The Telegraph (UK)'s Scores
- Music
For 1,238 reviews, this publication has graded:
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63% higher than the average critic
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4% same as the average critic
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33% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 77
Highest review score: | Hit Me Hard and Soft | |
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Lowest review score: | Killer Sounds |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 882 out of 1238
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Mixed: 354 out of 1238
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Negative: 2 out of 1238
1238
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
This is certainly her strongest album yet, a work of catharsis, therapy and succour. It does what pop music is greatest at: gathering up emotions, focusing them and pouring them out to songs that everybody can sing, but few can sing quite as well as Adele.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Nov 16, 2021
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The Nearer the Fountain may be Albarn’s most intimate, understated and impenetrable work yet. But if you are prepared to get lost in his self-involved hall of mirrors, you might just find yourself beautifully bedazzled.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Nov 11, 2021
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When the harmonies blend and Andersson’s piano rings out, it sounds enough like Abba to have hardcore fans tossing their feather boas in the air. But the dancing queens have lost the spring in their step, and the result is out-of-time rather than timeless.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Nov 4, 2021
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To some tastes, Sheeran will be corny and trite. Yet what he does well is essentially inarguable: provide songs that fulfil the emotional needs of universal moments.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Oct 28, 2021
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Everything on this flashy, melodramatic album punches its weight. If it had come out in 1985, it would have ruled the world.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Oct 22, 2021
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It feels like Del Rey’s way of reminding us we still don’t know as much about her as we like to think. Blue Banisters hints, tantalisingly, that there is far more to reveal, while putting us firmly in our place. Make no mistake about it: Del Rey will do it all strictly on her own terms.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Oct 22, 2021
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The movement back and forth between the chiselled simplicity of the core Suite itself and the freedom of the improvisations that spin out from them creates a sense of epic scale. It’s a more than worthy addition to the Coltrane recorded legacy.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Oct 20, 2021
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There have been many great sci-fi concept albums before, but Coldplay’s offering is not so much about exploring the outer limits as continued world domination. It's Zippy Starburst and the Earworms from Marketing.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Oct 14, 2021
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Seventeen Going Under would benefit from more such restraint, to really bring out the vulnerability and sensitivity underpinning Fender’s oeuvre. It is not much of a criticism to note that he doesn’t have the dynamic range of his musical hero yet. Fender may not be ready to take on the mantle of the Boss, but he’s a worthy apprentice.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Oct 7, 2021
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It’s certainly delightful and delicious – as they croon on opening track De-Lovely – although also decidedly undemanding.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Sep 30, 2021
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This appealing set of 12 short, sweet, heartfelt songs rattles along with gorgeous vocals, silvery guitar lines and perky bass and drum rhythms, stirring a jaunty singalong spirit of friends on a mission. But if the Lathums truly aspire to be the indie voice of a new generation, they are going to have to sharpen their quills or invest in a rhyming dictionary.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Sep 24, 2021
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What Volume 16 really demonstrates is that Dylan has a certain rock and folk comfort zone, and it was a mistake to ever push himself out of it. The most surprising treat is the sound of Dylan in fine voice warming up with cover versions of old favourites, including a soulful take of The Temptations’ I Wish It Would Rain, a steamy run through Elvis Presley’s Mystery Train with Ringo Starr on drums, and a slowed-down and heartfelt version of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Sep 16, 2021
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In guitarist-singer James Dean Bradfield and drummer and multi-instrumentalist Sean Moore, they boast two incredibly gifted musicians whose dense arrangements glitter with intricate interplay.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Sep 9, 2021
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Her magnificent fourth album demonstrates that she is one of the best rappers in the world, period.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Sep 2, 2021
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He is, it is true, a singular talent and his inner monologues crackle with an undeniable dark alchemy. And yet, like a sermon that goes on too long, Kanye’s stream-of-conscience observations on Jesus, Kim Kardashian and the importance of being Kanye suffer for an absence of breathing space. Full of sound and fury it may be – but West’s latest ultimately lacks direction.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Aug 29, 2021
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It sounds utterly gorgeous, and perhaps this laid-back, stripped-down folksy bent is part of a generational pop shift, echoing the intimate minimalism of Billie Eilish – but I have my doubts. ... Lorde’s lyrics are still acute, her singing superb, her songs beguiling, but her perspective has shifted from every-girl outsider to over-privileged solipsist. Solar Power is underpowered and unlikely to set the world on fire.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Aug 19, 2021
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With more restrained tempos and a broader, gentler soundscape, the focus shifts to Flowers’s thoughtful lyrics, lovely melodies and grave yet pliant vocals for the most nuanced and heartfelt set of songs that he (with various co-writers and band members) has ever conjured up.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Aug 12, 2021
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There’s a directness, freshness and intimacy to these performances that puts the late, great Beatle George right in your ear, untarnished by time. Not all things must pass, it seems.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Aug 9, 2021
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The 16-song set flows beautifully, carrying listeners on an emotional journey in which surprising musical twists and glittering barbs of lyrical empowerment cast optimistic light on a long dark night of Billie’s tortured soul.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jul 29, 2021
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The overall impression is of a super-slick exercise in generic, glossy, team-built, uber-commercial RnB-pop. Still, Anne-Marie has the kind of voice and presence that could make anybody’s day better.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jul 26, 2021
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It’s fervid, feverish and never less than ferociously funky. And far from unnerving the listener with a haunting voice from beyond the grave, Welcome 2 America serves as a call to arms for Prince fans. For all its lyrical and sonic contortions, the ultimate message is simple: even as twilight descended, his genius endured.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jul 26, 2021
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Mayer’s songs about bruised male egos, damaged hearts and hard-earned life lessons conjure up slow motion sequences from a long-lost John Hughes movie. It really is Some Kind of Wonderful.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jul 16, 2021
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It Won’t Always Be Like This amply demonstrates that there is more to Inhaler than family resemblances.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jul 8, 2021
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Utopian Ashes, then, is a marriage made in musical heaven, conjuring marital hell.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jul 2, 2021
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There’s real genius at work here – but it’s so effortlessly delivered, you might almost take it for granted.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jun 25, 2021
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Wilson unpacks her heart with poetically intimate lyrics about relationship troubles in a blur of downtempo RnB grooves and hip-hop flow, showcasing Wilson’s sensational multi-octave soul singing and masterful instrumental playing, all filtered through atmospheric digital effects that lend her old-fashioned analogue skills a contemporary sheen.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jun 18, 2021
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Blue Weekend both refines that sound and takes it in dizzying new directions. Rowsell’s lyrics have never been more absorbing in their examination of friendship, heartache, anxiety, acceptance and self-confidence.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted Jun 4, 2021
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Del Amitri’s bracing feel-bad pop-rock won’t be for everyone, but for those of us who appreciate sweet melodies set off with sour sentiments, it is perversely good to have the old curmudgeons back.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted May 27, 2021
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Whatever philosophical conundrums are addressed, the gorgeously staggered harmonies on the chorus of Dares My Heart Be Free offer profound answers in the music itself, a tangible spirit of human connection that warms the cockles of Skellig’s querulous heart.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted May 24, 2021
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Sour is a melodramatic pop opera of broken teen dreams: right now, it puts Rodrigo in the driver’s seat, and woe betide anyone who gets in her way.- The Telegraph (UK)
- Posted May 21, 2021
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