AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,280 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: 15,329 out of 18280
  2. Mixed: 2,925 out of 18280
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18280
18280 music reviews
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    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Field Manual
    He can certainly sing, but years of providing seamless harmonies for Gibbard have given his pipes a clear, breathy quality that threatens to lull the listener into a trance during the album's final stretch.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Rain
    Rain balances sophistication and edgy smarts with a winning mixture of grace and confidence.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Keep Your Eyes Ahead
    If "Love and Distance" was the album that pushed the Helio Sequence off the rails, Keep Your Eyes Ahead is the sound of the duo getting back on track.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Slick Dogs And Ponies
    The moments of rocked-out swagger are fleeting and ultimately drowned out by a musical and lyrical heaviness that turns the album into a real downer.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fortress
    Protest the Hero is having fun with their creativity here, and Fortress is a better album for it.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Just A Little Lovin'
    As for this being a Shelby Lynne record, its quality and confidence is unassailable.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Shackeltons
    You get a lot of elastic, post-punk guitar explorations (à la Mission of Burma)--as evidenced by such standouts as the album opening 'Your Movement' and 'Tremble.' But then just when you think you have the Shackelton lads figured out, the Joy Division-ish 'Soft Heart' comes peaking around the corner.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Charmed & Strange
    While this is a forward-thinking and cerebral affair, as Yoav has a love of dance music, he often works with funky grooves and rhyming lyrics that should appeal to fans with a club-oriented aesthetic.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Human Bell
    It sounds counterintuitive, but the unconventional nature of Human Bell is the very thing that holds it back.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Hey Venus!
    By far the tightest record SFA has released since "Radiator"--boasting no song over five minutes and four clocking in under three--this is a concise, song-oriented record, which is somewhat ironic since it began its life as something as a concept album.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Pocketful of Sunshine
    Natasha Bedingfield is a genuine pop talent who often flashes hints of a greater than average ambition that could turn her into something more substantial than the likes of Rhianna, but the awkwardly assembled Pocketful of Sunshine feels inorganic in a way that Unwritten did not, less personal and more vetted by various A&R executives.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Venus On Earth
    Nimol's vocals are as beguiling as ever, Ethan Holtzman's Farfisa organ still swirls, Zac Holtzman's guitars still chime and chunk, and Paul Dreux Smith's drums clang happily along.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In The Future
    It's packed with stuff, but there's enough space here, and wonderfully warm atmospheres, to bring the listener right into the deeper sonic dimensions that Black Mountain is trying to create.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jukebox
    Uneven as it may be, Jukebox is still a worthwhile portrait of Chan Marshall's artistry.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Brighter Than Creation's Dark
    Less than three weeks into 2008 it's hard not to escape the feeling that with this disc we may already have the best album of the year.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mission Control
    They have enough clatter and commotion to keep Mission Control moving at a brisk pace, but they could use some extra oomph.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    P.D.A.
    The joy and silliness are enough to keep the record out of sleazy Har Mar Superstar territory, but it also means that there is a serious lack of substance on the record.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oracular Spectacular
    Despite the ever-present irony, the songs never feel insincere and the record is inherently strong throughout, making it a solid start to their career.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Unfamiliar Faces
    Matt Costa's sophomore effort, Unfamiliar Faces, finds the singer/songwriter delving into similar territory to his 2006 debut, "Songs We Sing," crafting hummable, somewhat intricate AM pop-influenced tracks.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Evening Descends
    A winsome and not entirely stable treat.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Matinee
    Here was a chance to show that the music was worthy, too. With a singing style in the cockney accent of Lily Allen or Kate Nash, he differentiated himself from these singers by actually playing the guitar himself, with mixture of skiffle and ska
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Portrait Is Finished & I Have Failed To Capture Your Beauty...
    The Portrait Is Finished and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty blends influences from two generally antithetical musical subgenres--hippie psych-folk and '80s U.K. art pop--into a languid, low-key whole that's perfect for both lazy, cozy lie-ins and middle-of-the-night headphone listening.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I'll Be Lightning
    The 14 songs here seem stronger upon each listen, with the songs soon seeming indelible.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Distortion
    It's a double-sided hook that clears the murkiness from the remaining five tracks, while simultaneously improving the first half (especially tracks like 'California Girls' and 'Please Stop Dancing') when spun for a second or third time.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Liverpool 8
    Liverpool 8 is a relaxed, amiable collection of friendly pop tunes: it's nothing too flashy and it has no one tune that calls attention to itself, but it's a well-constructed, casually charming pop record.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Behind The Melody
    This is a significant improvement over "The Love Experience" in every respect--somehow displaying an increase in both modesty and ambition, as well as offering a more refined yet bolder set of material.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Made of Bricks
    What impresses the most about Made of Bricks are her deft sketches of deteriorating relationships.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Some People Have Real Problems
    The newly varied arrangements, moods, and textures of this album, from the mournful piano-led cover of the Kinks' 'I Go to Sleep' through the horn-based R&B swing of 'Electric Bird' to the sarcastic bounce of 'The Girl You Lost to Cocaine,' make Some People Have Real Problems Sia's most engrossing and satisfying album yet.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Angels Of Destruction
    Angels of Destruction! is an album that brims with joy, rage, and adventure, and deserves your attention.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Growing Pains
    She has been able to do what few others before her have: cater to her crossover audience without losing the essence of what she really is and where she came from, and so all of Growing Pains, from its upbeat beginning to its reflective, personal ending (though the last track, 'Come to Me [Peace]' is the only real miss on the entire album), doesn't seem forced or calculated.
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