AllMusic's Scores

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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
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    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pluto x Baby Pluto
    The album stays in one lane for the majority of its tracks, with only a few divergences from competitive flexing about wealth or sexual antics for more emotionally reflective tracks. With songs as infectious and as goofy as the smooth, midtempo trap blast "Drankin N Smokin," however, there are no complaints about how Pluto X Baby Pluto keeps the party going.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bodies
    Bodies is one of the stronger offerings from AFI's late era, stirring both the physical and emotional with urgency and heart.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live
    The polish and punch of latter-day Dan remain, but things are indeed different. Becker's tart presence is missed, Fagen's voice is wispy, and the smooth professionalism does indeed seem as if it was designed to feel at home at venues like the Mohegan Sun casino.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Good To Be...
    If Good to Be... sometimes is a little too cozy -- it's executed well and its unifying spirit is evident, but a cover of "Lean on Me" still feels a little overly familiar -- it's nevertheless a warm, welcoming album that's every bit as soothing and comforting as Keb' Mo' intended it to be.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    My Other People
    TV Priest are still working on an individual sound judging from My Other People, and at the same time they're growing into a more accomplished and interesting band; their obvious talent makes them an act only a fool would ignore.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Loom
    While Mercury kept their hit streak going and matured the band with a welcome vulnerability, longtime fans of their aggressive empowerment anthems will delight in this pseudo-"return to form" from the Vegas quartet, one of their most satisfying and immediate sets to date.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lady on the Cusp
    If it's possible to be fun and tedious at the same time, Lady on the Cusp fits the bill.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    SWAG
    One of those songs, "Daisies," also involves the unmistakable Mk.gee, and for Bieber it's a career highlight, a gentle rocker conveying an ultra-rare combination of anticipation, patience, and empathy. More often, Bieber's direct and inelegant wordplay is at odds with the hazy sonics.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Magic Hour
    While Magic Hour may not be as satisfying to fans who just wanna dance as albums like Night Work and Scissor Sisters were, it should please those who enjoy the band's formidable songwriting skills as much as cutting a rug.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Day Is My Enemy
    Add the way "Roadblox" provides the cinematic side of Prodigy that's often overlooked and the album seems a triumph, but lead single "Nasty" is a lesser "Firestarter" and at 14 cuts, this chunky effort is built for returning fan club members and not the EP-craving EDM crowd.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Radio Wars
    Radio Wars demands its listeners heed that siren song, and it's truthfully hard to resist.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Live Music
    While Live Music sometimes feels a little too rambling for its own good, the growth the band shows is even more impressive because it seems so effortless.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    From The Valley To The Stars
    From the Valley to the Stars is a fairly magical trip to the center of heartache.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Artificial Sweeteners
    Artificial Sweeteners may not be their most instantly impressive album, 2008's Lightbulbs still has that honor, but it does sound great on first listen and continues to sink in deeper with each subsequent spin.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Pyramid of the Sun
    A straight play, from start to end, the album thrives on the hypnotic rhythmic drive of Krautrockers like Neu!, with bulky synth riffs that make many of the songs sound like the intro to Van Halen's version of "Dancing in the Streets," or Jan Hammer's "Theme from Miami Vice," only beefed up, elongated, and entangled in guitar delays.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Garden of Arms
    The rest of the album, despite a few detours into semi-indulgent, atonal glitch that shakes the fluidity of the record yet never really derails the train, keeps looking forward, hoping to find a light at the end of the tunnel, while knowing full well that it's only the first of many.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Extended Vacation
    Chances are, Extended Vacation won't rope in fans of Gray's and Kotche's respective bands Wilco and Gastr del Sol, since it's a far cry from alt-country or math rock, but those looking for something that's avant-garde but fairly easy to digest might find this minimalist mood piece strangely soothing.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Unexpected
    Unexpected simply feels like a leap more than a step.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Human
    Human is nothing if not a serious album, not to mention the least enjoyable release in Brandy's catalog. But it could very well be her most useful one.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dreams Come True
    This focus on approachability over impenetrability makes Dreams Come True not only a welcoming debut, but a fantastic entry point into the more experimental side of electronic music.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Public Warning
    An exciting introduction to an extraordinary artist captured at just the right time.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rituals
    Rituals oozes dread, but ultimately it's that contrast between finery and paranoia that makes it so vital.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Into The Blue Again
    Unlike his earlier recordings, there's little here that rewards close listening.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    These Friends Of Mine
    A mixed bag.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tender Madness
    The appropriately titled Tender Madness, more or less backs that notion [go big or go home] up with 12 emotionally charged slabs of Foster the People- and Killers-infused highway anthems, of both the fist-pumping and soul-searching varieties, that flirt with mainstream architecture yet retain enough of a ramshackle, post-slacker luster to appeal to fans of Weiss' previous outfit.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Ways We Separate
    Cunningly sequenced, The Ways We Separate is exceptionally fluid and tightly bound, made for compulsive listening with no weak links.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Oblivion Hunter [EP]
    For enthusiasts or obsessive fans, this unpolished look in will be a treat, but for everyone else, the album is not without its highlights but little more than a glorified practice tape.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Full Circle Nightmare
    Throughout, the album's stories, turns of phrase, and underdog romanticism loom even larger than its melodies, but what leaves the biggest impression is that barely restrained revelry.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Scorpion
    Scorpion doesn't even come close to being one of his best; instead, it's a one-trick record stretched out into 25 endless tracks by an artist who's so deep into the self-obsessed, self-pitying rut he created for himself that he can't see daylight anymore.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This Is Acting
    Given that Furler didn't originally plan to make these songs her own, it's impressive that This Is Acting works as well as it does--only the wannabe banger "Move Your Body" and "Sweet Design"'s flashy, hard-hitting R&B are truly unconvincing. For the most part, however, This Is Acting's meta-pop is another example of how cleverly Sia brings her her experiments into the mainstream.
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