Blender's Scores

  • Music
For 1,854 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 39% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 58% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 7.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 Together Through Life
Lowest review score: 10 Folker
Score distribution:
1854 music reviews
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Baker... somehow makes them sound more outrageous--and more convincing. [Dec 2005, p.148]
    • Blender
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Broader and more aggressive than both its predecessor and the 2001 English album Laundry Service, it also lacks a center of gravity. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.96]
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    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hypnotize has a little bit of everything: protest, pretension, comedy, brute force, delicacy, compassion, crassness, fury. [Dec 2005, p.143]
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    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Political without preaching, sexy in a bookish way, this record will keep you up talking with someone you'd like to kiss. [Dec 2005, p.149]
    • Blender
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kweli expends most of his considerable lyrical talent touting his considerable lyrical talent. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.94]
    • Blender
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    [It] sounds as if she's happy to give the people what they want: escapism and nostalgia. [Dec 2005, p.152]
    • Blender
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sounds like a greatest hits set. [Dec 2005, p.156]
    • Blender
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    15 thrilling highlights. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.93]
    • Blender
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    She balances her freakiness by matching her sublime chirp with grounded glories. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.93]
    • Blender
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The result is something of a songcraft master class.... A career best. [Dec 2005, p.150]
    • Blender
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The melodies are strikingly generic for a star act. [Dec 2005, p.144]
    • Blender
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The songs get lost in waves of wah-wah long before a long, slow fade into random-noise oblivion. [Dec 2005, p.149]
    • Blender
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There's no jam-band noodling, and Anastasio's indelible head-bobbing cheer is now attached to the kidn of straightforward hooks Phish preferred to twist. [Dec 2005, p.144]
    • Blender
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The novelty of the all-star show has worn off, especially as the caliber of the all-stars has declined dramatically. [Nov 2005, p.140]
    • Blender
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A folk-rock anti-Midas, he reduces everything he touches to a molten core of sadness. [Dec 2005, p.151]
    • Blender
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Finally: bedroom music from a guy who seems to know his way around the bedroom. [Nov 2005, p.141]
    • Blender
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Enough human warmth sneaks through to make this second album exciting and affecting. [Nov 2005, p.133]
    • Blender
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A gentle, reflective and often gorgeous album. [Nov 2005, p.132]
    • Blender
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Not for all--or even most--tastes, the result is abrasive and weirdly haunting. [Nov 2005, p.135]
    • Blender
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    What's most frustrating about them is precisely what's most appealing: Their refusal to write traditional songs, coupled with their giggling nature-child personas, adds an air of mystery and makes for some beautifully offbeat melodies. [Nov 2005, p.131]
    • Blender
    • 78 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The second half drops off badly--the band seem to think that the tonic for a weak lyric is to slow the tempo to a crawl. [Nov 2005, p.130]
    • Blender
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The world's heaviest band turn out to have metal's lightest touch too. [Nov 2005, p.137]
    • Blender
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The first and less snarky half of Tanglewood Numbers... is some of the liveliest music Berman has recorded. [Nov 2005, p.140]
    • Blender
    • 43 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    The songs are soggier, the sentiments more banal. [Dec 2005, p.154]
    • Blender
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wonder has a genius for... emotional openness. [Dec 2005, p.157]
    • Blender
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Despite the occasional misstep... it's a welcome album to anyone who wishes the past 15 years never happened to Run-D.M.C.'s legacy. [Nov 2005, p.139]
    • Blender
    • 81 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Surprisingly pedestrian. [Nov 2005, p.134]
    • Blender
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It's like a game of Name That Tune at a barreling 200 bpm. [Oct 2005, p.138]
    • Blender
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It's the musical equivalent of George Lucas's tinkering with the Star Wars DVDs--some flaws are best left uncorrected. [Nov 2005, p.135]
    • Blender
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A stellar set. [Nov 2005, p.135]
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