New Musical Express (NME)'s Scores

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For 6,298 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Lowest review score: 0 Maroon
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,465 out of 6298
  2. Mixed: 1,680 out of 6298
  3. Negative: 153 out of 6298
6298 music reviews
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    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Right On!
    Lindberg’s first solo LP moves in mysterious, often circuitous ways, emphasising mood over melody and aesthetic over dynamic. Which is a polite way of saying that it’s something of a grower, whose charms are revealed like arcane secrets only to those with patience, persistence and a lack of proximity to heavy machinery.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Head Full of Dreams
    If A Head Full of Dreams really is to be Coldplay’s last hurrah, then they’ve gone out with a flashbang of colour and catharsis.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Junun
    The guitarist and his normally hands-on producer are facilitators, with Tzur as the star. That might upset Radiohead fans expecting a stop-gap, but shouldn’t detract from an what's a largely immersive record.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ty-Rex [Reissue]
    It works well as a fun stop-gap before Segall’s next solo effort, ‘Emotional Mugger’, arrives in January.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Caracal
    Caracal is about Disclosure maturing, moving on and showing the listener how to rave respectably. This is dance music for grown-ups.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mutant
    As disarmingly brilliant Mutant can be at times, it’s still deliberately obscure.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shadow of a Doubt
    The resulting album is a total knockout.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    25
    You just can’t shake the feeling that the whole thing is just far too safe. You can’t blame team Adele for following a formula that has so far resulted in 30 million album sales--but here’s to a little more innovation on ‘29’.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE
    It is thrilling, weird, danceable, frequently inspired and Day-Glo to a fault.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Heart Blanche
    From someone whose appeal relies so heavily on his openness and honesty, the album feels out of balance: like there's a hole where its heart should be.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Alone in the Universe
    Lynne’s melodic sparkle, as ever, acts as ELO’s warp drive. He expertly gives tired old genres shots of refreshing stardust.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Made in the A.M.
    Made In The AM doesn’t really change anything for One Direction; it's simply another slick set of pop songs designed to strike a chord with their teenage fanbase and win over a few older fans along the way.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Purpose
    It’s clear plenty of good choices have been made here. It’s not quite redemption--only time will tell if he’ll curb the recklessness--but it’s certainly a start at reinvention.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Aquaria
    The problem is, these impressive production techniques are in greater abundance than actual tunes. With clever tricks rather than pop hooks, expressionistic (and often mumbled) lyrics and a lack of relatable themes, Aquaria can feel cold and self-involved.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mirrors
    Less of a concept album, more of a patchwork, Mirrors runs together not so much seamlessly as breathlessly.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Montage Of Heck: The Home Recordings
    It’s those sudden, inexplicable breakthroughs, those little lightning strikes of inspiration, that this compilation is ultimately concerned with. And it’s in those moments when these crappily-recorded fumblings become a source of real fascination.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Art Angels
    By embracing the pop orthodoxy, you might argue that Boucher has sacrificed some of what made her seem so alien when 4AD debut 'Visions' emerged from the ether back in 2012, but rest assured: she's still laughing and not being normal, only this time, it's all the way to the bank.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Amy [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
    This compilation isn’t anywhere near as enlightening or engrossing as its source material, but if you’ve seen the film, read the think-pieces and are now determined to buy the album, there’s just enough here to make it worth your while.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Get Weird
    Melodramatic ballads like 'Secret Love Song' and 'Love Me Or Leave Me' aren't as entertaining, but they're outweighed by the sassy kiss-offs of 'Hair' ("He was just a dick and I knew it") and 'Grown' ("Your voice dropped and you thought you could handle me").
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Delirium
    There's something disappointing about this, however undeniable the quality of material.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Making Time
    The prevailing air understatement doesn’t detract from Making Time, but it does mean it just peters out. Woon could have done with pursuing the harder edge of ‘Movement’ a bit more. But he does things his own way and, for the most part, that’s a very good thing.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    West Kirby Country Primary
    Whereas Ryder-Jones' old band inhabited a colourful, self-contained world of soft drugs, spaghetti westerns and Scouse jabberwocky, his own sonic nook might seem smaller and more earthbound by comparison, but it's no less personal or poignant for that.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bleeds
    Sixth album Bleeds is often weighty, but sounds consistently alive, and inimitably Roots Manuva.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Adrenalin Baby: Live
    If tracks like ‘New Town Velocity’ or ’Easy Money’ passed you by, this is an opportunity to reacquaint yourself. The Smiths songs, of course, will be of particular interest.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Courting the Squall
    Guy Garvey’s solo debut follows the classic pattern--he’s off to play trad-based songs that “don’t fit the Elbow template” with his mates from I Am Kloot (bassist Pete Jobson) and The Whip (guitarist Nathan Sudders), don’t wait up. But as it reels out the old lines it proves quite the charmer.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Return to the Moon
    Together, EL VY create an enthralling musical space where Matt Berninger can explore the idea of being Matt Berninger.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Be Small
    Always intelligent but never too clever for their own good, Here We Go Magic finally break into a huge, dumb guitar solo on 'News'. That's where they are, making the challenging accessible, a band forging their own path at last. Never mind, Be Small, this thinks big.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Sounds Good Feels Good
    Within the first four songs, 5SOS shout out underachievers, college dropouts and kids battling low self-esteem. They do so with winning sincerity, but even that can’t quite make up for the record’s derivative sound.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    II
    As the sprawling title-track brings the album to a close around the 67-minute mark, the heft of it all can feel overpowering, leaving you wishing for a more concentrated dose.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Real Life
    It might sound like Real Lies are living in the past, but Real Life is fiercely in the present.
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