Village Voice's Scores

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For 764 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 47% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 50% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5.1 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 68
Highest review score: 100 The Naked Truth
Lowest review score: 10 God Says No
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 517 out of 764
  2. Mixed: 199 out of 764
  3. Negative: 48 out of 764
764 music reviews
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    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Planet Earth
    Anti-war, pro-environment, religious ('Chelsea Rodgers' only gives up trim if you're baptized), and funky, Planet Earth is still merely an excuse to tour.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Cease To Begin
    With 10 tracks adding up to a mere 34 minutes, this follow-up is much more wan and insubstantial than its predecessor.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Parachutes
    There's little on Parachutes that demands attention or punctures the pensive spell, and, unlike Travis's, Coldplay's hooks are slight.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Happiness Ltd.
    So while '5 Times Out of 100' and 'My Best Friend' revive old times, you miss Steve Bay's unhinged vocals and jagged keyboards elsewhere when HHH instead try to compensate with a funky chant- rocker ('Give Up') or a big-drama Raspberries tribute (the title track).
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Endless Wire
    Townshend's faith in rock 'n' roll as an appropriate vehicle for his biggest ideas is admirable, but Endless Wire does little to justify his devotion.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Gotham!
    By the second and third tunes, the game is up. We get it: Gang of Radio 4. This is Radio 4 Clash. And so on.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    18
    Nearly every song sounds like either a redux of or reject from its predecessor.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow
    Overall, the songs are weaker than before--too many feel cheesy, bland, half-baked.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Odd Couple
    A hastily crafted follow-up, a subpar sequel, much more "Rocky V" than "The Godfather: Part II."
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Narrow Stairs
    It's their mediocre album.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    20 Y.O.
    Sexuality doesn't sink 20 Y.O. as much as the beats do.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Not Too Late
    That voice is still "that voice," but gravity was never what made it fly.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Apropa't
    This is the kind of thing indie boys put on when they want to have sex.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Femme Fatale
    Even more telling is her frequently blank-eyed delivery: She's never been a great vocal interpreter, but on Fatale she sounds about as present as she did on Blackout.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Reveal
    Mike Mills's and Peter Buck's acoustic midtempo strummings and electronic ambience match 1992's Automatic for the People for lethargy, without the looming darkness or catchy sentimentality that made it compelling.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Portrait Is Finished & I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty...
    Together, they craft lilting, light-hearted art-folk that recalls something akin to Joni Mitchell sitting in with '80s British popsters Prefab Sprout at best, or some Renaissance Faire troubadour's best attempt at improv at its most mediocre.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Goodbye Lullaby
    Faced with competing for "pop" ambitions this "rock" wannabe never really had, she instead strides toward brunette-dom on the new, stalwartly unfun Goodbye Lullaby, which--if you couldn't tell from the piano on the cover-means Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch. This is the death of Auto-Tune, moment of silence. Except, you know, for the single.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Get Ready
    Neither as bad as you might fear nor as good as you might hope.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Miss Machine
    The last 10 or so minutes of the CD veer between bursts of riff noise more smoothly recorded than expected and washes of music to watch soft porn by, indicating the charm of being proudly abrasive and busy is wearing off.
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