The Observer (UK)'s Scores
- Movies
- Music
For 2,616 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: 1,230 out of 2616
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Mixed: 1,368 out of 2616
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Negative: 18 out of 2616
2616
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
Underpinning everything are the Watkinses themselves, especially the agile vocals of Sara, who outshines California art rockers Tune-Yards on a cover of their Hypnotized. But it’s not a competition, just a great night out with a ringside seat.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 24, 2022
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- Critic Score
Like Michael Kiwanuka, Carner’s first two albums were occasionally terrific but his third is a masterpiece.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 24, 2022
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- Critic Score
Even on the album’s softer moments – delicate strummer All I Wanted, the lovely mid-tempo Yellow – the mood is still resolute in its heaviness. There’s relatable catharsis here, but it can be a lot to carry all at once.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 24, 2022
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Despite beats, synths and a signature “old Taylor” shout (“Nice!”), this is a return to pop that’s content to remain relatively subdued. In this smudged, low-lit headspace, Swift’s perspectives carousel round like a zoetrope.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 24, 2022
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The Unthanks don’t falter on what is their first “proper” album in seven years, though the nine minutes of the Sandgate Dandling Song, a Victorian ballad about domestic violence, inclines to the ponderous. They are better when airborne, as on The Old News or Royal Blackbird, a Jacobite song given a lively violin arrangement.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 18, 2022
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Little sparks surprise and delight, such as producer FaltyDL’s creative use of unpredictable backing vocals, and Anohni’s gossamer hook on French Lessons. On the other hand, Ketamine proffers a disorientating rhythm and queasy vibe – presumably designed to recreate a K trip – that is oddly not that enjoyable to listen to. However, the main problem is a constellation of guests.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 17, 2022
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 17, 2022
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- Critic Score
Much of the playing here feels appealingly understated, given the sizable showing of backing vocalists (“6 or 7”) and lots of brass. This atmosphere of diffuse beauty is offset by livelier tracks – such as Natural Information or Bowevil (based on a traditional) – that double as thumping singalongs.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 17, 2022
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Impressive, but weirdly hard to enjoy. Into the Blue is similarly promiscuous, but more frequently dazzling.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 10, 2022
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Out of Heart may not be a home run, but Flohio still scores with her acrobatic rhyme patterns and experimental sonics.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 10, 2022
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Part of the pleasure of covers albums is comparing the original with the nuanced update; this album misses that moment when the three Horsepeople wrap their dulcet pipes and jazzy arrangements around an ancient, oaky institution. The past, though, is still very much present.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 10, 2022
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An arresting, if not always comfortable creation from an uncommon talent.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 4, 2022
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- Critic Score
Having explored the darker side of the dancefloor, Nymph finds Muise experimenting with its more irreverent aspects.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 3, 2022
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There are moments, as on Every Child Begins the World Again, so musically numinous and epochally sad that Lambchop approaches Nick Cave’s recent work.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 3, 2022
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Trilling flutes and whimsical clarinets break the mood of majestic ache that makes Fossora one of Björk’s hardest-hitting albums.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 3, 2022
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There are excellent Miles trumpet solos all over these tracks too, proving that he’d got his sound back after his late-70s breakdown.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 26, 2022
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This is an album that perfectly reflects Burgess’s guileless, up-for-anything, good-egg nature.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 26, 2022
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For the most part it’s a rich and deftly arranged work, and though there’s a warmth that can sometimes border on cloying, he cuts through with chaos and levity.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 26, 2022
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There is a feeling of generous unspooling here, with hip-hop breakbeats (on one standout, Dream Another) and nods to machine-made music in among the sumptuous orchestral and genre-agnostic instrumentation.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 26, 2022
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This is a record about coming home to yourself, about feeling truly alive, one with the added benefit of being stuffed with bangers and not overburdened by corny shredding.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 19, 2022
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Crossan never strays from the formula. Each track is a verse-chorus sugar rush, giving the listener a three-minute hit of predictable entertainment across radio-friendly styles.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 19, 2022
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There’s barely a misstep in Autofiction’s 45-minute running time. A late-career triumph.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 19, 2022
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- Critic Score
Previously unheard on any other archival release, these versions genuinely add to his already considerable myth.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 19, 2022
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- Critic Score
Respite comes with the atmospheric closer, Gaia – a nicely understated duet with Elissa Lauper that also features the Blue Nile’s Paul Buchanan – but it doesn’t make up for the pedestrianism elsewhere.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 12, 2022
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- Critic Score
This whirlwind album is full of feeling and fervour, and its liveliness affirms just why she is a singular talent.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 12, 2022
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There are blooping keys and retro drum machines on River Rival; Thinking of Nina feels like a long-lost hit from the 80s. Even better is Soft Boys Make the Grade, a tune that relocates Williams’s gothic bent into a killer soft-rock tune in which he sidles into someone’s direct messages.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 12, 2022
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As woozy and restless as these multipart productions are, she packs in plenty of sticky stuff: melodies, hooks, insistent figures.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 7, 2022
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 6, 2022
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- Critic Score
This adds welcome colour to the xx cinematic universe, but it’s no blockbuster.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 6, 2022
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- Critic Score
It’s slightly overlong and unnecessarily repetitive, but clearly made with great care and affection.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 29, 2022
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