The Observer (UK)'s Scores
- Movies
- Music
For 2,620 reviews, this publication has graded:
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37% higher than the average critic
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4% same as the average critic
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59% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.9 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 68
Highest review score: | Gold-Diggers Sound | |
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Lowest review score: | Collections |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1,233 out of 2620
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Mixed: 1,369 out of 2620
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Negative: 18 out of 2620
2620
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
75 tracks from as many artists, ranging from the trad (Pete Townshend's "Corrina, Corrina", the upbeat old-time of Carolina Chocolate Drops' "Political World") to the rad (Sussan Deyhim's "All I Really Want to Do", Ke$ha's pleasingly pared "Don't Think Twice…").- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jan 23, 2012
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- Critic Score
It is not wild hyperbole to say that he might be the finest master of his craft alive today.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jan 23, 2012
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jan 9, 2012
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- Critic Score
A triumphant excursion.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Dec 5, 2011
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Dec 5, 2011
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- Critic Score
Bondy gives his songs plenty of room to breathe, the results being quite often spellbinding.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Nov 28, 2011
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- Critic Score
If… is a joy, its 10 mostly instrumental tracks proving both intimate and powerful.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Nov 21, 2011
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Nov 7, 2011
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- Critic Score
Welcome to Condale doesn't fetishise the past, its love-gone-wrong lyrics and snatches of chillwave lending Summer Camp a sound that is theirs alone.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Nov 1, 2011
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- Critic Score
Those who like their Will Oldham albums straight-up, sparse and intimate will find Wolfroy--the Kentucky singer-songwriter's 16th-odd album--right up their street.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 31, 2011
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Four years on and they have made a witty, hooky dance record in thrall to the rock operatics of Led Zeppelin and Queen.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 24, 2011
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- Critic Score
Bad As Me's 13 tracks fairly rip along, alerting a new generation that there are few as fine as Waits.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 24, 2011
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- Critic Score
[The album] is an intriguing work: dark, seductive and as hard to pin down as its creator.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 20, 2011
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- Critic Score
His first album as Neon Indian was sun-struck and woozy; the mood, on the follow-up, has grown a little darker and on "Future Sick" the wooziness veers into nausea. Which makes the sunnier moments, when they come, all the more heightened.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 10, 2011
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Wild Flag sees Brownstein reunited with S-K drummer Janet Weiss, plus Helium's Mary Timony and keyboard player Rebecca Cole in an effervescent celebration of the fun of being in a band.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 10, 2011
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Biophilia is no clever-clever cacophony. Like the natural world from which it draws inspiration, the album has structure and convention. And there is always the anchor of Björk's voice and her words, which conjoin emotional forces and elemental processes.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 10, 2011
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- Critic Score
Its louder moments--and there are plenty--are even better and feature stomping incantations that demand air and company.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 3, 2011
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- Critic Score
Not all of 4everevolution shines--tracks such as "First Growth" feel like Manuva by numbers--but there are some gems here, and it's good to hear the veteran south London rapper adapting his gruff tones to such a wide variety of material.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 26, 2011
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Coinciding with his turning 85, Bennett's latest sounds like a fantasy birthday party in full swing, one where an outrageously starry array of guests share the mic with a host as twinkling as ever.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 19, 2011
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- Critic Score
Their third album has less of a home-produced feel though offers the same mainstream mash-up of indie-pop and dance, the beats and synth lines slightly more souped up.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 15, 2011
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- Critic Score
The modulations and switches in pace remain as bold as ever, and Clark has a knack for memorable melody and a winning voice with shades of Kate Bush and Leslie Feist.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 11, 2011
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- Critic Score
Throughout, Fool's Gold lollop along confidently, Top's husky croon offset by Lewis Pesacov's guitar lines, like dewy spider's web.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 6, 2011
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- Critic Score
The humour is often savage--a sprightly accordion heralds a story of damaged troops--but Cooder's aim is true. He's become a Woody Guthrie for our times.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 6, 2011
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Their second album once again combines the muscularity of 80s post-hardcore types Hüsker Dü and Dinosaur Jr with the dynamics of breezily sunny three-minute pop songs, this time to even better effect.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 29, 2011
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Their fifth album sidesteps the rolling, electric style that's made them world-conquerors for a return to acoustic campfire camaraderie.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 29, 2011
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Press-release comparisons to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin are misplaced-Lenny Kravitz, maybe--but this is still a good album.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 23, 2011
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- Critic Score
The title may be misleading: if there are hearts on this stirring debut they're the blood-racing, pulse-quickening kind rather than any idly-doodled kitsch.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 18, 2011
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It's better than West's last, impressive album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. With fantastically varied production, Watch the Throne marches hungrily forward, belying its genesis in a series of swanky hotel rooms.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 15, 2011
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- Critic Score
On paper, its influences--surf punk, Prince, oriental pop, minimalist dance--smack of hipster posturing, but on record, they blend beautifully.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 10, 2011
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- Critic Score
Only the syrupy "I Was Here" disappoints, its corny bluster at odds with the laid-back feel of her most accomplished album yet.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 2, 2011
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