Record Collector's Scores

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For 2,518 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 51% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 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: 100 Queen II [Collector's Edition]
Lowest review score: 20 Relaxer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,674 out of 2518
  2. Mixed: 838 out of 2518
  3. Negative: 6 out of 2518
2518 music reviews
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per page
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    If You're Going to the City: A Tribute to Mose Allison for Sweet Relief
    There’s rich pleasure everywhere you look: Peter Case’s heartfelt delivery of I Don’t Worry About A Thing, a spectral The Way Of The World by Anything Mose! and Taj Mahal’s nimble, forceful version of the sardonic opener, Your Mind Is On Vacation. The latter offers a thrilling pointer about how high we are going to fly, and includes Bonnie Raitt’s stunning version of Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy, where her passionate take skilfully unfurls the raging force underpinning the song. Elsewhere, there are blasts of controlled power such as Ben Harper/Charlie Musselwhite’s fiery take on Nightclub.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Before and After
    Latest must-have. .... Not only are most of these renditions drastically different to the originals, Young blends one reimagined song into the next without any pause, producing less of a medley than an epic, multipart ballad. When he’s gone, none will replace him.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    1 2 3 4
    Echoes of the past but very much of today. [Mar 2024, p.105]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Jun 10, 2024
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pomegranate
    Ruari Meehan's nuanced production provides for a far more immersive listen. [Dec 2024, p.108]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Nov 4, 2024
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Landfill
    Young Knives will thrill the faithful, but the lapsed should consider a catch-up, too. [Mar 2025, p.105]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Feb 24, 2025
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Thee Black Boltz
    Adebimpe's solo bow is a bracingly personal blast of emotion, invention and radiant positivity. [May 2025, p.102]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Apr 17, 2025
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bang
    Complements her poetic lyrics with intricate, arpeggiated folk guitar to haunting effect. [Jan 2026, p.103]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Jan 6, 2026
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Garip
    These are more than covers, more bold reworkings. [Mar 2026, p.102]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Feb 20, 2026
    • 80 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Future Soul
    This is over-produced and underachieving, [May 2026, p.103]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Apr 17, 2026
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Requiem
    A fearless oasis of natural calm for a world that desperately need it. [May 2026, p.103]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Apr 27, 2026
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    HOPE!!
    There are moments of inspiration, such as the alacritous and emphatic I'm On Fire featuring Caveman, but too often it feels committee-led, with potential hits trumping soulfulness. [May 2026, p.101]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted May 12, 2026
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cracker Island
    End-times prophecies have always been a part of Gorillaz’s world view, but here Damon Albarn’s lyrics allude to personal burnout. There’s something poignant about hearing Stevie Nicks’ weathered voice twin itself to Albarn’s while singing about reaching a place “when you can’t help yourself anymore and the madness come”.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Going Down in History
    While most tracks capture the hell-for-leather energy and countrified cruises of the Waco Brothers’ renowned live shows, the album also enjoys diversions such as the early Rod Stewart-like ballad Orphan Song and an unlikely but spirited cover of the Small Faces’ All Or Nothing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Creature Of Habit
    Mixing habitual anxieties and a kind of caught-in-the-moment clarity with intuitive fluency, Creature Of Habit is the Sound of an in-character transition smartly captured, bottled with instinctive assurance. [Mar 2026, p.102]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Mar 24, 2026
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Night Thoughts
    There’s less of the superficial swagger, more mature contemplation and reflection.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This Is How Tomorrow Moves
    Beabadoobee's most charming yet. [Oct 2024, p.100]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Sep 10, 2024
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Pang!
    It’s a persuasive, heartening, softly seductive little basket of light; and as such is welcome anytime round here.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan
    Start casting the stage version now. [Christmas 2025, p.134]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Dec 2, 2025
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Invincible Shield
    Their 19th studio album captures the dynamism of Firepower but tweaks the structure a little so that the material is no less heavy but is perhaps less predictable. [Mar 2024, p.103]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Jun 10, 2024
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
    It all combines to create an album that, even all these years later, finds them back on top form.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    {Awayland}
    It’s when Villagers are at their most pure--be it on the brilliant chamber pop of Northing Arrived or the pure, instrumental pastoral of the title track--that {Awayland} is strongest; as opposed to when it’s trying to outsource itself to stylistic whimsy or fad.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Carnival of Souls
    As with all their post-Y2K output, Carnival Of Souls sometimes threatens to buckle under the weight of Ubu’s history. Overall, however, it scrapes up enough sporadic excellence to justify David Thomas’ perseverance in the 21st-century scheme of things.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fading Lines
    What you’re left with is the impression of an artist with her receptors fully open, resulting in a debut reaching far more emotional touch points than you’d expect.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Yes Lawd!
    Expanding the boundaries of hip-hop and soul, it’s outstanding stuff which should further enhance the careers and reputations of both.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Valentine
    An ornate folk album that brims with rich orchestration and incisive lyrics. [Jan 2026, p.101]
    • Record Collector
      • Posted Jan 12, 2026
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Exile in the Outer Ring
    Between concept and clamorous noise, Exile is the sound of an unflinching, old-school, outsider-punk voice rising to modern challenges.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fabriclive 93
    Paced beautifully, a little funny, sonically on point, and with a wealth of new material for the hardcore, it continually rewards.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Rewind the Film
    It feels self-centred and bored, and is reflected by much of the album’s music.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Serfs Up!
    The truth is finally out. People are talking about the music. People are dancing. People know Fat White Family are better than maybe Fat White Family themselves think they are.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The 1974 Live Recordings [Box Set]
    By the time it’s [Ballad Of A Thin Man is] last played (Disc 25, Inglewood, California) it has the feel of the pivotal point in the entire set. It’s an illustration of those moments when the unavoidable repetition of songs serves a genuine purpose, where the listeners’ patience/tolerance is rewarded with a sense they’re party to something truly human; a living, breathing entity that shifts in mood or tone influenced by the size or shape of the room and the response from the people witnessing it first-hand in that particular room.
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