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
Trespassing isn't a totally cogent statement. Lambert suffers from a lack of restraint, while the second half of the album lags. But you have to admire Lambert's ability to go over the top and then ratchet higher still.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jul 2, 2012
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- Critic Score
Despite the shadow of tragedy hanging over the project, there’s an irrepressible euphoria to the music throughout.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 17, 2015
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- Critic Score
Midway through Steam Days, Harnser does dark pizzicato things befitting a 90s warehouse rave, while elsewhere, the analogue-melting-into-digital influence of Four Tet is palpable.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 27, 2012
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- Critic Score
The Norwegian duo’s once naive sound has evolved to a smarter, more lyrically resonant electronica, and if it weren’t for a couple of whimsical ballads, this would be a powerful, cohesive goodbye.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Nov 10, 2014
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- Critic Score
While Ti Amo is slow to reveal its charms, there are moments when the cheesy concept--a romanticised version of Italy--is made to seem like a brilliant idea.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jun 12, 2017
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Ultimately, you conclude, Jones's golden voice was built for hooting, hollering and hubba-hubba-ing at the ladies, not mulling things over.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted May 21, 2012
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A decent debut, then, but with Mai’s rich voice you can’t help feeling that it could have been stratospheric. Instead, it fails to innovate, and all feels a little beige.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 15, 2018
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- Critic Score
The album’s second half glides hazily by, never actually disappointing, but maintaining a mid-tempo pensiveness that is a little too comforting for comfort.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jan 22, 2018
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jan 7, 2013
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- Critic Score
Stage Whisper is more of a stop-gap than a fourth album proper... But there are gems among the eight unreleased songs.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jan 30, 2012
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- Critic Score
It’s a perfectly serviceable album, as one might expect, given the pedigree of those involved. But it’s hard to imagine it being met with anything but bemusement at the Grand Ole Opry.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jun 1, 2020
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You would fully expect to find strings and piano on an Elbow track, but these can be any scoundrel's knee-jerk shortcut to gravitas. Much better are Guy Garvey's sloshed 40-nothing aperçus, playing off beautifully against a slinky organ melody.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Mar 10, 2014
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Apr 27, 2015
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- Critic Score
Ultimately, the harder, almost techno-inclined instrumental tracks, such as Little Red Hen or Death in the Gulf Stream, are infinitely better than those burdened with vocals, some lairy and crass, some merely unengaging.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jul 25, 2016
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If the sense of overfamiliarity is a bit disappointing for a band once lauded as experimentalists, producer Ethan Kath has also retained his knack for writing terrific hooks and warped melodies. Ornament and Kept are nuggets of brilliantly disjointed electropop.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 22, 2016
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While this album’s rotating mic-spot keeps things moving like a playlist, the memorability of these tracks bobs up and down like the waves off the coast of Free Nationals’ native California.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Dec 16, 2019
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- Critic Score
Even Elton-sceptics can take solace in how producer T-Bone Burnett continues to improve the veteran piano man by filling the interstices of his work with detail, rendering songs such as the rather good Claw Hammer at least 43% more nuanced.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Feb 8, 2016
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jan 7, 2013
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- Critic Score
Wilder Mind will only make Mumford & Sons more enormous. Mercifully, it has also significantly improved them as a band.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted May 4, 2015
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- Critic Score
These 16 tracks (17 on the deluxe version) play out quite pleasurably in their entirety, the joins between Swift, Dessner and Antonoff ultimately only of niche interest. But Swift’s powerful songs reach their climaxes with bittersweet orchestrations, rather than blows to the solar plexus or a ringing in the ears. Everything hovers; little truly lands.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 3, 2020
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jul 10, 2014
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- Critic Score
The Way Is Read gets better the further in you get, the thrilling closing title track highlighting the talents of both parties.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Dec 8, 2017
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- Critic Score
Mustafa’s delivery hits a bruised place somewhere between 21st-century folk and bereft R&B.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jun 1, 2021
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- Critic Score
Assembled from rehearsals rather than the actual concert, it’s something of a field recording but one with arresting power. A noble oddity.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 1, 2016
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- Critic Score
With the exception of Krishna Punk and Devils, the album lacks drive, and at 19 tracks it’s easy to lose focus while listening.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Aug 22, 2016
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- Critic Score
No question his lyrics are smart but they can sound studied, valuing intricacy over flow.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jul 6, 2012
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- Critic Score
Mø’s new-era singles thus far have been earworms – the euphoric Live to Survive, the Ed Sheeran-like Kindness, the more recent electronic ballad Goosebumps. The remainder of Motordrome mostly maintains this hit rate.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Jan 31, 2022
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- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Oct 26, 2015
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- Critic Score
These may not be new songs, but their glazed melancholy does not disappoint.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Sep 23, 2013
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- Critic Score
Freak-folk currents still run through tracks such as Fireplace, but Grapefruit is more wilful and abrasive than his last effort, 2013’s Bowler Hat Soup.- The Observer (UK)
- Posted Mar 28, 2016
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