Early reviews. Critics give Negative Capability an early B-Side Breakdown of 84 (Keeper), from 7 reviews so far. It will settle as more outlets weigh in.
The verdict on Negative Capability
7 of 7 critics liked it, with some disagreement on how much.
- Highest 100 The Guardian and musicOMH
- Lowest 70 Rolling Stone and AllMusic
- Career #2 of Marianne Faithfull's 10 albums with a Breakdown
- By the numbers Marianne Faithfull's best-reviewed album here since Broken English (1979). The eighth best-reviewed album of 2018 we've tracked.
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Guardian via Wikipediaby Phil Mongredien | 5/5 | 100 | 2018 | |
| musicOMH via Wikipediaby Ross Horton | 5/5 | 100 | 2018 | “Released 39 years ago today – 2nd November – an album called Broken English smashed down the boundaries of where women stood in the post-punk era. Not” |
| Clash via Wikipediaby Mat Smith | 9/10 | 90 | 2018 | “Fifty-four years into her career, her circle of friends increasingly shaking off their mortal coils and her body wracked with debilitating arthritis, you” |
| Pitchfork via Wikipediaby Erin Osmon | 8/10 | 80 | 2018 | “At the age of 71, the British singer who helped define rock-star redemption shares gorgeous and vulnerable self-portraits, shaped by an ace backing band that sometimes includes Nick Cave.” |
| NME via Wikipediaby Mark Beaumont | 4/5 | 80 | 2018 | “Although drenched with heartache, the musician’s 21st album bristles with warmth and life, a 40-minute reason to stay positive” |
| Rolling Stone via Wikipediaby Kory Grow | 3.5/5 | 70 | 2018 | “The veteran singer cuts through the darkness as only she can” |
| AllMusic via Wikipediaby Mark Deming | 3.5/5 | 70 |
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.
Negative Capability in Marianne Faithfull's catalog
How these critics usually treat Marianne Faithfull
- AllMusic Harsher than usual17 points below the other critics here. Usually 13 points above on Marianne Faithfull's other albums (6).
- The Guardian Kinder than usual18 points above the other critics here. Usually 9 points below on Marianne Faithfull's other albums (4).
- musicOMH Kinder than usual18 points above the other critics here. Usually 4 points above on Marianne Faithfull's other albums (3).
- Pitchfork Harsher than usual5 points below the other critics here. Usually 4 points above on Marianne Faithfull's other albums (5).
- Rolling Stone About usual for them17 points below the other critics here. Usually 19 points below on Marianne Faithfull's other albums (3).
More from Marianne Faithfull
← Earlier Give My Love to London (2014)Later → She Walks in Beauty (2021)
More Pop from around 2018
Would you spin it again?
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How the Breakdown works
Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59) and averaged. A letter grade counts as the star rating it matches across thousands of reviews of the same albums, so a B+ is 75, like four stars, and a B is 65. Verdicts: Heavy Rotation is 85 and up, Keeper 70–84, Mixed Bag 55–69, Back of the Crate below 55. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 70 or higher (7/10, three and a half stars); the Breakdown shows green at 70 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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