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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    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    No Mercy
    It's well crafted, but some of T.I.'s best lines obscure the tracks' fuzzy thinking.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Love to Love You Donna
    While nothing here bests the original tracks--and it is strictly for Summer diehards and remix fans--it’s heartening that artists are still drawing inspiration from a woman who loved it when the music moved people.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    LP1
    On LP1, Stone mostly imbues her songs with passion and energy.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Definition Of Real
    He comes across as a Southern-fried early DMX with his unabated aggression; raw, explosive verse; and hints of conscience.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Echo
    Taking its title a bit too literally, the album sticks to the winning formula that made “Spirit’’ a runaway success. Problem is, we already know these sides of Lewis’s talent.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love The Future
    Could this really be Chester French's first album? Love the Future sounds too wise--and too catchy--to possibly be the debut from recent Harvard grads D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Flamingo
    Flowers feverishly blows up the songs as if they're helium balloons bound for the stratosphere. Any sense of restraint - which, granted, has never been the Killers' specialty - is steamrolled by one bombastic chorus after another.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Created Disco
    The bulk of the record follows suit, with straightforward club songs, none too obtuse.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Time
    His music takes the spare depth of Lorde and Tove Lo as a starting point, adding a sharp precision that--along with a floating tenor alternating between a less-sappy Sam Smith and a steelier Jeff Buckley--fuels the tense urgency of “Riot,” and sells even insubstantial material like “Love You Crazy.”
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Covers
    Taylor's new collection of covers is a bit of trifle, composed of musical chestnuts recorded with his "Band of Legends" in a 10-day period in a converted barn on Taylor's western Massachusetts property.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jennifer Hudson
    Despite its flaws, Hudson's debut comes on much like her "Dreamgirls" character, with admirable self-assurance and real-girl sensuality.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Charmed & Strange
    Yoav proves that a guitar and his voice are the only instruments you really need to make powerful, versatile music.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Supermodel
    Supermodel unfurls with bright, sunny melodies that bloom on songs that pick up where its Grammy-nominated debut, “Torches,” left off.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    You and I
    There’s a tremendous amount of preserved intimacy on these unearthed first studio recordings.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hold on 'Til the Night
    Chance may be too young to understand the complex emotions he writes and sings about, but he sure makes it seem as though he does.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Goodbye Lullaby
    Goodbye Lullaby seems as much about the singer-songwriter's self-examination - she co-wrote all the tracks and is the sole author on many - as about any outward relationships.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    David Archuleta
    Happily, in a genre where the urge is to err on the side of overwrought, someone smart decided to stick with tasteful, understated production. Archuleta's delivery is likewise low-key and attractive, if predictably generic.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Don't Look Down
    Befitting someone who has worked with artists as varied as Dre, Duncan Sheik, and Linkin Park offshoot Fort Minor, Don’t Look Down suits varied moods.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Doggumentary
    The 21-song set, with some misfires, overflows with top-shelf talent; and Snoop's rhymes are crisp and often slightly nostalgic.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Freedom
    This tuneful, seemingly effortless set of sun-kissed pop reminds you why he's in so much demand.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Sellout
    On The Sellout, her first album in three years, the production sands off the edges that have been key to Gray's appeal.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sonic Boom
    Of course, substance is in the eye of the beholder, and the lyrics don’t much stray from Kiss standbys such as partying, sex and, naturally, rock ’n’ roll. The results are appropriately direct and unambiguous.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nobody's Daughter
    Nobody's Daughter probably won't restore Love's credibility as a rock musician--her moment has passed--but unlike so many of her peers she's still weirdly, thrillingly believable.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Stir The Blood
    The Bravery’s adrenaline-rush, retro-new-wave/punk rock is back with a flourish. The album is a sonic high, but a mixed bag of lyrical ups and downs.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jigsaw
    Jigsaw is ultimately another mash-up of big electro-dance beats and hip-hop swagger.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    North
    Frontman Rob Thomas has not lost his fastball as a craftsman. Listeners will be humming several songs off "North" before the second chorus even begins, whether they like it or not.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Raditude
    Instead of trying to divine the line between earnest and ironic, Weezer fans should just sit back and enjoy what works here. And like every Weezer record, plenty does.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Trill O.G.
    The best moments come when the MC delivers his street cred with both menace and wit....Two tracks with Drake don't quite succeed, as Bun seems to be adapting more toward the young superstar's style than actually collaborating with him.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lasers
    Lasers oscillates between angsty rap-metal crossover tracks laden with political platitudes and blatantly clubby, bass-thumping radio-rap jams.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Moonshine in the Trunk
    All of those elements [his clever wit, his skillful guitar playing, curiosity about human interaction, and his nice guy affability] are in place for his latest effort, Moonshine in the Trunk.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Someone To Watch over Me
    Someone To Watch Over Me has the makings of a perfectly solid mopey-piano-girl album, largely eschewing chest-beating for a coarser-grained approach that serves the singer rather well.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Intuition
    Like many contemporary R&B albums, the cameos sometimes crowd the main attraction, but Foxx is wise enough to intuit when it suits him best to share the spotlight.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Asleep In The Bread Aisle
    The quality of Roth's rhymes varies wildly, from sophomoric to inspired, but when the two collide, as on the funky rant 'Bad Day,' he hits the sweet spot and the funny bone.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nothing But the Beat
    The mastermind behind many hits, including Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling,'' doesn't break new ground on his fourth album. Instead, he brings together many of today's pop superstars and offers a platform as swooshes, squiggles, and propulsive beats elevate them to club heaven.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Smokey & Friends
    While the new versions have little chance of replacing the originals seared into our collective brains, both Smokey and his buddies certainly sound like they’re having a good time revisiting Hitsville.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Havoc and Bright Lights
    There are a couple of clunkers, including the finger-wagger "Celebrity," directed at those who seek fame as its own reward, and the droning "Win Win." But for the most part Morissette and producers Guy Sigsworth and Joe Chiccarelli keep the proceedings crisp, tuneful, warm, and sincere.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wild Ones
    He has numerous potential chart-toppers here thanks to a well-tested formula.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Play On
    The earnest ballads outnumber the uptempo stuff with a lower hit-to-miss ratio and feel a lot more generic in terms of who is/could be singing them.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Michael
    The result is shockingly better than might be expected - and in some ways superior to his final regular studio album, 2001's uneven and bloated Invincible.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Music From Another Dimension!
    Aerosmith returning to the sound and fury of its '70s halcyon days is a welcome time warp.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Illusion Of Progress
    Most of all, the music packs as much punch as ever--and more variety, as Staind sometimes departs from its rock-metal power ballads for tunes that suggest Pink Floyd and even Brit band Oasis in the chiming-guitar pop of 'All I Want.'
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    All The Lost Souls
    Blunt has turned his attention away from his sound hole and his sensitive soul, refocusing his energies on the '70s and unearthing a measure of depth and ingenuity.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Voice
    Jones has modified his elongated flow, though he doesn't show much growth as an MC. Still, compared to the obsessive self-promotion of his debut, the restraint here makes it infinitely more listenable.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bring on the Comets
    These are high-flying songs in search of a place to land, and the warmth and seeming innocence of Pfunder's voice combined with all the familiar electro-disco trappings make this a record worth hearing for anyone not ready to let the past go without a fight.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A Man's Thoughts
    There are some songs with giddy-up, especially the big bounce of 'Get Involved,' featuring Timbaland and Missy Elliott. It doesn’t fit with the rest of the disc, but who cares when it’s this great a ride with a cool Timba groove and Elliott’s sly, quick verse?
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I Cry When I Laugh
    Glynne’s first solo album (which has already hit No. 1 in the UK) is a bit all over the place stylistically, but flaunts her formidable pipes and undeniable talent for injecting a lyric with vulnerability.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Incredible Machine
    the bigger question with any record regardless of genre should always be is it good? And The Incredible Machine is very good indeed.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    5.0
    Nelly has recruited an all-star supporting cast and emerged with a tuneful mainstream effort that should yield a number of hits.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Clear as Day
    McCreery has plenty of deepening left to do as a performer, but he's off to a good start with this 12-track set about girls, God, family, and small-town life.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Who You Are
    She'll no doubt weather criticism for such a broad palette, and for a debut called Who You Are, it certainly doesn't shed any definitive light on its maker's artistic identity.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Doll Domination
    The Pussycats' debut from 2005 was that kind of disc, and though this follow-up tries darn hard to follow that formula, it comes up just short.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The New Game
    Mudvayne used to be viewed as somewhat of a joke band with its costumes and makeup, but they're more out front and naked now, with markedly more genuine results.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    #willpower
    As intended, there’s a little something for everyone.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dark Horse
    Dark Horse is attractively adorned, but don't expect any sort of wild ride.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    All Things Bright and Beautiful
    On All Things Bright he treads ingratiatingly melodic, lyrically twee, electro-pop territory that will be familiar to fans.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Star Wars Headspace
    [A] solid, surprising set.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    If Not Now, When?
    Stabbing steadily at the status quo, these songs are a matured balance between art and pop.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Authentic
    Thirty years in, LL still spins taut couplets as often as he licks his lips and delivers them with nimble style.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    If On A Winter's Night...
    Mostly, with its wintry hush and flurries of harmonies, the album evokes the title, a not unpleasant vision of contemplatively gazing out a window encrusted with frost in a thick Irish wool sweater drinking a steaming cup of cider.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Rebirth Of Venus
    Lee pulls it off--and has fun with the earnest sermonizing while he's at it.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Buffet Hotel
    What makes this tower over some Buffett albums is the ballads.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Feeler
    It's inexplicable why these songs were deemed weak follow-ups to the Toadies' stellar 1994 debut, as the "Feeler'' tunes - re-recorded with the band's current lineup - exude the sinister tension of the breakout hits while also branching out into other sonic turf
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cosmic Hallelujah
    Chesney isn’t one to rest on his laurels, and his 17th album, Cosmic Hallelujah, bears that out.
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