AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,327 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: 15,370 out of 18327
  2. Mixed: 2,931 out of 18327
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18327
18327 music reviews
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    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Best Day
    While the newer additions to Thurston's muse are all well and good, The Best Day is most exciting when he returns to his most familiar trademarks, again investigating a sound that has spawned generations of imitators but still sounds like no one else.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Wait 'Til Night
    The album effectively sets a mood but tends to lack the richness and labyrinthine quality of the previous album. It's too direct, skeletal, and mechanical to function as more than background listening.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Taiga
    Even if it's not her most intimate work, Taiga allows Nika to be inventive and craft some some stunningly beautiful moments along the way.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Unravelling
    Quite possibly We Were Promised Jetpacks' most vivid album to date, Unravelling finds the band making music that's harder to place than ever--and that much more interesting for it.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Otherness
    There's only one track with any forward motion, and it's the overly slick and one-dimensional "I'll Be Back." Otherwise, Otherness is mostly murky and overcooked ballads, without hooks or much emotional impact.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rips
    Rips mixes simple pleasures and complicated ones into a completely life-affirming debut.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Meatbodies
    As a songwriter, Ubovich still seems to be getting his sea legs; many of these tracks seem to be more about jamming than delivering melodies that will stay with you after the record comes to a close.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Standing in the Breach
    Standing in the Breach is a back to the basics Browne album, and is all the better for it.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lift a Sail
    The 13-track set adds some relatively subtle flourishes of electronics to the mix while dialing back a little on Sean Mackin's signature violin playing, but fans looking to conjure up some nostalgia for the band's Ocean Avenue heyday will find what they're looking for.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Indian Ocean
    Indian Ocean is sad, sweet, and warm as an August afternoon, and while its charms may feel old-fashioned and better suited to vinyl, the hardships it details are undeniably contemporary, and their conclusions oddly comforting.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hungry Ghosts
    All in all, Hungry Ghosts is another solid album from one of pop's most versatile and charming bands.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
    His penchant for on-the-nose phrasing and big pop moments would be grating if those instincts weren't so sharply honed and the sugary results so immaculately delivered.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Negative Qualities
    Righteous anger, razor-sharp songs, and killer music is a trifecta few punk bands can claim on their first album, but Single Mothers hit the jackpot on Negative Qualities, and if this doesn't turn out to be the best punk debut of 2014, then the music has been having a truly great year.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Museum of Love
    Even if Museum of Love sometimes comes across as a sampler of DFA sounds past and present, it's an album that those who enjoy the label's output will almost certainly like, and a promising debut in its own right.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ride Out
    While there's some charm in the fact that Seger is loose enough to keep his ends untied, Ride Out is hobbled by that exacting production: conceptually, it's something of a ragged mess and it'd benefit from sounding like one.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Absolutely Free
    The Toronto trio's first album is an impressive debut that shows the band to be masters of taking psychedelic, experimental, and simply interesting music of many eras and delivering them all wrapped up in one shimmering package that's easy to absorb.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No One Is Lost
    However they dress up their music, it remains easy to connect with and this album proves it.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Heart on My Sleeve
    By emphasizing melody and feel over art and angst, Lambert's come up with a debut that goes down quite smoothly.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pink Palms
    At its best, Pink Palms is quirky in the best sense of the word; it's got a lot of personality and plenty of unexpected twists. Though it might be wise for the Bots to narrow their focus next time around, wondering what they'll do next is a big part of this album's fun.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bestial Burden
    The album is at its most gut-wrenching when it puts the humanity behind its creation on display.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    ...And Star Power
    Unfortunately, the final product often feels joyless and manic, and many listeners may give up before sitting through the entire beast.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hold It In
    Though the album contains plenty of odd twists and turns, there's enough of the old Melvins to keep things from straying too far from home, offering more than a few comforting oases for listeners to refresh themselves before they head out to explore some of Hold It In's weirder moments.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Trick
    He fares better on "Silver and Gold" and "Humour Me," where more energy and sensuality keep things afloat, proving once again that soul-searching and dancing don't have to be at cross purposes.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sweet Talker
    While Sweet Talker's lack of a clear artistic voice makes it wildly uneven, it just might be loud enough to regain American listeners' attention.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I've Been to Many Places
    I've Been to Many Places sounds like the record Shipp had to make for his own edification, one that chronicles his expansive, fearless push toward the spirit of the unknown with purpose, one that deepens and widens the already expansive reach of his language.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Way
    The results are approximately as scattered. Gray's obvious comfort level and charm, however, help compensate for the less than ideal quantity of magnetizing material.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Holy Ghost
    It can slip into the background but it also rewards close listening because Ford captures a hazy, unsteady vibe where the future may be uncertain but there's faith that it will arrive.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Old Boots, New Dirt
    This casual, almost steely, assurance is appealing and even if the record goes on far too long at 15 tracks (18 in editions exclusive to certain retailers), this focus coalesces Old Boots, New Dirt, turning it into one of his best records.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pulsars e Quasars [EP]
    EP release Pulsars e Quasars offers something of an introductory grab bag of the various styles that Arp is capable of.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bazaar
    The album is dark and haunted, with the same sense of paranoia that touched Curiosity, but even with production handled again by Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Jacob Portrait, the songs sound more live, visceral in a way that comes when a band graduates from low-key house parties close to home to nightly international touring.
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