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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    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Talk That Talk
    The emphasis on loud, clubby production means it lacks the progression of Rated R or the bombast of Loud.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    50 Words for Snow
    This album is rather better when it is winking at you, rather than seeking to cryogenically preserve emotion.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ilo Veyou
    Camille remains a restless, inventive voice, as enchanting as she is silly.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Stereo Typical
    Fun while it lasts, but swiftly forgettable.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Fallen Empires
    Choruses range from slushy ("Oh you will never know how much I love you so") to barren ("This is all you ever asked for, this is all you'll get"), but sometimes there's a shard of sincere sentiment.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Camp
    What follows this auspicious beginning is a riveting album about race, class, opportunity, tribalism, love, the pitfalls of fame, comedy and "seriousness"--one that coexists quite happily with a potty-mouthed pop-rap record about sleeping with girls.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kinshasa One Two
    The project's brevity certainly explains the lack of coherence over the 14 tracks, although that's not to say there aren't some thrilling individual moments.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Crazy Clown Time
    The skies overhead on his debut album are dark and menacing for the most part: this is music to depopulate dancefloors, not fill them.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Lulu
    It's not a successful union: the songs are too close to aimless, unfinished jams, Reed sounds as if he's trying too hard to be controversial and at 95 minutes it's far too long.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Ceremonials
    Ceremonials never comes down off the high precipice.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Smoking in Heaven
    Full marks for devotion to "authenticity", but, sadly, authentic doesn't necessarily mean interesting.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mylo Xyloto
    It's a bit uplifting, but ultimately insipid.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
    For now, then, Gallagher's High Flying Birds are merely coasting.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
    Never shy of delivering an electro cri de coeur where a simple chord progression will do, Anthony "M83" Gonzalez fully indulges his fondness for the grand gesture on his sixth record.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Revelation Road
    On the self-produced Revelation Road she's gone minimalist and acoustic, most of its songs documenting the pain of lost love, veering between southern soul ("Even Angels") and MOR country ("The Thief").
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Great Escape Artist
    There's nothing here to match the wildly brilliant ambition of their late-80s/early-90s peak, but "Underground" packs a hefty punch, while frenetic closer "Words Right Out of My Mouth" sounds like an ornithophobic Stooges.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Days
    s self-titled 2009 debut introduced the band's hazy, Byrds-derived jangle; this second effort reimagines the bucolic pastorales of the 80s indie movement, given a Fleet Foxes skill set.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Passenger
    Her voice remains the main attraction on this second album but its prettiness often sounds thin against the sort of arrangements that invite the description "plinky-plonky".
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Awakening
    Strings and expensive-sounding gloss are applied by producer Bernard Butler but unfortunately it's Duffy-era Butler, rather than the sweeping soul of his mid-90s David McAlmont collaborations.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ashes & Fire
    It hasn't the shiver factor of his debut but there's pleasure in such smooth, elegantly crafted songs after his recent strainings.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    City of Vultures
    The urgent-sounding "This Day Is Mine" is the pick of their largely impressive full-length debut, the melodic choruses offset by barked vocals and shred guitar. The more restrained "Roads" merely sounds earnestly plodding.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Tomorrow's World
    Even with Frankmusik included among the production credits, these one-time synth-pop pioneers sound lifeless compared with all the 80s-raiding whippersnappers so indebted to them.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams
    An entertaining exercise, though of Hank's celebrated yodel there is, alas, no sign.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Monkeytown
    This duo's assured, accessible third album builds upon their reputation as omnivorous digital stylists
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Conatus
    It's all very accomplished, but lacking in variety.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Whole Love
    It may not rank among Wilco's boldest works. It could have done with more wig-outs. But it captures the art of the almost with both hands.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    +
    Half-rapped banalities about watching Shrek 12 times and being "crap at computer games" will certainly win hearts, but perhaps only those of a certain age.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Velociraptor!
    Simple Pleasures aside, Kasabian sound a little less desperate to prove themselves to Oasis fans this time around.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Night of Hunters
    Devotees will no doubt swoon (and sceptics scoff) at its florid excesses, but Amos's voice possesses enough conviction and personality to breathe life into what could have been an orchestral folly.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Black and White
    A grime mixtape veteran, Jermaine Scott combines plenty of chart-friendly tracks on his mainstream debut ("Traktor" and "Unorthodox" have already been hits) with just enough erudite self-examination ("Forgiveness") to warrant more than a passive listen.
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