AllMusic's Scores

  • Music
Select another publication »
For 18,293 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 32% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 The Marshall Mathers LP
Lowest review score: 20 Graffiti
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15,342 out of 18293
  2. Mixed: 2,925 out of 18293
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18293
18293 music reviews
view
per page
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lucky
    Bogguss has been quick to say that this is not a tribute album, but of course it is, both to the power and rough-edged beauty of Haggard's songwriting, and to Bogguss' creative and spiritual affinity to singing those songs. It's a match made in Honky Tonk Heaven, actually, although don't expect to hear any of these tracks on contemporary country radio.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Northern Passages
    Just like the Aurora Borealis on the front cover, Northern Passages is something mysterious, dark, and beautiful, and it's a further reminder that the Sadies are one of the truly great, original bands of their day.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cloudward
    She grafts and threads striated post-bop harmony, edgeless dissonance, and kinetic drama simultaneously, then blurs the edges expressionistically in crafting a detailed, multivalent, resonant, deeply satisfying whole from seemingly disparate individual elements.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
    Down in the Weeds avoids being either a phoned-in nostalgia trip or a wildly new direction that would alienate fans. Instead it continues Bright Eyes' evolution without skipping a beat, and manages to be one of their stronger records in the process.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Akron/Family & Angels Of Light
    Pair Akron/Family with Angels of Light and what you get, apologies to the label-sensitive, is Grade A art rock.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Civilian
    It's rare that a band gets better after releasing a few albums; usually their initial inspiration gets used up and they are left foundering. Wye Oak have done it, and on Civilian, they insert themselves into the upper echelon of indie rock bands.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous To Look at Face On
    As sprawling and combustible as this entire album seems, all of the musicians maintain a deadly, razor-sharp focus, and the whole thing is powerful and full of purpose and conviction. Completely unbelievable.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Amelia
    Amelia might have worked better if Anderson had kept the focus on Earhart's internal dialogue as she struggled to live up to the goal she set for herself and why she chose such a brave and challenging feat, but as it is, it's a collection of interesting ideas and striking moments where the whole doesn't quite equal the sum of the parts.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    High Dive
    McKee's High Dive is simply an awe-inspiring album and easily her finest recorded moment.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Scale
    Though Herbert has outdone himself and matches his ambitions with his achievements, the songs are unmistakably his and Siciliano's, sounding like no one else, twisting and swinging and drifting with optimum vibrancy.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Queen of Hearts
    While it may not bring anything too new to the table, it still makes for a delicious spread.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blueprint
    Blueprint confirms that album's excellence was no fluke, and as she approaches 60 years of age, Alice Bag is one of the most exciting and compelling new artists currently making music. Let's hope she has another album this good in her to make this a hat trick.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Fear Inoculum
    Tool managed to improve and perfect their sound even further, resulting in one of the strongest statements in their catalog. Whether 10,000 days or the actual 4,868, Fear Inoculum was well worth the wait.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
    By tuning in to his past, Lopatin shares something special with his audience. Equally challenging and comforting, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never just might be the album that moves listeners who appreciated, but didn't fully embrace, his previous music.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deep in View
    Deep in View is a sturdy, engaging, and highly listenable debut that feels less like a continuation of Ought and more like a new path branching off some of their best work.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Salutations
    The result is rich and resonant, a testament to the power of communal music over solo soul-baring.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Burst Apart
    Hospice may have been organic and fragile, but Burst Apart is sleek and self-assured, and the new image suits Silberman and the Antlers well.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nuclear Daydream
    Without it ever deliberately going for the jugular, Nuclear Daydream is nevertheless an album that is difficult to shake out of your ears; moreover, it's one that only grows stronger with every repeated play.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kaani
    Album closer "Banganesiba" finds Tal National climbing to the summit of their collective powers, the song encapsulating all the mesmerizing guitar patterns, blinding polyrhythms, and joyous, celebratory currents of the rest of the album as a whole.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Nonetheless
    There's no fat, no excess, so the craft that services the emotion is difficult to deny.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Avatar
    More often than not, Avatar is stunningly beautiful, even if the definition of that word needs to expand a bit to embrace it.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Guns
    It's easily his best, most enjoyable work.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Starting Over
    Stapleton could use a bit of Petty's flair -- there's not a lot of humor here, nor are there any flirtations with modern sounds -- but his straight-ahead style nevertheless satisfies on Starting Over.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Intercepted Message
    On Intercepted Message he's filled the music with enough frantic energy and lyrical urgency that this clearly comes from his musical imagination, even if it explores new territory, and as a loving re-creation of the futuristic sounds of the past, it's well worth a listen.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Blue Smoke
    Perhaps there are no permanent additions to her canon here, but the remarkable thing is how satisfying an album this is: it sounds good and the songs are sturdy, proof that Parton is far from resting on her laurels.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Motion Graphics
    Motion Graphics is a highly intriguing album of warped bitstream pop.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rainbow Revisited
    This glorious, vulnerable set offers pure collaborative inspiration at once strident and vulnerable, minimal, and aesthetically expansive.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Platform
    Just as Holly Herndon's debut album Movement had abundant layers in its title alone, its follow-up Platform is just as nuanced in how it combines political, technological and structural and ideological concepts into a single word.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    IGOR
    Tyler and a motorcade's worth of supporting vocalists fulfill the promise and threat with what plays out, a creatively vital and emotionally heartsick set with as much pain, vulnerability, and compulsion as a classic soul LP.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Your Future Our Clutter
    Too insider to cross over or consider one of their classics, but an otherwise solid Fall effort offering everything fans require.
Page: