BBC Music's Scores

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For 1,831 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 68% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 28% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1 point higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Live in Detroit 1986
Lowest review score: 20 If Not Now, When?
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,531 out of 1831
  2. Mixed: 293 out of 1831
  3. Negative: 7 out of 1831
1831 music reviews
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    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    One Second of Love
    One Second of Love is arresting from the outset, Gonzalez's airily velveteen vocals cascading in with a similar invitingly icy inflection to St Vincent on Surgeon while luscious, Eyes Without a Face-esque keyboard washes burble by on their way to a skippily abrupt, if recoverable, meltdown.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tosta Mista
    By focusing on the sweetest of hooks amid some wonderfully retro-twanging surf guitar and licks from dusty Tijuana barrooms, it really clicks with immediate effect.... This is quite the upbeat treat.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Open Your Heart
    Rather than insolently demanding your attention as most rock albums do, Open Your Heart possesses a wonderfully self-indulgent, insular quality.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    World, You Need a Change of Mind
    For all its capricious cherry-picking of the historic benchmarks of sensuality and synthetics, there's still a sense of genuine invention that permeates the whole album.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Zoo
    At its best Zoo prowls menacingly and intensely, shrouded in sheets of steely guitar and fogs of squall and distortion... [But] this mood-heavy mix doesn't always work.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Other People's Problems
    This debut album deserves to take them to a new height of recognition: it's a superbly mainstream-accessible set, and distinctive of design too.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ekstasis
    It's both refreshing and exciting to hear an artist so vividly committed to exploring new frontiers in such a rewarding way.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Between the Times and the Tides
    One mighty fine rock'n'roll record.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Giants
    Longstanding fans of the band will no doubt be able to immediately fall in line with Giants' odd and unique groove. But for the uninitiated, the overall sound seems crude, even amateurish... Give this album a day or two, though, and its 10 songs begin to slip into context.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Home Again
    It might not heave with originality, but it's run through with a faith and sincerity that just about overpowers reservations.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In a Dim Light
    The whole thing's really rather magnificent.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Happy to You
    It's a delight.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pressure & Time
    Simply stuffed with rollicking tunes.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Port of Morrow
    Even when it sounds routine – Simple Song sounds exactly like a Shins song written to order – it works, simultaneously mixing zippy and plangent, joy and resignation.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    SSSS
    Tremendous stuff.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sonik Kicks
    Psychedelic, kaleidoscopic pop... heady and brilliant.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Temple Beautiful
    On one hand, it's raw and stripped down, but on the other it's expertly crafted.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Milk Famous
    White Rabbits concoct something both contemporary, cultish and catchy as a cod net.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Clearing
    In fashioning it so lovingly and with such care, Bowerbirds have come up with their best to date.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    We Bought a Zoo [Original Soundtrack]
    Jónsi is on form.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pretty Ugly
    A consistently engaging and at times exhilarating listen.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Victim of Stars: 1982-2012
    Yes, it's a ridiculous, sometimes patchy affair, but that feels entirely apposite.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Rich Forever
    Counting cash – and stacks of it – seemingly continues to prove this rapper's primary concern, rather than a desire to significantly stretch the artform.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Start the Revolution Without Me
    they've upped their creative ante somewhat, a number of these songs (assuming you pick the 'right' ones) coming across as more measured and mature, and a heck of a lot gloomier, than the upbeat bounce-alongs of old. [Review of UK release The Future Is Medieval]
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Shallow Bed
    Although at times the tunes and excitement commonly associated with a debut album can become lost in painful pursuit of authenticity, this is a surefooted and uncompromising collection.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nzca/Lines
    This is an album that glides between the concertedly cold and clinical, and a simplistic joy in pop harmonies.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Visions
    The Montreal-based artist has again delivered some fascinating and healthily progressive music on Visions, her third album.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Point of Go
    Streamlining has done them good, as has ignoring the need to be as brainy as possible, with classy and effortless-sounding results.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rise Ye Sunken Ships
    Rise Ye Sunken Ships is the embodiment of that thought – the phoenix rising from the flames, scarred yet triumphant, sad and solemn but alive.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Wrecking Ball
    Wrecking Ball is a work of commanding range and masterful execution.
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