Critics give Tigerlily a B-Side Breakdown of 62 (D-), from 10 reviews at outlets we track. Scores run 30 to 90.
The verdict on Tigerlily
Critics split on this one: scores run from 30 (Spin and 1 other) to 90 (AllMusic).
- Highest 90 AllMusic
- Lowest 30 Spin and Rolling Stone
- Career #2 of Natalie Merchant's 2 albums with a Breakdown
- Reputation 54 67 at release, then five or more years later
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AllMusic via Wikipediaby Stephen Thomas Erlewine | 4.5/5 | 90 | ||
| Entertainment Weekly via Wikipediaby David Browne | B+ | 88 | 1995 | |
| The Guardian via Wikipediaby Caroline Sullivan | 4/5 | 80 | 2003 | |
| Los Angeles Times via Wikipediaby Jean Rosenbluth | 3/4 | 75 | 1995 | “NATALIE MERCHANT "Tigerlily" Elektra * * * On her last albums with 10,000 Maniacs, Merchant developed a singing style so phlegmatic that it made the Cowboy Junkies' notoriously impassive Margo…” |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide via Wikipediaby Tom Moon | 3.5/5 | 70 | 2004 | “Previously published as: Rolling Stone album guide” |
| Chicago Tribune via Wikipediaby Brad Webber | 2.5/4 | 63 | 1995 | “Natalie Merchant Tigerlily (Elektra) (star) (star) 1/2 Natalie Merchant provides the template for coffee-shop singers from Bangor to Ensenada, but “Tigerlily,” the former 10,000 Maniacs fulcrum’s first solo recording,…” |
| NME via Wikipediaby Mark Sutherland | 5/10 | 50 | 2003 | |
| Q via Wikipediaby Phil Sutcliffe | 2/5 | 40 | 1995 | |
| Spin via Wikipediaby Elysa Gardner | 3/10 | 30 | 1995 | |
| Rolling Stone via Wikipediaby Al Weisel | 1.5/5 | 30 | 1995 |
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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, 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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