (Sex) Love Is What We Makin' ... suggest that he needs to sort out his libido if he's going to be remembered as anything other than a heavy-handed stud.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Midnight Memories
    Ultimately, the vast bulk of Midnight Memories remains emotionally charged rather than carnally inclined, with not a soupçon of R&B anywhere and love songs galore.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Our Ill Wills
    Our Ill Wills is not quite substantial enough to change anybody's life, but its loveliest moments certainly make living more worthwhile.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    To Believe
    This is an album that feels accomplished but unremarkable, neither possessing the kind of experimentalism that might push things forward nor idiosyncratic enough to stand out in a newly crowded marketplace.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bones
    There’s so much bone-crunching texture that it claws your ears like a gnarled kitten. Past the theatrical dins of songs like Flight and This Time, though, there are simple pleasures in the cinematic darkness of I Am the Others and the folksier Undone, which strikes a balance between complex rhythms and alluring acoustic guitar licks.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
    It's certainly a fact that he currently errs on the side of tweeness.
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