Record Collector's Scores

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For 2,550 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 Doctrine Of Love
Lowest review score: 20 Relaxer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,695 out of 2550
  2. Mixed: 849 out of 2550
  3. Negative: 6 out of 2550
2550 music reviews
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    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Noise Reduction System: Formative European Electronica 1974-1984 [Box Set]
    Yello (Glue Head), Cluster (Caramel) and even Factory label signatories Minny Pops (Son) also make the cut, but the most effective entries tend to be the unfriendliest ones: PIE (Versión) by Esplendor Geométrico, redolent of filthy concrete blast walls and quasar radiation; Sexual Discipline by Die Form, robot-blank and remorseless; and Krematorien by Universalanschluss, a strobing migraine of dots and squiggles.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Manchester, North of England: A Story of Independent Music, Greater Manchester 1977-1993 [Box Set]
    All in all, it’s an exhaustive trawl through this proud provincial stronghold’s extraordinary creative archive and arguably the definitive guide to our trends in the north.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sleep Well Beast
    Overall Sleep Well Beast is a more subdued record that shows evidence of their solo side projects having shaped their new direction. Those who know that a new National album often requires multiple listens to fully grow and reveal its charms and nuances will have their patience rewarded, as this is a beautiful piece of work.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Invitation
    Raw and unfiltered, Invitation oozes with the exuberant energy of an 18 year-old, but shines with their collective experience, delivering heavy strikes to both the head and heart in the process.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Acoustic Classics II
    A fairly decent substitute for those who can’t snag tickets.
    • 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.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Orc
    While no new territory is broken on Orc, none needs to be. The expanding Oh Sees fanbase laps up the band’s highs and lows, of which there are both here.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Every Country's Sun
    Every Country’s Sun feels honed, and passages of ponderous string-picking now flow serenely into the bursts of noise (1,000 Foot Face, Old Poisons) that make them such an imposing force live.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Hippopotamus
    Hippopotamus is exactly what you’d expect and more besides.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Behind the Counter with Max Richter
    What a world of pleasure will open up to any adventurous young music fan taking a punt on this one though, and then proceeding to connect the dots.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Diversions Vol. 4: The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake
    This is intimate, timeless music performed with respect, tenderness and a heavy heart. Just another Unthanks record then.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Right to Love
    A soulful set of tunes that includes a lush, laid back version of Georgia On My Mind that oozes a languorous eroticism.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Rise of Chaos
    Rather than damaging their genre-shaping legacy (influencing the birth of thrash and the wider scene in general), they’ve embellished it with a series of albums that could have followed Russian Roulette (1986), with The Rise of Chaos possibly their strongest reunion-era release so far.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Universal High
    Childhood don’t want for exploratory instincts, but focused tunes prove more elusive. Without them, this long hot summer of an album risks passing you by.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    EX EYE
    There are strong post-rock and metal overtones throughout the record, but it doesn’t pigeonhole itself; the influence of minimalist music can be detected in Stetson’s playing, and the album is not short of rhythmic swagger.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wintres Woma
    Willowy, wiry, windswept, it’s a haunting, hardly immediate but certainly growing, collection of songs that speak from deep inside. Intriguing stuff.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Trouble Maker
    Trouble Maker is up there with their best.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Power of Peace
    Power Of Peace is exactly what it is; people old enough to have long packed up this business, getting down to it, having enormous enjoyment doing it. No one would expect it to touch either artists’ greatest work, but at times, it certainly comes close.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    4:44
    A mere 36 minutes in length, it’s an all-killer no-filler triumph.
    • 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.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Deeper Understanding
    For the most part, it’s hard to deny that Granduciel has succeeded in pimping his wheels for bigger journeys.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    TFCF
    The collection is likely to be remembered as a curious transitional chapter rather than placed on a pedestal alongside 2006’s meisterwerk Drum’s Not Dead. Even at its patchiest though, the sound of Andrew re-finding his feet offers greater rewards than most groups’ fully realised records of derivative blues-rock mating calls.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Short History of Decay
    Murry reaches their greatest heights on Wrong Man, which treats a relationship’s death as a foregone conclusion to gorgeously unfiltered effect. It’s little wonder the evocatively scraped strings and precarious piano of When God Walks In barely hold themselves together, though Murry’s capacity for clarity is equally pronounced.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beast Epic
    Here is a warm, kind album that may sag a little on the second side but has songs up there with Beam’s best. Think Teenage Fanclub’s recent Here for a similar bittersweet reunion. Mellow doubt indeed.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Painted Ruins
    You’re left feeling that much of Painted Ruins could be a slow-burn grower, if those studiously painted collages were more emotionally inviting.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Earl Grey
    Brewed in DIY charm and classic pop nous, Earl Grey works best when it pairs tight, Abba-esque melodies and singer-songwriter pop with the lo-fi spirit of C86.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Poor David's Almanack
    Almanack was captured in a week on analogue tape by studio vets Ken Scott and Matt Andrews. It shows on the result, a sprightly blast of rootsy playfulness carried with Rawlings’ effortless control of mood and musicianship.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eucalyptus
    Benefiting from Deradoorian’s ghostly vocals and Eyvand King’s orchestrations, Eucalyptus offers rich blooms wherever it roams.
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