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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    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Fabled City
    With The Fabled City, Morello's growth as a topical songwriter is enormous; he's brought the singer/songwriter into a cultural discussion, a dialogue, where we can dialogue not only about characters (who are treated with dignity as speaking subjects, not merely as objects to hang a tune on) and their struggles, but also with popular music again, as a ready tool for awareness of the world around us.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Glass Passenger
    The Glass Passenger might not bare the same pop hooks as "Everything in Transit," but it does stay afloat under the weight of McMahon's past, which bodes well for the songwriter's future work.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Kellie Pickler
    They chuck all that out the window by corseting her cornball humor into an immaculately tailored straitjacket, burying her voice in the mix, cutting away the country in favor of a manicured crossover pop unsuited for Pickler's gawky, gangly voice.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Murs For President
    Murs was obviously ready to put his best foot forward--and yes, Murs for President is just as ambitious as the title indicates.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At 89
    As you might expect from a Seeger album, the songs on At 89 take on some of the problems faced by America in 2008, and while the music is sometimes touched by melancholy, Seeger's faith in his fellow humans shines through clearly.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Vivian Girls
    The sound of three people ripping through hooky tunes without regard for pleasantries and taste is one of the joys of rock & roll, and Vivian Girls do satisfy on that account.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    WLIB AM: King Of The Wigflip
    The beats are excellent as well, loping and stuttering and falling over each other in Madlib's best Drunken Master style. Although there are plenty of instrumentals, at least three-quarters of WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip is given over to vocal features.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Out My Window
    Koushik has a few contemporaries doing something similar (Nobody, Four Tet, Caribou), but apart from Caribou's Andorra, none of them has come up with an album as good overall as Out My Window.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Victory Shorts
    Victory Shorts is an assured, confident, and quite often brilliant album by a band that is clearly influenced by the past but never falls prey to easy nostalgia.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Power Of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities
    The Power of Negative Thinking isn't the whole JAMC story, but it's the whole story behind the scenes and A-side singles, and sometimes the B-sides. Even better.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Double Night Time
    Ultimately a modest and compulsively listenable set of nocturnal electronic lullabies, Double Night Time's use of two- and seven-year-old tracks is not unwarranted.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Covers
    Covers winds up feeling a bit like an outdoor concert on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon: something that is wholly relaxing and not in the least surprising.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Shogun
    Shogun is easily Trivium's most challenging and ambitious album yet, and even though it isn't likely to spawn any hit singles, it was clearly the album Trivium had to make in order to get unduly prejudiced metalheads off their backs and finally silence undue suspicions over their abundant talent and devotion to heavy metal.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Twilight Of The Thunder God
    Amon Amarth sticks closely to the same sound and approach that got them this far in the first place.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Maestro
    Maestro never sounds the least bit unfocused. Being eclectic comes naturally to Mahal, who sees to it that Maestro is a consistently engaging celebration of his 40th year as a recording artist.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Leucocyte
    More than any other recording issued by this excellent band, Leucocyte captures the art of music making at the moment of conception.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Drawn In Basic
    More than anything, though, it's the album's crystal-clear emotions and sweetly fleeting melodies that make it Mangia's finest work yet.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Friendly Fires
    When the results are as fun as this album is at its best, it's hard to slam them too much for being derivative; better just to enjoy Friendly Fires as fleeting fun.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Hawk Is Howling
    At first, it's tempting to want all of The Hawk Is Howling to be as obviously powerful as its biggest tracks, but with time it reveals itself as one of Mogwai's most masterful blends of delicacy and strength.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Only By The Night
    Like many big-sounding albums, Only by the Night is a polarizing piece of work, one that targets new fans at the expense of those who wish Kings of Leon had never shaved their beards or discovered post-'70s rock.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Dear Science,
    'Dancing Choose's' title is pointed enough that the song almost doesn't need to prove that dancing on your troubles is powerfully therapeutic as thoroughly as it does, but that's just another example of this album's rare balance between craft and passion.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Loyalty To Loyalty
    More often than not, Loyalty to Loyalty takes a disappointing stumble on it.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Doll Domination
    Digging out this handful of songs from the 16-track proper album-- inflated to as much as 24 tracks with the bonus disc added in--is flat-out exhausting, necessitating trawling through too many dull beats, breathy bleats, a phoned-in Snoop Dogg cameo and Missy Elliot name-dropping Katy Perry.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Acid Tongue
    Acid Tongue is where Lewis finally pulls it all together and delivers one killer of a record.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Big Bad World
    Big Bad World is a tidy, enjoyable release, and the Plain White T's deserve points for remaining grounded after a meteoric year.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    High Places
    High Places' debut lives up to the promise of their singles (and then some) and is hopefully the first of many impressive and inspiring records to come from the duo.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Furr
    Blitzen Trapper's first release for Sub Pop doesn't just improve upon the promise of WMN, it expands its sonic horizons as well, narrowing the mixtape glee that fueled its predecessor with just enough maturity to lend it considerable weight.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Motion To Rejoin
    Brightblack Morning Light's intentions and actions are indeed admirable--they're committed advocates of much more than just drug legalization--but Motion to Rejoin struggles mightily to articulate a focus aside from tranquility.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tennessee Pusher
    Not that Tennessee Pusher is a huge fall off from "Big Iron World," it's just not a great leap forward and upward, although there are plenty of striking tracks.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Radio Retaliation
    Despite the politics, there are still a few more of the ethereal masterpieces Thievery Corporation have made a hallmark in the past.
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