AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,299 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: 15,348 out of 18299
  2. Mixed: 2,925 out of 18299
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18299
18299 music reviews
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    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Should Be So Lucky
    You Should Be So Lucky is distinguished by that casual professionalism, and the album is so comfortable, so easy to enjoy that it can take a few listens to realize how deeply Tench's original songs sink in--it's not just that ballads like "Today I Took Your Picture Down" start to resonate, but the pop hooks on "Veronica Said" and the title track seem stronger and cannier -- and how soulful this whole affair is.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sleepwalking Sailors
    With a sound that tends to drift between the discordant jangle of the Pixies and the powerful sonic gut-punch of the Melvins, the trio weave together a dense tapestry of moody noise rock that seems to constantly shift and change directions.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Violent Light
    If greater success follows them, treading that line between creativity and audience demand will become harder to do, but for now, Milagres have succeeded in making a unique and ultimately appealing record.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bluebird
    Bluebird reveals Landes' healing process in emotionally raw, delicately crafted songs.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Slow Phaser
    Atkins has come a long way since her debut and without the distractions of a major label or a major break-up, she seems to be in the driver's seat and completely in control of her destiny, delivering her most artistic and confident album to date.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Doubled Exposure
    Doubled Exposure, recorded by Jason Meagher at Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York, has a rich, full, warm, and still live-sounding and edgy wash of grit all over it, and it is Speer's most accessible album yet, if accessible means one can't help being kind of fascinated by it.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Atlas
    With third full-length Atlas, Real Estate grow even further into the sound they've been spinning for themselves, mellowing more while they become more nuanced in both playing and production.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tomorrow's Hits
    The album is a well-written love letter to yesterday's rock & roll. Though this means the album's sound isn't nearly as revelatory as the sonic assaults of their earlier work, the Men continue to prove that, above all, they're a band that know what they're doing, even if they don't know what they're doing next.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eagulls
    Eagulls' density and intensity sometimes border on exhausting, but the album is an undeniably bracing beginning.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kaleidoscope
    As has always been the case, Transatlantic excel at making a four-piece sound like a marauding horde.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    G I R L
    It's fun, frivolous, and low on excess.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jumping the Tracks
    Without mellowing too deeply or becoming so serious that the songs aren't fun to listen to anymore, +/- turn in a fantastically studio-crafted album that communicates greater depth and more sophistication than any of their other work.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    English Oceans
    Ten albums and 18 years on from their first show, the Drive-By Truckers are still capable of mixing things up and showing off new sides of their skill set, and that's certainly the case with English Oceans, which shows them making wise use of all their talents--not just Mike Cooley.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mastermind
    The album is a bit more raw than previous, so expect more fan favorites than hit singles. Otherwise, this is business as usual, and business is absolutely gangbusters.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Soul of All Natural Things
    Her uncommon, even singular approach to singing, recording, and writing, remains fully in evidence here.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Apocalypse Soon [EP]
    Looking at Major Lazer's previous releases, the whole Rasta zombie-hunter concept is applied the least to this one, but it's not missed, either. Apocalypse Soon is too fast and mean to be bogged down by any comic book extras, and besides, the music is weird enough and wild enough on its own.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    TV en Français
    We Are Scientists make writing infectious, utterly listenable pop songs, over and over again, seem easy.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Holly
    Ten tight songs and out, and the album feels like a mystery itself, but artists who nail that stoic sense of wonder, like Isaak and Orbison, don't come around often. Waterhouse is certainly of their ilk.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Joyland
    A beautiful and often brave-sounding album, Joyland shows how much can be gained by letting go.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Letters
    Confessional and insular, Love Letters is the work of a band willing to take pop success on their own terms and reveal a different--but just as appealing--side of their artistry in the process.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cosmos
    Much like our ever expanding universe, Yellow Ostrich's Cosmos is an infinitely listenable album that holds up to repeated scrutiny.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Take Off and Landing of Everything
    The Take Off and Landing of Everything is better still [than 2011's Build a Rocket Boys!], demonstrating that the band knows how to seize the spoils of success.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Guilty of Everything
    Forget about shoegaze or metal or noise rock or any other genre; this is stark, dramatic music that comes from pain and has been crafted into high art that will move and inspire listeners lucky enough to hear it.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Classic
    While the album's brightness may take some getting used to, listeners who love her music for how well she expresses feelings that are universal yet hard to articulate will appreciate how vividly The Classic captures joy and what it takes to get it.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dean Wareham
    Melancholy has always been Wareham's default musical disposition, here he delivers his sadness with a coy, charming half-smile.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sweet Disarray
    In spite of the extremely high expectations, he has managed a pretty neat debut that will please fans who have been waiting since his early singles.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Slow Me Down
    Fans hoping that Evans will return to country music will be disappointed, but Slow Me Down is something that is rare in 2014: an unapologetic, big-scale adult pop album, constructed with grace and care.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Glow
    Glow is all inspired aces and a can't-miss release for funkateers or nu-disco fans.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Essential Tremors
    It's a fine outing from a versatile band that knows what they do best, and man, they can rock.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Abandoned City
    These tracks are so striking that the album feels a bit top-loaded, but Abandoned City is still another fine example of Hauschka's combination of inspired musicianship and almost palpable emotion.
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