Record Collector's Scores
- Music
For 2,508 reviews, this publication has graded:
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51% higher than the average critic
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5% same as the average critic
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44% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.1 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
| Highest review score: | Queen II [Collector's Edition] | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest review score: | Relaxer |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1,666 out of 2508
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Mixed: 836 out of 2508
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Negative: 6 out of 2508
2508
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
They may have been the unwilling faces of a barely-there movement, but De La Soul planted the seeds of something beautiful. Collections like this allow us to reap the rewards.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 20, 2019
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It is a wonderful record – fascinating and engaging. Pure art. Give it the time it deserves.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 14, 2019
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For the most part, the Cash sessions are a fun listen you might not return to often, their voices too far apart to really work, despite the obvious kinship. Still, it’s fascinating hearing Dylan as the junior partner – Cash seems much more on the ball – and previously-unbootlegged treats like Bob running through Wanted Man and the Staples’ Amen.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 13, 2019
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Vocally, Leaving Meaning is especially strong, with an atypical abundance of words appearing to have pushed Gira to experiment with their delivery.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 13, 2019
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It can only tower when it comes to naming this decade’s great albums; miles above and light years ahead of anything else.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 13, 2019
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It is simply one of the most beautiful records ever made and anyone who hasn’t experienced it needs to stop reading and do so immediately. But for those of us who have, while they have already heard the best possible version of No Other (as we tend to learn from all box sets of this ilk, the best version got released), in these newly-discovered versions there is much to learn about and love.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 13, 2019
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One of Will Oldham’s strongest albums in recent times, if not ever. .... It’s thoughtful, beautiful fare, along with a few singalong stormers (Mama, Mama will get a crowd swaying at 30 paces) as you’d expect from Oldham, but it’s in the lyrics that he succeeds in his desire for self-reflection.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 13, 2019
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This is possibly Dawson’s best work. Yes, it’s tough-going – you’ve probably realised he REALLY doesn’t dig this country of ours right now – but the blend of smarts, art and heart is more than enough to demand your ears on repeat.- Record Collector
- Posted Oct 14, 2019
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The one-time folkie’s fourth album exorcises romantic demons by taking another bold leap forward.- Record Collector
- Posted Oct 14, 2019
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In trying times, Wilco have found some joy in creativity and made another album true to themselves, full of “poetry and magic” to console and inspire.- Record Collector
- Posted Sep 30, 2019
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The whole thing works beautifully and, if you shop carefully, you will end up with superb value for money and a repackaging of a great album that for once isn’t stuffed with redundance.- Record Collector
- Posted Sep 26, 2019
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Jenny Lewis and The National’s Aaron Dessner guest this time out but to be honest, the spotlight is increasingly and deservedly Taylor’s alone to enjoy. Surrender now.- Record Collector
- Posted Sep 12, 2019
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Though some of the high-tech production gadgetry sounds dated now, back in 1985 it was a fiercely contemporary record. But while time might have blunted its cutting edge, Rubberband, for all its flaws, still fascinates.- Record Collector
- Posted Sep 12, 2019
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It’s a persuasive, heartening, softly seductive little basket of light; and as such is welcome anytime round here.- Record Collector
- Posted Sep 12, 2019
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Those more straightahead tunes hint a sonically-reduced winter could be coming, but right now bask in i,i’s deep autumnal glow.- Record Collector
- Posted Aug 16, 2019
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The 10CD version is a patchy collection of familiar highlights and sometimes enjoyable outtakes.- Record Collector
- Posted Jul 25, 2019
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Love Will Find A Way is very special: an ego-free celebration of the tune, the big-name guests all working with Bailey to realise his vision.- Record Collector
- Posted Jul 18, 2019
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I Was Real’s resulting stew is even more disparate than what came before – this time out, you can add boogie (Tetuzi Akiyama), jigs (WZN#3 (Verso)) and pure drone to the mixer – but still with the singular vision to bring everything together into one harmonious, joyous, borderless whole.- Record Collector
- Posted Jul 18, 2019
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- Record Collector
- Posted Jul 18, 2019
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Purple Mountains is no return to form – Berman left us in 2009 with no discernible lapse in quality – but a surprisingly welcome return, given the shift in quality contained herein. A purple patch, if you will, but a far deeper one than you would expect. Deep purple it is, then.- Record Collector
- Posted Jul 18, 2019
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With its cohesive vision, it also proves that, properly curated, the material in Prince’s Vault contains a body of work that would rival Dylan’s Bootleg Series for both quality control and cultural importance. The next volume can’t come quick enough.- Record Collector
- Posted Jun 27, 2019
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Western Stars is Springsteen at his most novelistic, scratching out pocket portraits that owe as much to the printed word of John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver or even Jack Kerouac as they do a lineage that would boast weather-beaten troubadours like Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Webb, or his younger self.- Record Collector
- Posted Jun 27, 2019
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Songs reflect on his outsider past (The Ballad Of The Hulk, Young Icarus), deal directly with the writer’s block he feared happiness would bring (Writing) but now boast a welcome immediacy and intimacy as he lays his new life proudly bare. ... It sure took a while, but the Smog has finally lifted.- Record Collector
- Posted Jun 27, 2019
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Overall, Bird Songs Of A Killjoy is the sound of someone recording exactly what they want to. Nothing here feels out of place, or sounds like a pastiche of another era. Bedouine has found herself a winning formula.- Record Collector
- Posted Jun 5, 2019
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Further may not take Hawley anywhere new, but it succeeds in drawing you back into his world. Not a bad place to be.- Record Collector
- Posted May 31, 2019
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While this isn’t an album of chart hits, a pop sensibility is evident in the way that they treat music-making as primarily a challenge of curation. So, myriad high-pedigree producers and instrumentalists abound, and yet somehow, a cohesive aesthetic emerges.- Record Collector
- Posted May 30, 2019
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At 68 minutes long and 16 tracks, its length becomes an issue during a third quarter which drifts. But as an exercise in breaking with consistency, I Am Easy To Find shows The National remain open to new possibilities after all.- Record Collector
- Posted May 7, 2019
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The gorgeously wistful All Of Our Yesterdays and Skyless Moon lament time’s passage, but Here Comes… barely wastes a second of its sweet, tender and winningly off-piste, high-plains drift.- Record Collector
- Posted May 6, 2019
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A profound and poised third album, UFOF makes digging deeper seem like a natural calling.- Record Collector
- Posted May 1, 2019
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A strong contender for album of the year. ... Titanic Rising is remarkable for its breadth, effortlessly shifting from the 90-second ambient wash of the title track to Picture Me Better’s homespun take on the cosmic cowboyisms of Kacey Musgraves. Then there are Merings’ lyrics, evincing a similar shift in scale and scope.- Record Collector
- Posted Apr 30, 2019
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