The Observer (UK)'s Scores

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For 2,625 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 37% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 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: 100 Gold-Diggers Sound
Lowest review score: 20 Collections
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,236 out of 2625
  2. Mixed: 1,371 out of 2625
  3. Negative: 18 out of 2625
2625 music reviews
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    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Marble Downs
    Sometimes it's hair-raisingly great... Elsewhere, this incandescent music can stray into baroque perversity.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Electronic Earth
    Singing, producing and performing his own material, Labrinth has high ambitions but falls disappointingly short.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Our Version of Events
    Her album has a preternaturally middle-aged, middle-of-the-road feel.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Sweet Heart Sweet Light
    Sweet Heart Sweet Light is another one of these perfectly serviceable Spiritualized albums.... But there's a lot of old rope here, let down further by Pierce's singing.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Time Capsules II
    More than anything Oberhofer's optimistic, melodious pop-rock, all "oohs" and "ooh-e-ooh-e-oohs", takes its cues from the Beach Boys.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A Wasteland Companion
    Too much filler towards the end of the album detracts slightly, but this is another solid set.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
    Roman Reloaded's triumphs all come early, on the album's hip-hop front end. In full flow, Minaj remains a delight.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A+E
    Sophisticated it's not but, by and large, it's thrilling, the guitarist's zest for life evident throughout.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Folila
    Folila, packed with western friends, mixes the inspired and mundane.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wonky
    The 90s electronic titans use vintage analogue synths, subtly retro-fitting their sound in a way that, ironically, brings it bang up to date.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Songs
    Although Songs feels consistently summery, it lacks coherence: the diverse elements don't completely gel.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Politics of Envy
    Stewart remains a firebrand intent on creating skull-splintering sounds and society-skewering words.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Rocket Juice & the Moon
    While there are moments when everything falls into place (the Erykah Badu-assisted "Hey, Shooter"; a rare Albarn vocal on "Poison"; the sense of space on "Extinguished"), too often technical proficiency trumps songwriting.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    MDNA
    It [the song "I'm a Sinner"] makes you crave her next album, not this one.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Deeper in the Well
    Bibb's tone is characteristically dignified.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sonik Kicks
    Sonik Kicks barrels along hectically, throwing out ideas like a particularly exuberant catherine wheel, though nothing ever quite matches the exquisite shock of that dub bliss-out [on "Study in Blue"].
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Between the Times and the Tides
    The album is more interesting sonically in the tension between questing guitars and straightforward song structures than it is in terms of lyrics, which aim to be down to earth but end up middle of the road.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Port of Morrow
    Ample evidence of why Mercer's songs are so widely cherished. But there remains something a little clinical about the efficiency with which he dispatches these studies in perky wistfulness.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    World, You Need a Change of Mind
    Its sound design may be impeccable, but World… sorely lacks grit.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    SSSS
    It feels like a natural progression from synthpop into more hard-edged material and robust pop sensibilities shine through amid the bleeps and filthy basslines.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Clearing
    Their songs on this, their third record, are more expansive, bolder and stranger than those that have come before.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Visions
    A beguiling decoction of pretty much everything going on in hipster musical circles, sweet and savvy and scary at the same time.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Home Again
    A record that settles into a nicely crafted, twinkly retro rut without really grabbing you by anything more vital than your lapels; tweedy, bespoke, second-hand.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wrecking Ball
    You want this record to sell by the barrowload, but you might not actually want to play it that often.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?
    Whether it's vindication, or coming off the medication, How About I Be Me feels effervescent, even when the breezy love songs give way to more complex concerns.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Put Your Back N 2 It
    There is a compelling talent here, turning his damage into something noble.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Who's Feeling Young Now?
    The band's twinkle-toed banjo runs and acoustic duelling fall flat here, hobbled by dreary songwriting.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Reign of Terror
    Having lost the shock of the new, this more tuneful follow-up privileges Krauss's pop instincts over Miller's mayhem.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kinshasa Succursale
    The [resulting album] is an engaging collision of styles.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Plumb
    Field Music remain more impressive than lovable.
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