American Songwriter's Scores

  • Music
Select another publication »
For 1,819 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.7 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Rockstar
Lowest review score: 20 Dancing Backward in High Heels
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,462 out of 1819
  2. Mixed: 353 out of 1819
  3. Negative: 4 out of 1819
1819 music reviews
view
per page
    • 99 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Music from Big Pink [50th Anniversary]
    The album was intricately produced by John Simon, and meticulously arranged with three singers/players--Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel--sharing the spotlight (Robbie Robertson also took a rare lead vocal). Subtleties like oblique background horn charts, keyboard whiz Garth Hudson’s inspired and playful sounds (particularly on “This Wheels On Fire”) and Helm’s unique drum patterns are given a fresh glow, making this enduring classic even more enticing.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Karma for Cheap
    Ultimately, this set succeeds because of how natural and effortless it feels. Like Petty’s writing, these songs seem to emerge fully formed. Tasjan appears at home in this sonic environment.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Healing Tide
    With their beaming outpouring of positivity and joyous approach to life and love, this rousing music encourages togetherness in these troubled times.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Shooter
    Workaholic producer Dave Cobb keeps Shooter’s sound polished proving that for better, and sometimes worse, Shooter Jennings can play by the country-rock rules when he wants to.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Chains Are Broken
    The more sophisticated Chains are Broken reflects a willingness to push beyond the somewhat cult audience The Devil Makes Three has accumulated, into a wider framework without abandoning their reputable roots. While it may be a bit jarring on initial spin, the risk has paid off.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Be the Cowboy
    Be The Cowboy is a standout because of its restlessness, Mitski winding each lonely melody through the peripatetic music and always landing someplace unexpectedly moving.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Out of the Blues
    Occasional horns spice up the approach adding tasty seasoning to an album that shows Boz Scaggs at 74 is bookending a remarkable career by reviving a love of the refined soul/blues that began over 50 years ago.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Back Being Blue
    Even after over a decade away from the solo focus, Back Being Blue feels less like a return than a natural progression. That’s not to knock Willis’ two fine collaborations with Robison, but it’s a pleasure to have her talent front and center and not sharing the spotlight.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wild! Wild! Wild!
    Fulks pens seven of the 13 tracks and helped curate the rest, plus assembled a band of veterans like Telecaster master Redd Volkaert to give the talented Lewis full room to shine. Which she does masterfully.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Time Flies
    he album is a study in contrasts with Lauderdale’s recording debut: the 61-year-old singer’s voice has deepened and grown more resonant with age, more weary and weathered and measured.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Among the Ghosts
    Based on Among The Ghosts, the band sounds tighter, more intuitive and incisive than when they started in 1998.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Blue Mesa
    On Blue Mesa, Luke Winslow-King reflects on his strengths, weaknesses and need to keep moving with the lyrical and musical integrity of a heartbroken journeyman who understands, believes in and respects the road ahead and behind.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Back Roads and Abandoned Motels
    Even though they were assembled from different years and with other artists’ input, Back Roads And Abandoned Motels feels as cohesive and organic as the best Jayhawks releases.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dude, the Obscure
    Dude, The Obscure gets stronger as it goes, its second half filled with laments both specific (the complaint about a big-city wannabe in “NY”) and vague (the overarching malaise of “Lit By Midnight”).
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All That Reckoning
    This is another impressive notch in the group’s expansive catalog belt and a further illustration that their classy, classic talents show no signs of dissipating as they settle into middle age.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Nude Party
    This feels like the band’s fifth album, not their first, and that’s an enormous compliment. They blow the roof off but do it with style and class, nodding to the past without slavishly imitating it.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Things Change
    If Things Change has any fault, it’s that the North Carolina singer-songwriter doesn’t cover too much new ground. But for the most part, it’s an engaging latest chapter in the ever-evolving, consistently compelling storytelling saga of one of this generation’s most overlooked roots country singer-songwriters.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Our Country: Americana, Act 2
    Ultimately the album is easier to appreciate as an unusual, occasionally successful and diverting artistic project that tries to make sense of Davies’ love and apprehension about America, than it is to enjoy.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Uniform Distortion
    There are enough artistic twists and turns to please even the most dedicated Jacket fan, showing that James remains as musically edgy as ever on an album that pulses with energy, enthusiasm and the restless spirit James has always personified.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Putting on Airs
    She effortlessly combines her vocal, lyrical and melodic gifts into a perfect storm on the shimmering and often spellbinding Putting on Airs.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Downey to Lubbock
    A full band backs the twosome and while this might seem like an unusual pairing on paper, the result is an alternatively sweet, touching, rousing and undeniably heartfelt set that plays to both artist’s strengths while pushing each slightly outside their comfort zone.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dock of the Bay Sessions
    At just over a half hour of music, we’re not getting anything fresh here--no outtakes, studio chatter, demos, remixes, nothing--which, in this day of easily being able to build your own playlist, seems at best like a waste of time and at worst a greedy cash grab aimed at those who can’t figure out how to create this themselves.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Arthur Buck
    The result is sometimes sublime, sometimes noisy and chaotic.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shannon in Nashville
    This is an auspicious solo debut. Auerbach backs her with studio pros who have played on dozens of classic albums from Aretha to Neil Diamond, but she rises to the occasion with her commanding presence, terrific songs and powerhouse voice.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Future and the Past
    With increasingly assured songwriting, Natalie Prass demonstrates that she is on top of her game in the here and now.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hell-On
    There is a chilly, somewhat detached vibe that often overtakes the material, making it a challenge to unpack each of these dense selections on an album that’s easier to appreciate and admire than enjoy.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Tomorrow's Daughter
    As much as the veteran musician should be complimented for his work ethic, he can do better than the overall competent but unexciting Tomorrow’s Daughter.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Lovelaws
    There are echoes of Bjork (a major influence), Depeche Mode and the earlier, more melodramatic tendencies of the Cure. While that references the older aspects of Wayman’s music, there’s also an enduring, durable and somewhat ageless vibe that keeps this from feeling retro.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sparkle Hard
    Sparkle Hard comfortably fits in alongside any of the other entries in his oeuvre, but it also feels like a more mature release. He’s mostly let go of the overt references to The Fall and Dadaist poetry that defined Pavement’s early material. Instead, he delivers the prettiest album of his recent career, one that still rocks but does so in a relaxed, contemplative manner.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Providence Canyon
    The concepts may be well worn and bordering on cliché, but the execution is generally fresh and inspired, proving that writing what you know never goes out of style.
Page: