Early reviews. Critics give Neroli an early B-Side Breakdown of 81 (B-), from 5 reviews so far. It will settle as more outlets weigh in.
The verdict on Neroli
Most critics loved it: 4 of 5 liked it.
- Highest 90 PopMatters
- Outlier 60 Drowned in Sound, 20 points below the next-lowest score
- Career #11 of Brian Eno's 31 albums with a Breakdown
- By the numbers Brian Eno's best-reviewed album here since Thursday Afternoon (1985).
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PopMatters via Wikipediaby Rhea Rollmann | 9/10 | 90 | 2014 | “The Shutov Assembly has long been my favorite Brian Eno album. It’s hard to convey the elusive charm of this release, whose tentative opening notes build into” |
| Pitchfork in 2014 via Wikipediaby Douglas Wolk | 8.8/10 | 88 | 2014 | “Brian Eno had a busy decade in the 1990s, including working on U2's Achtung Baby and Zooropa and David Bowie's Outside, scoring Neil Gaiman's TV series Neverwhere, and recording the…” |
| Pitchfork in 2004 via Wikipedia | 8.8/10 | 88 | 2004 | |
| AllMusic via Wikipediaby Keir Langley | 4/5 | 80 | 2007 | |
| Drowned in Sound via Wikipedia | 6/10 | 60 | 2014 | “None of the Enos we knew and loved ever went away.” |
Every Sunday: the week's new albums, scored by the critics. Plus our own reviews when we post them. Free, and one click to leave.
Neroli in Brian Eno's catalog
How these critics usually treat Brian Eno
- Drowned in Sound Harsher than usual26 points below the other critics here. Usually 2 points above on Brian Eno's other albums (6).
- Pitchfork Kinder than usual11 points above the other critics here. Usually 2 points above on Brian Eno's other albums (30).
- AllMusic About usual for them1 point above the other critics here. Usually 1 point above on Brian Eno's other albums (30).
- PopMatters About usual for them14 points above the other critics here. Usually 14 points above on Brian Eno's other albums (8).
More from Brian Eno
More Electronic from around 1993
Would you spin it again?
Be the first to answer. Results show once 3 listeners weigh in.
How the Breakdown works
Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59, a B+ is 88) and averaged. Grades follow the B-Side scale: A is 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 75 or higher; the Breakdown shows green at 75 and up, red below. Divisiveness asks a different question: not how many critics liked it, but how close their scores are to each other. Five critics who all give it 50 are Unanimous, even though none of them liked it. The labels run Unanimous, Broad agreement, Some debate, Divided, and Contentious. Replay rate comes from listeners, not critics: yes counts fully, a few tracks counts half, no counts zero. The gist quotes each outlet’s own summary of its review. Published is the date on the review itself, read from the outlet’s page, so you can see whether an album’s reputation came at release or years later. Scores marked est. come from reviews that publish no number. Scores marked via Wikipedia are archive ratings, mostly for older albums, taken from the “Professional ratings” box on the album’s Wikipedia page (published openly through Wikidata); each links to the original review when we can find it online, and to that Wikipedia entry when we can’t. When an outlet reviewed an album twice, years apart (often for a reissue), both scores count, each labeled with its year.
A-Side marks the critics’ top tier. An album earns it automatically, from its numbers alone: a Breakdown of 90 or higher, from at least 5 reviews, with at least 75% approval. Nobody hands it out and nobody can buy it; if new reviews pull an album below the line, it loses the badge.










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