Observer Music Monthly's Scores

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For 581 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 64% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Hidden
Lowest review score: 20 This New Day
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 376 out of 581
  2. Mixed: 195 out of 581
  3. Negative: 10 out of 581
581 music reviews
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    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    One Of The Boys
    Ultimately, its a fun teen party album. Just don't call it girl power.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Pacific Ocean Blue [Reissue]
    Adding a plaintive beauty and combining it with coke-ravaged, mid-Seventies, Spector-ish AOR and some playful studio trickery, the album is a raw, introspective and melancholic delight.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Piece Of What You Need
    Wry, understated and occasionally heroically sorry for itself, his fourth--and best--album mixes folk, pop, country and rock to superb effect.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    19
    Forget her peers or even ex-Eurythmics - think Dusty or Aretha, albeit of SW2, instead. 19 has been on constant repeat for several weeks now and will be, I suspect, for the rest of the year to come.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Diamond Hoo Ha
    Their sixth collection is broad, bouncy and almost entirely forgettable.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Cross My Path
    The result, typified by the rousing 'Oh! Vanity' and emotive 'This is the End', is a melodic and hard-fought triumph.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
    I Know You're Married... is a sure-footed, emotionally engaging step up the ladder.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All I Intended To Be
    Now, 35 years on, her voice is as resonant, lachrymose and strong as ever.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Here We Stand
    Eighteen months touring and producing themselves at home have toughened the bands sound. And broadened it.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Seeing Things
    He and producer Rick Rubin deliver a well-judged acoustic set whose songs mix war weariness with hope and loss.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Seeing Sounds
    They undoubtedly still see sounds others only dream of, but sometimes that vision is a little clouded.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    To Survive
    It's much darker, more contemplative territory; the songs are like intimate nocturnes located somewhere between classical and soul.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Loverly
    Her voice, dark, nuanced and full of mystery, shows what a class act the singer has become.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Los Angeles
    It's an inventive reimagining of hip hop with huge basslines underpinning the otherwise cinematic atmosphere.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We Started Nothing
    The synth-punk shout-pop of this boy/girl duo was cobbled together in a Salford arts complex for a budget of zero pence. And--in a totally great way--it sounds like it.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Takes
    There are exceptions, notably Tortoise, Aphex Twin and Björk songs, while Lisa Germano's 'Slide' is magnificent, mainly thanks to Adem's eerie, cracked delivery.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Bake Sale [EP]
    While it's debatable whether the Cool Kids alone can restore hip hop to its former glories, there's no doubt that the Chicago-based duo (Chuck English and Mikey Rocks) are a breath of fresh air.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    There Were Wolves
    Convening at the point where Iron and Wine meet Panda Bear, it's dreamy and chock-full of ideas.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Can Do Anything
    True to form, this third record pootles around before, ultimately, achieving lift-off.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    This Is Alphabeat
    This Is Alphabeat feels like the story of a band having embarked on an ambitious experiment in classic pop, having pulled it off, and having turned in something of a modern pop masterpiece to boot.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Here I Stand
    Last year he made the magnificent 'Dat Girl Right There', only to omit it in favour of the gloop he wades through on this.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lay It Down
    Stunning in places ('I'm Wild About You'), pedestrian in others, the song remains the same, which is achievement enough at Al's age.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bring Ya To The Brink
    Her new dance album – her 11th – is a brilliant collaboration with the likes of Basement Jaxx and the Scum Frog.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dystopia
    Take one listen to the title track, accept that it's the greatest pure pop single of the year and everything you wanted from the Klaxons and didn't get, and you'll be seduced into wanting to believe that Midnight Juggernauts know what they're doing.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Anywhere I Lay My Head
    It's a bravely eccentric selection and a captivating homage to a singular writer.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    El Rey
    One for the fans, but it would be churlish to deny that the Wedding Present still have plenty to offer.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Rockferry
    Rockferry is a fantastic album of burning blue soul.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Narrow Stairs
    While Narrow Stairs may scale down the melody-assaults of previous efforts, with their fresh groove and whiff of rebellion, Death Cab announce themselves as genuine rock stars.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Thing Of The Past
    Some (Hawkwind's 'Hurry on Sundown') work by highlighting a different, tougher side of Vetiver. But too many others, including a version of Loudon Wainwright's 'Swimming Song', drift pleasantly by without the tension that characterises the best of Vetiver's own work.
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