Village Voice (Consumer Guide)'s Scores

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For 223 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 73% higher than the average critic
  • 0% same as the average critic
  • 27% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 9.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 82
Highest review score: 100 Pick A Bigger Weapon
Lowest review score: 16 A Day Without Rain
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 184 out of 223
  2. Mixed: 37 out of 223
  3. Negative: 2 out of 223
223 music reviews
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    • 70 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    American IV: The Man Comes Around
    The selection here is at once so obvious and so inappropriate it feels redemptive.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    3121
    It could be argued that music this masterful waives all claim to the sound of surprise--until you pay attention.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    All City
    The music on this feisty, funny rap album isn't new--just irresistible.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    29
    These meanderings are the kind of indulgence that ends label deals.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Heathen
    While the songwriting ain't bad, it also ain't that good.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Understanding
    Where once these Norwegians were extolled for their subtle melodicism, here their schlock candidly attacks the jugular.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Return of Saturn
    Occasionally her pushing-30 doubts about the single life are touching, like when she imagines Gavin Rossdale would make a good dad. But after five years, two producers, one Spin cover, and one lead review in Rolling Stone, the single Interscope sent her back to the salt mines for is the best thing on her automatic-platinum follow-up.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    This Time Around
    If you thought they were bad when they were cute, or even that they were cute when they were good, believe me, you don't want to hear them mature.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Ecleftic 2 Sides II a Book
    He sings roughly but warmly, and makes up as many hooks as he samples...
    • 66 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A Time To Love
    The melodies don't falter, and Wonder's unexpectedly and perhaps unfortunately influential vocal attack is as mellifluous as ever.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Massacre
    All the ugly gangsta lies are here, especially as regards the brutalization of women and the business of death. But they're incidental to the mood of the piece, which is friendly, relaxed, good-humored, and in the groove.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 33 Critic Score
    Happy People / U Saved Me
    His productivity isn't exuberance, it's greed; his PG rating isn't scruples, it's cowardice.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Winchester Cathedral
    Here, their structures adamantly circular and their tunes less catchy but more durable, they make dandy mystagogues on an album that begins inarticulate and attains the nirvana of total nonverbality.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    nyc ghosts & flowers
    Its avant parts are more listenable--nay, beautiful--than anything on Washing Machine if not A Thousand Leaves.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    White People
    What carries the album is, I swear, the skits.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Elephunk
    The brightest actual pop album of 2003.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Revolverlution
    The old sound is hard in new ways.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars
    All shallow, all pure as a result--pure escape, pure delight, and, as the cavalcade of gospel postures at the end makes clear, pure spiritual yearning.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Believer
    He thinks he belongs up there in front of that expert new band, singing or shouting whatever banality, profundity, or turn of phrase he's written down, and his level of enthusiasm combined with his level of craft will convince anyone who still likes, you know, songs.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Encore
    Funny, catchy, clever, and irreverent past his allotted time.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Run The Road Volume 2
    The Brit accents on the pseudo-triumphalist, vaguely Jeezy-sounding four-cameo opener are grime enough for me--most gripping grime I know, in fact, and pretty damn fine Jeezy-sounding pseudo-triumphalism to boot.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    C'mon C'mon
    No dolt, she figures it's in her best interest to sound like one--as well as an insider outsider like Gush and Bore, whose horrible lessons in playing it safe she takes to heart.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Morning View
    Mediocre pop songs with pretensions.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Perfecto Presents Another World
    It's only a mix record (two mix records, why stint in utopia?), so how bad can it be? Start with four tracks featuring Dead Can Dance and/or Lisa Gerrard. And for that mass appeal--Blade Runner!
    • 62 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Slicker Than Your Average
    This gentle, suave, insistent smoothie parlayed his direct lyrics and tricky beats into a strong straight r&b album in a year when contenders Raphael Saadig and Me'shell NdegéOcello got tangled up in form.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Under Rug Swept
    Even when the forced pronunciations turn gauche, she remains a good egg who's not afraid to put herself on the line.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Road Rock Volume 1
    Definitely not dead yet.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Return Of Dragon
    [Crosses] PG-13 thug and subpar Luther Vandross.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    A Better Version Of Me
    Rainer Maria is the genuine collegiate article: impressionistic and overwrought.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Vapor Transmissions
    Aiming to fill the Queenhole by injecting video-game sci-fi and radio-head sonics into a pop-metal base, the Korn protégés forge a "startling vision of a future world in which communications technology has been turned against us, becoming a tool for government surveillance rather than personal convenience." Gosh, how'd they think of that?
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