AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,283 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: 15,332 out of 18283
  2. Mixed: 2,925 out of 18283
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18283
18283 music reviews
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    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    No Geography
    While not a low in their catalog by any means, No Geography is also not their strongest or most memorable work to date. It's best not to call it a comeback, just another ample addition to their decades-long discography.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ambitions
    Ambitions is somewhat of a slow burner, but it's more cohesive and focused than meandering. Thomas has a masterful way of following his muse, and the album maintains a sense of spontaneity, as well as a casual demeanor, without sacrificing high standards of craft.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Brutalism
    Brutalism showcases Pierce's knack for portraying the thrilling and terrifying sides of romance and juxtaposing joyous moments with devastating ones.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Seduction of Kansas
    While they're too nonconformist to be a traditional punk band, they continue to define themselves as something more challenging and encompassing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Love Keeps Kicking
    Martha's confessional and lovelorn themes fit perfectly in their revved-up pop framework. Love Keeps Kicking is a crystal-clear presentation of their powers, making equal space for the group's enduring stories of heartsickness, well-crafted pop structures, and blazing guitar work.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It Rains Love
    It Rains Love is a master class in the art of modern soul music from an artist who only gets better and wiser as he matures.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In the Shape of a Storm
    Although the songs were not conceived as an album and, therefore, don't carry quite the weightiness of some of the Jurado's most profound works, In the Shape of a Storm still seems essential as a showcase of his songcraft at its most elemental.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    When You're Ready
    Left to her own devices, Tuttle has emerged as a deft songwriter with an open heart, a keen ear for melody, and a flair for pairing dusty folk with Americana-kissed country-pop.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    What a Boost
    Her intricate, folk-inflected indie rock has a more conspicuous, gentle jazz presence here.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Morbid Stuff
    It's steady growth all around for these fine Canadians who keep showing up with buckets of great material.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Titanic Rising
    While all of Weyes Blood's albums leading up to Titanic Rising were good, even great, there's something that sets this one apart. Fantastic songs, meticulously detailed production, and a certain, hard-to-name spark of connection all gel into the near-perfect statement that every part of Mering's strange journey before this led up to.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lifelike
    Elegant, unusual touches like these suggest Facs are still finding new complexities in their music on Lifelike, an album that demands and rewards close listening.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Egowerk
    Inspired by the disconnect and toxicity of social media, and the general discord sewn when the internet and the ego collide, Egowerk evokes the friction-fueled lo-fi emissions of the band's early days, but with a more measured hand.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Same But By Different Means
    The fragmented patchwork nature of the album can at times make it difficult to separate the songs from the sonics, but adventurous listeners willing to get past this will find that Yves Jarvis hides beautifully soul-bearing sentiments just beneath his veneer of blurry tape manipulation and impressionistic production.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Cosmic Wind
    With 15 songs clocking in at just shy of an hour, Cosmic Wind lingers, but stops short of overstaying its welcome. Instead the album sprawls out in a relaxed bliss, Lion Babe moving confidently through their wide spectrum of laid-back moods and smiling sounds.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Crucible
    Easily as satisfying as The Tower, The Crucible builds on its predecessor's achievement with brilliant composition, inspired performance, and consummate musicianship. It is an excellent example of how to mine rock's past in order to discover its future.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Honky Tonk Time Machine
    Whether he's performing an ode to tequila, juke joints, or covering Johnny Paycheck's "Old Violin," Strait sings with humor, tenderness, and ease, qualities that lend the deliberately nostalgic Honky Tonk Time Machine grace, resonance, and depth. Perhaps this isn't a new trick for Strait, but it's one to be cherished nonetheless.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Union
    As it is, it sounds like a brave experiment and a sincere effort to explore new creative avenues, but it's a long way from a rousing success. However, its high points leave one hoping that Farrar doesn't stop speaking his peace next time around.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deserted
    Longevity is one thing, but sticking around without going stale is a trickier matter, and Deserted demonstrates that more than four decades on, the Mekons are as fresh and challenging as ever.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Guy
    The execution isn't quite as strong as Earle's good intentions on Guy, though if he wanted to either remind old fans on the greatness of Clark's songs or convince new ones to explore his body of work, he makes his case will eloquence and affection.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Empath
    Though it's wildly excessive and indulgent, it's also inarguably among the most inspiring, thought-provoking, and accomplished of his works.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" [Live]
    As different as it is from anything else in her body of work, Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" is an affecting example of Gibbons' willingness to take her music in unexpected--but ultimately winning--directions.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Side Effects
    Essentially, Side Effects showcases White Denim's knack for making '60s- and '70s-style psychedelic garage rock that feels authentic but retains the modern punk energy that made their early albums so engaging.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Badbea
    It's easy enough to be moved by Edwyn Collins' recovery and continued progress; he's truly an inspirational figure. What his continued presence in the recording studio even more wonderful is that his albums keep getting better and better too; deeper and more fully colored and nuanced both in melody and sound.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Coltrane '58: The Prestige Recordings [Box Set]
    While it's true that all this music is easy to find elsewhere, it's also true that Coltrane '58: The Prestige Recordings sounds sterling and is presented with thought and care, so anybody looking to dive into these classic recordings will find this a fine intro.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deforming Lobes [Live]
    Deforming Lobes feels like Ty Segall's answer to the MC5's epochal Kick Out The Jams, and if it lacks that great album's sense of lysergic experimentalism, the Freedom Band's ability to graft garage punk noise onto a sonic onslaught worthy of Blue Cheer more than compensates. Play this one loud.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
    With When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, she demonstrates that she can do it all, hinting at a bright future that could truly go in any direction, as messy and hopeful as youth can get.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Natural Facts
    Garcia Peoples are well-known for their dynamic live shows, and a jam-oriented cassette-tape community has since coalesced around them. In the studio, though, with just two LPs to their credit, they've already forged an unexpected creative path that feels like it could go any number of ways.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Late Night Tales
    Even without any previous background information, there's lots to enjoy about being immersed in this warm, optimistic sound bath. Presented with a deft talent for flow and transition, Floating Points' Late Night Tales captures the feeling of after-hours reflection brilliantly.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Health
    The brooding, hymn-like closer "Care" and the resplendent coming out anthem "He Came From the Sun" hew closer to the sonic intimacy that was generated on 2015's Architect, but even they feel larger than life, signaling not so much a stylistic shift for Duncan, but a maturation of his ability to build worlds out of sound, and in his overall confidence as well.
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