Record Collector's Scores

  • Music
Select another publication »
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
view
per page
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ork Records: New York, New York
    The inclusion here of iconic tracks such as the aforementioned Little Johnny Jewel and Richard Hell’s Blank Generation shows that their label was indeed instrumental in documenting the birth of NYC punk, but elsewhere Chris Stamey & The dB’s Big Star-esque power-pop and The Student Teachers’ quirky, synth-driven art-pop prove that Ork and Ball were equally comfortable promoting bands who had little truck with the three-chord revolution.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Long Lost Suitcase
    A couple of the tracks may catch Tom in booming mode but there’s a pleasing variety of delivery, plenty of sensitivity and a whole load of rocking. Quality control is top notch throughout and the backing musicians are never less than superb.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    So Familiar
    The addition of Hammond, fiddle and nicely understated guitar make So Familiar one of the strongest tracks with Edie Brickell reining in the often drawly mannerisms of her singing style to accompany with great effect. Other songs are not so successful in marrying the feel of bluegrass with the sweep of a big song.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Fish
    Lament For Nepal is one of three love letters to the earthquake-ravaged Kathmandu Valley. A stark Nepali bell opens and closes this haunting piece, though as is so often the case with Chapman, the English pastoral qualities of the composition are equally compelling.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Manhattan
    While his delivery remains pleasingly rough roud the edges, Lewis has come a long way since initially finding recognition as part of the “antifolk” scene. Pleasing aspects of Manhattan are the lengthy likes of Back To Manhattan.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Black Record
    A no-frills, 10-track set that’s almost permanently cranked to the max.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Highly Deadly Black Tarantula
    Unusually for the average album (which this is decidedly not), every track here is distinctive; a cinematic, mind-scramblingly complex yet cohesive mini-epic.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Seems Unfair
    Second LP Seems Unfair offers the kind of melodic prowess, lyrical wit, sensitivity and social awareness that harks back to the days of Felt, Hefner and The Smiths with the band capable of effervescent, wonky guitar attacks more in keeping with the early material of Stateside benchmarks Weezer, Pavement and more recently, Waxahatchee.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Still Got That Hunger
    They’ve now created an album which towers above the nostalgia market which could easily have been their fate.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Central Belters
    Fittingly, Central Belters ends on the monstrous My Father My King, the band at their most uncompromising and vital.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Divers
    Divers is another meticulous masterpiece from one of the songwriters of her time, an album that’ll still be spellbinding generations from now.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pylon
    Pylon is propulsive, girder-heavy and demands to be played loud. But like the best of their oeuvre, from early single Requiem to last album MMXII, it features chord progressions of intense melodic beauty like glimmers of the divine shining through the depths of hell.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Gates of Gold
    Like all Los Lobos albums this owes little to anything else, the band single-mindedly going their own way--and getting away with an extraordinary collection.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Brace the Wave
    Across nine one-word titled songs, Barlow finds a kind of peace while dabbling in self-loathing, alongside domesticity and redemption.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Silver Bullets
    Happily, it’s been worth the wait as Silver Bullets is fresh, exhilarating and the most essential Chills LP since the critically acclaimed Submarine Bells.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Alone in the Universe
    The predictability of Alone In The Universe is its strongest suit, these are all cast-iron songs that will sit on an ELO retrospective beamed down from that spaceship in 10538 and nobody would imagine they were released 40 years after their golden age.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Elaenia
    It is a salve, and a beautiful, mysterious thing, which doesn’t necesarily need to be anything more than a beautiful, mysterious thing, however many hours of labour and technical nous have been spent crafting it.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Florence
    Hayman’s lyrics, vocals and musicianship add up to a frequently touching whole. One wonders though if the presence of others has previously helped smooth out any little wrinkles.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Joy of Living: A Tribute to Ewan Maccoll
    Respectful, then, but not set in aspic.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Return to the Moon
    EL VY provide a more synthetic, but strangely more earworm-riddled, sound that’s great for casual fans, but less emotionally demanding for hardcore Nationalists.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    British Nuclear Bunkers
    Make no mistake, this is a chilling album, but one with just enough of Haines’ own addictive madness to charm. Best take cover.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Trevor Jackson Presents: Science Fiction Dancehall Classics
    This material represents the label’s least easily translatable zone, startling to--and still held dear by--an 80s audience only just adjusting to drum machine funk, but now dated in a way that Adrian Sherwood’s more earthy reggae recordings and totemic pieces with name acts are not. That is not to say that it is unworthy of investigation, though.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fast Forward
    There are touches of Warren Zevon in the title track and a smidgen of Squeeze in string-laden first single A Little Smile (from the Amsterdam session, which elsewhere features guest vocalist Mitchell Sink), but the lyrics are typically wordy Jackson fare and ensure continuity.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Resolution
    Punchy, purposeful and convincingly contemporary, it’s frequently spiced-up with exhilarating examples of the band’s trademark, Television-esque guitar duels.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fading Frontier
    Fading Frontier seems to be Deerhunter’s most crystal-clear record to date. Nine times out of 10, it’s precisely this clarity that allows their miasma of messages to hit home the hardest.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hollywood Vampires
    Bob Ezrin’s production is solid throughout, but the whole thing basically sounds like rock stars having fun on their day off.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Good Sad Happy Bad
    Good Sad Happy Bad feels like a curio: a work-in-progress raw recording that hints at better things to come rather than the real deal.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dodge and Burn
    Despite some dubious song titles, that horrible “supergroup” tag and annoying residual longing from White purists, Dodge And Burn is a sweet pill to swallow.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
    Too many of the witty lines feel forced to scan, and the electronics, once subtle and suggestive, are heavy-handed. There are charms though. Down Here is lusciously Eels-like, and Tracey Thorn’s star role on Disappointing vamps with a definite strut. It’s just, after PGG’s fabulous right turn, for this album to plough forwards in the same direction seems a wasted opportunity.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    From Here
    It isn’t completely nonny-less, but it’s folk more in the tradition of Topic’s Voice Of The People series of pub-sourced field recordings than in the tradition of Orwell’s sandal-wearing, fruit-drinking nudists.
Page: