Hartford Courant's Scores

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For 517 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 62% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 36% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Sound Of Silver
Lowest review score: 20 Carry On
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 398 out of 517
  2. Mixed: 107 out of 517
  3. Negative: 12 out of 517
517 music reviews
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    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
    The uneven Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle finds Callahan's knack for twangy crispness, pastoral imagery, and stone-faced singing very much intact, though he adopts a distinct growl to utter the title of 'My Friends.'
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Nouns
    No Age is certainly an adventurous band, but its sound here suffers from too much repetition.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Happy Hollow
    Although Cursive is still one of the best at what it does, "Happy Hollow" fails to live up to previous greatness.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
    This record is far more cohesive and creative musically, but it's less inspiring lyrically.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Cassadaga
    "Cassadaga" is an insular, self-referential album that strives for depth and profundity and sounds instead like a high-school poetry reading, full of rhyming-dictionary couplets and banal pronouncements about life.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Time On Earth
    While the slower, gentler moments are not without charm, large sections of the album land on the wrong side of the drowsy-dreamy divide.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Hard Way
    As on past releases, he mostly celebrates the snap and polish of the sharkskin '60s. His songs crib so blatantly from that era that citing his influences--Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Van Morrison--is almost redundant.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    You, You're A History In Rust
    In some spots, the pacing proves problematic.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bromst
    Deacon is hampered by his boundless creativity. In his mad dash to leave no pathway unexplored, he neglects to chart a course toward anyplace in particular.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Human The Death Dance
    Where Francis suffers is in the music.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    My Name Is Buddy
    Although the folk songs fit the theme of the album, they don't showcase Cooder's skills as a composer.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Intoxication
    High points are overshadowed by the abundance of filler on Intoxication.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Security
    Essential background music, if such a thing exists.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Detours
    Detours clearly wants to be Bob Dylan but ends up being Bob Roberts instead.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Grace/Wastelands
    He doesn't quite succeed, though in the process of failing, he turns in his most restrained and focused recordings to date.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Touchdown
    The band's third full-length, Touchdown, is more of a 10-yard pass than a score.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Doctor's Advocate
    Taylor has vastly improved as an MC since last year's "The Documentary," and though his material is still largely built around hip-hop cliches... he shows flashes of mordant wit that are as sly (and smutty) as they are surprising.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Cause I Sez So
    No such luck on 'Cause I Sez So, an album that, despite a few bright spots, is too flimsy and forgettable to honor the Dolls' legacy.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Let It Go
    A collection of smoothly produced, soft-pedaled cowboy anthems.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Repentance
    However nonsensical, Perry's rants remain entertaining, and despite its flaws, the album holds together from start to finish.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Information
    Despite his penchant for experimentation, much of his material remains accessible to casual listeners, even when he turns toward the self-indulgent.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Couples
    This time, however, the subject matter is more mundane, and Jackson's flattened vocals are paired with less imaginative post-punk guitars and synths.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing
    The natural energy of his performances keeps his songs appealing, but his catchy anthems sometimes sink into formula that does not take full advantage of his musical prowess.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Recession
    The Atlanta crack rapper's third album is largely a faithful rehash of his first two platters, which transformed him from unrepentant hustler to unlikely inspirational figure.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Carnival Ride
    A record with stronger songs that somehow manages to sound just as banal as her first.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Viva La Vida
    It's an improvement on the band's impressively dull 2005 album, "X&Y," but Coldplay's latest doesn't recapture the promise of the band's first two albums.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Just Like You
    A late-album glut of so-so, mid-to-slow-tempo material like the Anthony Hamilton duet 'Losing You' and 'Work It Out' leaves you with a lesser impression than the disc probably deserves.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Skeletal Lamping
    Barnes and company's ninth studio album isn't as catchy or cohesive as the past few, hitting upon sublime moments--like when he quietly asks "Why I am so damaged?"--that are frustratingly few and far between.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Or Give Me Death
    A pop album that, for all the lightness and joy that come with humming synthesizers, punchy horns and sing-along melodies, requires listeners to do some pretty heavy lifting.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Made of Bricks
    Nash is more than just another girl on piano, and some of the songs on Made of Bricks are promising. But her inconsistent songwriting and penchant for falling back on cliches show that originality requires more than just an English accent.
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