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For 287 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 42% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.4 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Bow Down To The Exit Sign
Lowest review score: 30 Unified Theory
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 196 out of 287
  2. Mixed: 90 out of 287
  3. Negative: 1 out of 287
287 music reviews
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    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Warning
    Green Day's melodies are as delicious as ever, and the band continues to integrate acoustic guitar into its sound without getting all granola on us. But as a songwriter, Armstrong's neither here nor there, unable to fully abandon his goofball roots but not stretching far enough to score the breakaway great album he's always seemed capable of writing.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You're the One
    I readily admit I was confused by its unusual instrumental combinations, by the turn-on-a-dime melodies and rhythms, and the "still searching after all these years" lyrics -- by its relentless eclecticism. Still, I kept listening, and at the end of the day found myself having trouble escaping these meandering, insinuating songs.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sailing to Philadelphia
    With Sailing to Philadelphia, however, Knopfler fully reclaims his near-unique position as an instrumentalist of purpose -- one whose every note seems to have a reason for being. That reason, of course, is in service of his beautifully written and masterfully arranged songs.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crossing Muddy Waters
    Hiatt holds down the drummerless rhythm with his acoustic six-string and a National resonator guitar. The boisterous atmosphere (everybody hoots and hollers) evokes a back-porch picking session, and Hiatt's songs draw from similarly down-home sources.... a recording that reflects the spirit of musicians who live to sing and play.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Golden Lies
    Many of the 14 songs here are laced with the type of psychedelic lyrics that have always characterized Kirkwood's writing...
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Friends of Rachel Worth
    The Friends of Rachel Worth is the first new Go-Betweens album in a dozen years, and, remarkably, it's as if they were never away.... an ever-so-slightly-updated sound with a hint of lo-fi -- something the Go-Betweens pioneered on their earliest albums, before they found their more renowned intimate style.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Harsh Light of Day
    Traditionalist rock fans have got to be cheered by Fastball, a group plucky enough to take on teenage pop bands and rap-rock sensations with perky harmonies and piles of guitars. But in the end, songs like these shine brightest outside of the album context, as stand-alone songs coming out of the dashboard radio.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Milk Cow Blues
    Fortunately, for most of the album, the soft-but-solid Austin backing band assembled by guitarist/co-producer Derek O'Brien is as well seasoned as Nelson, and shares his gift for making a little go a long way. And, ultimately, the best tracks may well be those sung by Willie alone.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Music
    Folkish acoustic guitar and lumbering trip-hop rhythms grind the second half into one bland, undifferentiated musical mass. Because she's an icon, she probably doesn't feel comfortable releasing a formal coup of an album where she toys with French disco-house the entire time.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    SelmaSongs: Music from the Motion Picture Dancer in the Dark
    One of the most exciting pop-music experiments to along in a long while.... Selmasongs works as an album, not just as a souvenir of a daring cinematic and musical venture.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Maroon
    A borderline adult-contemporary sound that's catchy and exuberant enough to gloss over the intermittently dark verse.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mi Reflejo
    With its superslick production and Mariah Carey-esque vocal histrionics, the "Latin" elements in Mi Reflejo are more sanitized than Santana-ized...
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Righteous Love
    Righteous Love turns out to have been worth the five-year wait, as it boasts a higher percentage of good songs than Relish, a more organic instrumental sound, and a singer whose vocal finesse now matches her raw power.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Red Dirt Girl
    Red Dirt Girl is a model of tasteful genre blending: a little bit country and a little bit electro-ambient pop.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Twisted Tenderness
    Twisted Tenderness hits its turning point on the title track (RealAudio excerpt), a solitary, surefire progressive-house hit that recalls the Pet Shop Boys' 1999 album, Nightlife. From that point the album's energy improves considerably -- so there's the twist: It's not new, but it's improved.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything, Everything
    A seamless and transcendent eight-track mix culled from a handful of 1998 and 1999 performances...
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Secret South
    Melodies howl along before being ground down under the weight of distorted guitar. Strings float songs along, then scrabble against the flow.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Januaries
    A six-piece with musical roots in the '60s, fronted by a sensual-sounding blonde bombshell called Debbie, the Januaries' most obvious reference point is Blondie.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Good, the Bad, and the Funky
    Replete with tasty elements borrowed from jungle, drum & bass and contemporary Afro-pop, their fifth full-length album manages to blend and synthesize all their disparate source material better than any previous effort save their startling 1982 debut.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Private Suit
    Private Suit finds them more in command of their craft, filled with less fury, but no less skilled at crafting sublime pop ditties.... Though there are a couple of misfires, it's their most confident effort since their debut.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Excuses for Travelers
    Mojave 3's lead singer, primary songwriter and aforementioned poet, Neil Halstead, writes simple, graceful love songs populated by lonely characters who are usually hopelessly hopeful and usually, albeit fleetingly, in love.... Excuses for Travellers is beautiful music for romance's never-ending cycles of beginnings and ends.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    With Ghost
    At times, Yang's ethereal monotone is the attention-getter. Elsewhere, the music takes over, often in the form of lengthy guitar solos and a slow, bittersweet weaving of instruments traditional... and otherwise.... This is smart, deep-thinking slowcore.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Essence
    Gerald ups the ante again, incorporating astounding vocalists, intricate bass and drum patterns, and mood-altering melodies and tones to take the electronic dance community by storm.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Confessions of St. Ace
    Harding has streamlined his lyrics and placed them in taut, soulful settings à la John Hiatt...
    • 65 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Green World
    Unfortunately, the heavy-handed folk-pop production... doesn't serve Williams well here.... In general, the overwrought keyboards and Steve Holley's percussion... could use a good slapdown.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Mirror Conspiracy
    Even though Mirror drifts toward the pop end of the spectrum, this session is undeniably more satisfying.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Ecleftic 2 Sides II a Book
    Actually, all through this, his second solo disc, Wyclef goes for skin-deep musical ideas.... Still, most of Wyclef's little ideas are terrific.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Menace
    Simultaneously more tossed-off and expressive than 1995's Elastica album, The Menace is a frustrating listen, oscillating between actively courting the listener and fashioning a more tangential state somewhere between punk momentum and wearisome breakdown
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    G.O.A.T. Featuring James T. Smith: The Greatest of All Time
    On G.O.A.T., LL Cool J has renewed his old-school style for a new generation of fans while still retaining old-school support.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Balls
    At once epic, playful and a little bit strange, the duo's latest effort perpetuates the brothers' patented geek-chic, though things come across as more introspective and ambient this time around.... Alternately excellent, kitschy and lackluster...
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