The Independent (UK)'s Scores

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For 2,192 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 47% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 Radical Optimism
Lowest review score: 0 Donda
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,175 out of 2192
  2. Mixed: 988 out of 2192
  3. Negative: 29 out of 2192
2192 music reviews
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    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I See You
    They are exciting precisely because they refuse to reveal everything about themselves, and because there is an ambiguity to be found in lyrics that come across as bluntly personal. It’s a talent that was present in their first two albums, only this time, they’ve let the light in a bit.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Run the Jewels 3
    Killer Mike and El-P bring typically sharp, visceral observations, chugging beats and superb guest artists onto their most successful studio effort to date.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Action Time Vision: A Story of Independent U.K. Punk 1976-1979 [Box Set]
    This 111-track set does a commendable enough job, reflecting the extraordinary creative tumult happening behind the headline crap about gobbing and safety-pins.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Miles Davis Quintet: Freedom Jazz Dance: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 5
    Freedom Jazz Dance features the entire session reels for tracks from Miles Smiles and Nefertiti, complete with studio dialogue, enabling us to hear Miles discussing and directing the music, ironing out details. ... The point when they all seem to realise, as one, what to do with “Nefertiti” is a moment of pure, transcendent joy.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Christmas Party
    A decent collection which explores different aspects of the duo’s chosen musical territory.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    London Fog 1966 [Live] [Box Set]
    As it is, these seven surviving tracks capture a group in transition from R&B covers outfit to something more significant.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Daniel Bachman
    Recommended to fans of Michael Chapman, Ryley Walker and Jack Rose.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Olympians
    It’s a delight, full of rich textures and subtle touches, from the harpsichord, hi-hats and horns of “Apollo’s Mood” to the sumptuous opener “Sirens Of Jupiter.”
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Colorist & Emiliana Torrini [Live]
    The depth of The Colorist’s percussive range is transformative, bringing explicit form to the simple expression of romantic excitement in “Jungle Drum”, and rendering the enchantment of the new song “When We Dance.”
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    4 Your Eyez Only
    Jermaine Cole’s fourth album is highly principled and skilfully wrought, but those aren’t always the most prized or effective elements when it comes to hip-hop.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Restless Spheres
    Restless Spheres is the first release in nine years from Blue States, the nom-de-disque of chill-out stylist Andy Dragazis; and sadly, it sounds somewhat mired in the modes of an emptier era.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Darkness and Light
    The contrasts of the title are evident throughout John Legend’s latest album--in the push and pull between devotion and desire, indulgence and empowerment, and musically in the dialectic between comforting familiarity and exploratory urges.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Peace Trail
    With Peace Trail, Neil Young slips into self-parody again, with a set of desultory peacenik songs too simplistic and patronising to be taken seriously.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Hamilton Mixtape
    Wherever you look, there’s a fierce artistic sensibility at work.
    • 95 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Singles: The Definitive 45's Collection
    They pushed the single envelope in various directions – processional chants, electric-organ improvisations, big-band “space bop”, and at the furthest extreme of his sonic galaxy, the furious free-jazz of “Cosmo-Extensions”, guaranteed to clear the floor at any party.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hamburg Demonstrations
    Musically, it’s an odd mix of ambition and disorder, with Doherty’s familiar raggedy-ass rock tempered with poignant moments.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Starboy
    His guests include Lana Del Rey, whose affectless manner makes her a perfect match for him; though the best grooves here come courtesy of Daft Punk, bookending the album with the scudding title-track and Michael Jackson homage “I Feel It Coming”.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blue and Lonesome
    What impresses most about Blue & Lonesome is Mick Jagger, who really animates these songs.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: Celebrating Mac & His Music [Live]
    Accompanied by a crack hometown band for whom the intricacies of New Orleans’ distinctive second-line rhythms are clearly second nature, it’s a parade of infectious funk and soul right from the moment Bruce Springsteen romps through “Right Place Wrong Time”, to the Doctor’s closing roll through “I Walk On Guilded Splinters” and “Such A Night”.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Home on Native Land
    A sweet, joyously transgressive album.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Gunslinger
    Garth here sensibly celebrates simple good times in songs like the twangsome “Honky Tonk Somewhere” and its cutting-loose continuation “Weekend”, where copious location namechecks enthuse that “it’s weekend all over the world”. Elsewhere, “Baby, Let’s Lay Down And Dance” tacks its cheeky proposition onto a “Long Train Running” groove, while the chugging boogie of “Pure Adrenaline” suggests how ZZ Top might sound if they were country.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Boots No 1: The Official Revival Bootleg
    It’s a stark but stunning collection, with Rawlings’ exquisite acoustic lead lines dancing around the melodies, and the duo’s harmonies imbuing their songs with poignant shades of emotion.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    This Girl's in Love (A Bacharach & David Songbook)
    Too often, the songs are shadowed by earlier interpreters.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    24K Magic
    There’s scant distinction overall, with Bruno’s eager-beaver personality wearing perilously thin on “That’s What I Like”, a tiresome tick-list of unimaginative hedonism, and “Chunky”, a big-lass anthem lacking even the roguish, cheeky [sic] charm of Sir Mixalot’s “Baby Got Back”.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Before the Dawn [Live]
    What comes across perhaps more strongly in this audio version of Before The Dawn is the subtly contrasting nature of the two suites, their disparate characters--entrapment versus liberation, petrifying terror versus exultant joy--reflected in the music.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lady, Give Me Your Key: The Unissued 1967 Solo Acoustic Sessions
    Equally interesting are undeveloped outtakes such as the exquisite heartbreak miniature “Marigold”, and two songs deliberately written to meet Elektra’s demand for a hit single, “Once Upon A Time” and “Lady, Give Me Your Key”, on which Buckley’s genial charm and outlandish vocal gymnastics--not to mention the latter track’s clumsy drug-pun metaphor--trump any unfeasible commercial considerations.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eternally Even
    A series of lovely, languid soul grooves built around throbbing, cyclical organ drones, subdued guitar and electric piano, downtempo funk beats and subtle streaks of strings.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service
    Despite the hiatus, this guest-laden double-album finds the group still very much engaged, rattling out tongue-twisting, articulate verbal flows dealing more with social realities than self-aggrandising brags and outlaw fantasies.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Goodnight City
    There’s something grippingly wide-eyed and manic about her performances here and on the mounting hysteria of Beth Orton’s “Alexandria”, while more reserved shades of mental imbalance are evoked in “Window”, where the petrifying effect of obsession is considered over a stealthy, furtive arrangement.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Long Live the Angels
    Not that the usual soul belters are entirely absent from Long Live The Angels. Tracks like “Every Single Little Piece” and “Highs & Lows” are big, radio-friendly chartbound anthems, ebullient and eager to please; but the more interesting aspects of the album are to be found in less formulaic arrangements, such as “Give Me Something”, which opens with an acoustic guitar flourish pointedly recalling “The Tracks Of My Tears”, before settling into a folk-soul setting clearly influenced by Tracy Chapman.
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