Q Magazine's Scores
- Music
For 8,545 reviews, this publication has graded:
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42% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5.8 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 67
| Highest review score: | A Hero's Death | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest review score: | Gemstones |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 4,112 out of 8545
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Mixed: 4,355 out of 8545
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Negative: 78 out of 8545
8545
music
reviews
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- Critic Score
Emphathetic, female-friendly and always one step removed from the Nashville machine, Carpenter brought a welcome touch of class to country music in the early '90s. Though she's nowhere near the force of yore, those same attributes shine through on The Age of Miracles. [Jun 2010, p.132]- Q Magazine
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Their thrillingly angry seventh album is a more furious companion piece to "American Idiot," raging at both social injustice and the self-righteousness of the punk underground. [June 2008, p.138]- Q Magazine
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The songs are embedded with reflection and romance... This is how Christmas records are really done. [Jan. 2012 p. 118]- Q Magazine
Posted Dec 21, 2011 -
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There's a harder edge throughout their fourth album, making them sound a little like Starsailor at times, with electric guitars getting more of a look-in this time. [Oct 2007, p.106]- Q Magazine
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Beat the Devil's Tattoo finds BRMC edging ever further toward parody. [Apr 2010, p.109]- Q Magazine
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Alternately dreamlike and arresting, they've discovered a formula that realises the sonic sorcery always suggested by their name. [Jul 2014, p.119]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 17, 2014 -
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At 14 tracks Versions is too long... At its best, though, it's a blast. [May 2007, p.124]- Q Magazine
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Harvieu has an energy in her music that shows that nostalgia doesn't have to chain you down. [May 2012, p.97]- Q Magazine
Posted May 3, 2012 -
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Posted Feb 4, 2016 -
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There are moments of genuine heartbreak amid the musty gloom. [Oct 2005, p.115]- Q Magazine
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Kings of Leon needed to make a very specific sounding type of album in order to seize their moment, and that they have done, entirely successfully. [Oct 2008, p.134]- Q Magazine
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Its supulchral riffs, histrionic vocals and ludicrous lyrics are all comfortingly familiar. Something unexpected wouldn't have gone amiss, mind. [Jul 2009, p.117]- Q Magazine
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The unruly palette endures throughout, with dirges, ersatz country and cracked pop variously suggesting Clinic, Throbbing Gristle and Blackpool cults Ceramic Hobs. Lyrically, trigger warnings may be necessary. [Feb 2016, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 19, 2016 -
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It's the heart of the matter, and the song that sets the bar. [Oct 2011, p.122]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 21, 2011 -
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Locates her coffee-cream vocals amid glossy settings ranging from hip hop to gurgling electronica and folk. [Nov 2002, p.105]- Q Magazine
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At its worst, it comes across as parody of one of Primal Scream's cod-Stones missteps. Only once do they drop the Southern shtick. [Dec 2013, p.102]- Q Magazine
Posted Nov 22, 2013 -
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Perhaps not something you'd put on to get the party started, Yung Lean has though nailed the comedown. [Jan 2018, p.114]- Q Magazine
Posted Nov 22, 2017 -
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A diverting synthesis of analogue old-schoolery and modern genre-hopping. [Nov 2004, p.117]- Q Magazine
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It's only on a frazzled but euphoric Raise Your Head that DeLaughter achieves the sonic rapture the Spree promised from the outset. [Oct 2013, p.109]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 4, 2014 -
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There is, too, much, that is pretty and whimsical, but less substantial. Another accomplished set, but the real Fyfe Dangerfield should stand up. [Mar 2010, p.98]- Q Magazine
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The jarring throb of HIQS aside, it's an album of subtle charm that rewards repeated listening. [Mar 2013, p.95]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 6, 2013 -
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Full of blissful harmonies that glide by one after another. [Mar 2006, p.107]- Q Magazine
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While his big, piano-led MOR tunes are launched from a good place, they land in a fairly awful one. [Apr 2009, p.105]- Q Magazine
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They've lost some of their endearing quirks en route, the songs often slipping into a tuneless mess reminiscent of early-'90s experimentalists Truman's Water at their most challenging. [Jul 2011, p.111]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 29, 2011 -
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Distinct high and lows are lacking, the songs blurring like a long night, but Green remains a mistress of her mood. [May 2014, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Apr 25, 2014 -
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While opener C'est La Vie's French title is as experimental as it gets, there's still plenty to savour. [Oct 2015, p.114]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 28, 2015 -
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There's a cheesy feel to many tracks but it's good fun, delivered with Chilli's soaring harmonies tempering T-Boz's throaty growl. [Aug 2017, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Jul 6, 2017 -
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Not song-based, the album relies on mood... making its impact in a similar, slightly less accomplished manner to Brian Eno's early ambient experiments. [Feb 2007, p.102]- Q Magazine
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There's no denying that CSS have grown in songwriting flair and musical sophistication. Unfortunately, this seems to have come at the expense of raw energy and quirky character. [Aug 2008, p.133]- Q Magazine
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Immersion certainly contains its share of crossover anthems--not to mention some palette-expanding diversions into dubstep and progressive trance territories--but they'll be better appreciated in a festival field than the front room. [Jul 2010, p.135]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 14, 2011 -
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The duo deliver traditional virtues and a familiar Yuletide ambiance here. [Jan 2012, p.124]- Q Magazine
Posted Dec 22, 2011 -
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When Allien adds a taste of techno's rhythmic grunt, some focus is briefly achieved, but unfortunately it happens all too briefly. [Apr 2013, p.94]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 12, 2013 -
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It's a tangled combination, but if you've got the patience it's worth trying to unpick. [May 2013, p.101]- Q Magazine
Posted Apr 19, 2013 -
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Though wildly hit and miss, Keep Your Dream, is never more fun than when going completely over the top. [Feb 2012, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 13, 2012 -
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Radiohead refused to take part, but everyone else has embraced the idea, albeit with predictably mixed results. [Nov 2013, p.107]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 16, 2013 -
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FILA is not his monumental debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, but it maintains the revival in form that began with its 2009 sequel. [Jun 2015, p.111]- Q Magazine
Posted Apr 29, 2015 -
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Posted Oct 12, 2018 -
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The mood is still bossa nova night at the Marxist reading group, but that's not entirely a bad thing. [Apr 2005, p.123]- Q Magazine
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The bombast is blunted by a lyrical clumsiness, but if you've stopped to analyse them, then you've already missed the point of The Subways' exuberant pep. [Oct 2011, p.130]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 25, 2011 -
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Fly Rasta offers no concessions to the new-fangled ways of hip-hop, dancehall and R&B. [Jun 2014, p.114]- Q Magazine
Posted May 20, 2014 -
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His 10th effort is his most focused since 2001's "Kittenz And Thee Glitz." [Oct 2009, p.111]- Q Magazine
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While Coco Sumner certainly makes her mistakes, not least a stumbling cover of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart, she's her own, electro-poppy woman. [Nov 2010, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Nov 17, 2010 -
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Stunningly impressive... It's something that demands to exist beyond iPods, something that should be bought rather than downloaded, and played from start to finish. [Aug 2004, p.108]- Q Magazine
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He clearly has difference aspirations to many of his contemporaries, but on this evidence hasn't completely freed himself o f their influence. [Sep 2014, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 28, 2014 -
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Everything Is Borrowed is a huge disappointment, riding in on the crest of the huge disappointment that was Skinner's previous album. [Oct 2008, p.140- Q Magazine
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This third album won't appease the doubters, the sound of their previous Billboard chart-crashing album now polished until it gleams like chrome. [Jun 2010, p.120]- Q Magazine
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[Natalie Bergman's] undoubtedly gifted, but the end result feels as passionless as a first date at Starbucks. [Apr 2013, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 11, 2013 -
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The sulky formula which established them, however, like the seismic chords of Control or the crunching Battle In Me, proves the efficacy of this recycled Garbage. [Jun 2012, p.114]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 22, 2012 -
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The only annoyance is the production, which seems to believe that America will only buy rock by a Scotsman from London if it's laden with stadium-pop Waterboys/Mumfords/Titanic Celtic cack rock. [Jun 2013, p.101]- Q Magazine
Posted May 13, 2013 -
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The results may inevitably resemble a compilation, but the calm, luxurious and emotional Dive Deep is their most satisfying outing since they stopped being famous. [Mar 2008, p.107]- Q Magazine
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Having been dumped by their label, and in turn voluntarily dumped this scheduled third record's first draft, Simon Franks and Tom Disdale have taken their time, entice Madness's Suggs and Mike Barson into cameos and emergwed altogether stronger. [May 2010, p.112]- Q Magazine
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With this 30th outing there's a troubling sense of treading water. [Jul 2013, p.103]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 17, 2013 -
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The follow-up [to 2013's All Hail Bright Futures] doesn't start well, picking up where that album's most irritating moments left off. [Jun 2015, p.100]- Q Magazine
Posted May 1, 2015 -
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Calder employs a startling falsetto over tightly wound tunes that twist your emotions from the gently reflective to swelling with longing in a heartbeat. [Jan 2017, p.115]- Q Magazine
Posted Dec 13, 2016 -
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Posted Feb 22, 2018 -
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Lacking the strangely compelling shambolic glory of his first solo album Unfinished Monkey Business and the crisper soul-warrior posing of second solo set Golden Greats, this album isn't going to fulfill Brown's hopes of bettering The Stone Roses' debut.- Q Magazine
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Hence the London outfit's second album is an all-acoustic, bucolic affair. [Aug 2010, p.116]- Q Magazine
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This late-period curio isn't one for the purists. ... A patchy affair. [Oct 2019, p.117]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 3, 2019 -
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These supremely accessible, expansively produced, mostly summery pop songs often suggest a less bilious, more fleet-footed Frank Turner. [Jul 2014, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 13, 2014 -
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And so, yet again, Prince remains an artist in sore need of an outside editor. Still, if your attention span as a Prince fan has been sorely tested, HITnRUN Phase Two is a good point to reconnect with him. [Mar 2016, p.113]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 4, 2016 -
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Functional and festival-friendly, their epic naivety quickly becomes wearing. [Jul 2015, p.111]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 3, 2015 -
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A reflection on a childhood spent between Glasgow and Newcastle, Get Lucky is all muted colours, bluesy licks and hard-won wsdom, delivered with a subtlety benefitting the presence of Scottish multi-instrumentalist John McCusker. [Oct 2009, p.113]- Q Magazine
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It's when he stops trying to be the people's poet, however that Falcon soars. [Mar 2010, p.100]- Q Magazine
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The Unforgiving's rampaging orchestral stabs and hysterical synths, coupled with Sharon den Adel's fevered vocal flourishes, make for awful Euro-pop with the odd distorted guitar. [May 2011, p.115]- Q Magazine
Posted May 18, 2011 -
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When they ease off the gas, such as on the relatively forgettable High and Afterglow, they can err towards pedestrian emo, but there's enough toughness here to see them comfortably over the line. [Apr 2018, p.108]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 13, 2018 -
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Where the big boys tick and twitch, Longwave merely plod. [Mar 2003, p.111]- Q Magazine
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This lack of reinvention... does not mean lack of invention. [Jul 2006, p.108]- Q Magazine
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A few too many of these songs follow an all-too-familiar formula -- slow-burning introduction building to a crashing finale -- but on Still Tonight, Lately and last year's single Til The End, the bluster melts away to reveal Haven's passionately beating heart.- Q Magazine
- Read full review
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It's not an obvious fit, and with all songs apparently written in the space of just three days there's distinctly rushed, work-in-progress feel that does nobody any favours. [Jan 2011, p.142]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 6, 2011 -
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Last Night is a welcome return to the dancefloor following 2005's patchy rock-dance experiment "Hotel," though it still feels as if Moby is struggling to live down the 10 million-selling "Play." [Apr 2008, p.112]- Q Magazine
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While his satanic-hick shtick hasn't evolved an iota since the first Hellbilly Deluxe, there's no denying that he knows his audience. [Mar 2010, p.97]- Q Magazine
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Morissette is rarely dull, but she can occasionally be wearying. [July 2008, p.107]- Q Magazine
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If they tend toward the opaque, a soothing vibraphone or twinkling guitar arpeggio is never too far away. [Oct 2009, p.108]- Q Magazine
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[Producer Mutt] Lange proves an excellent match. Never before have Bellamy's guitars sounded so terrific. [Jul 2015, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted May 29, 2015 -
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The twosome's sincere kitchen-sink music and lyrical pathos mean the tales of Chicago life unravel like a good Paul Auster novel. [Dec 2005, p.150]- Q Magazine
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Draws heavily on Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys.... It would take a dazzling collection to sound anything other than a poor relation to such synth titans, and this plainly isn't it. [July 2002, p.108]- Q Magazine
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Dig deeper, and you'll find rich arrangements more reminiscent of Knopfler's soundtrack work. [Oct 2002, p.110]- Q Magazine
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There's absolutely nothing wrong with Mono, but bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions In The Sky do it better. [Aug 2004, p.116]- Q Magazine
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The major surprise is just how on top of their game they sound on this orgy of melody. [Apr 2009, p.110]- Q Magazine
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If there is a highlight on this surprisingly dog-free set it's Fight For This Love, where soaring melody piles upon soaring melody without sacrificing its subtle grace. [Dec 2009, p. 121]- Q Magazine
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Posted Oct 12, 2012 -
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Posted Oct 3, 2014 -
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What distinguishes New Build is their lyrical inner monologue, which speaks of a reflective mind given to philosophical enquiry. [Dec 2014, p.114]- Q Magazine
Posted Nov 13, 2014 -
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Portico are definitely onto something here, but just haven't fully realised it yet.[May 2015, p.109]- Q Magazine
Posted Apr 14, 2015 -
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It's the interregnum between rock'n'roll and The Beatles and, if the line-up is disparate, the tone is constant, one of languor and melancholy, with re-creation rather than reinterpretation the aim. [Jun 2017, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted May 25, 2017 -
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The shift between styles can jar, but it's a move that give Broods' inoffensive formula a welcome burst of energy. [Mar 2019, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 6, 2019 -
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Get Hurt is neither weird, nor, unfortunately, all that wonderful. [Sep 2014, p.116]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 28, 2014 -
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It's taut, slick and more transatlantic than its predecessor but they lose some of the quirks that gave their debut much of its charm. [Oct 2012, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 10, 2012 -
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A high-gloss, vocally gymnastic collection of '80s-referencing dance pop concerned with love and love gone wrong, can be a little full-on. [Aug 2009, p.107]- Q Magazine
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Listening to this third LP, you wonder if some of the good ones slipped through the cracks. [May 2017, p.102]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 14, 2017