Boston Globe's Scores

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For 2,093 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 66% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 31% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 City of Refuge
Lowest review score: 10 Lulu
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,670 out of 2093
  2. Mixed: 412 out of 2093
  3. Negative: 11 out of 2093
2093 music reviews
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    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Bad Magic
    While drummer Mikkey Dee shines on an unexpected cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil.” That efficient if unspectacular borrowing aside, this potent record ranks among the year’s best.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Depression Cherry
    If you are a Beach House fan and want a shimmering soundtrack to serve as a backdrop for daydreaming, then Depression Cherry should fit the bill. For everyone else, your mileage may vary wildly, even within the span of one listen.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Great Unknown
    Thomas continues briskly down the middle of the road with a collection of jaunty pop ditties, brooding midtempo rockers, and heartfelt piano ballads.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    E-MO-TION
    An album that’s incredibly enjoyable even as Jepsen stands on the precipice of heartache.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dry Food
    It takes band mastermind Ellen Kempner exactly eight songs in 30 minutes to hook you and leave you wanting to hear more.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Spirit Moves
    A highly listenable rebirth.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Double Vision
    None of it would work without Royce’s supple voice and sweet charisma, which help to make offerings like the glitchy “Handcuffs,” which in less skilled hands could sound like a slippery commitment-phobe’s insincere come-on, recall a soul pried open.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kill the Lights
    Tracks like the straightforward “Huntin’, Fishin’, and Lovin’ Every Day” and the shimmering, wistful “Just Over” apply Bryan’s smooth charm to aspects of the Nashville template, his omnivorous nature peeks through here and there.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Trackless Woods
    Often built around little more than the words, DeMent’s homespun warble, and a piano sometimes fleshed out by stringed instruments--is closely aligned to DeMent’s best work.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    If I've Only One Time Askin'
    A magnificent, subtle reshaping of classic honky-tonk sounds and sentiment, fulfills that promise and then some.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Water for Your Soul
    The result is a great effort from a still-striving free spirit.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blood
    Blood, is a statement of purpose and self-discovery.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Yung Rich Nation
    The group compensates for meager substance with plenty of style and energy, and has enough of both to almost pull it off.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Man Plans God Laughs
    The disc clocks in at less than 30 minutes, but its short songs hit like a hatchet to the head.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Watkins Family Hour
    Their new debut album, Watkins Family Hour, retains all the homespun intimacy of a bunch of musicians enjoying one another’s company and talent.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Live at the Fillmore East: October 4th & 5th, 1968 [Box Set]
    There’s enough variety here that you understand why the whole shebang needed to come out--and vintage audiophiles will just about bow down before the quality of these tapes.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    VII: Sturm und Drang
    Deftones frontman Cheno Moreno shows up on “Embers,” but sounds tame next to the recharged Blythe.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Blade
    It’s definitely more expansive sonically than Monroe’s previous work, which doesn’t mean it sounds disjointed; rather, it comes across as presenting different sides of the same artist.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Into the Deep
    Galactic backs each act with professional, jazz-influenced ease and, on some songs, a hedonistic, dance-rock pulse a la Prince, all the while keeping its Mardi Gras flavor.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Born In The Echoes
    The veteran duo and its guests are challenging and provocative throughout Born in the Echoes, even as they creatively blow up dance floors.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    How Does It Feel
    Nothing here is quite as instantly engaging as MS MR’s breakthrough single, “Hurricane,” but the duo’s gaze remains trained on both the expanse of the horizon and the insularity of the internal drama.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Currents
    You can feel the giddy fun Parker was clearly having in the studio.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Something More Than Free
    Quieter but equally captivating.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone
    The tracks vary from astonishingly good--Gregory Porter taking up residence inside “Sinnerman” with a palpable desperation, the urgent instrumental track matching the calamity of his emotion--to acceptable, as when Mary J. Blige renders “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” a sort of edgeless quiet-storm jam.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ghost Notes
    Ghost Notes unsurprisingly reflects (and reflects on) the band’s maturity, but retains the confidence and playfulness that made it an alt-rock touchstone.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Morning/Evening
    [The music] gurgles gradually into consciousness like the titular binary, the colors of sunrise and sunset enveloping in the electronically rooted compositions.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lucky 7
    Lucky 7 is a bit too comfortable; despite consistently solid returns, it would be nice to see Statik raise the stakes the next time he’s up to bet.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Summertime '06
    Vince Staples goes all-in on his sprawling double-LP commercial debut, and the returns are decent if not world-beating.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Wildheart
    If there are no obvious radio-ready hits on par with “Adorn,” his massive hit from 2012’s “Kaleidoscope Dream,” there is something more potent in their place: a stone-cold classic not tethered to time, genre, or expectations.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Venus
    [An] unsparingly intimate, deeply moving 11-song cycle.
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