Critics give Election Special a B-Side Breakdown of 69 (D+), from 8 reviews at outlets we track. Scores run 40 to 90.
The verdict on Election Special
Critics split on this one: scores run from 40 (musicOMH and 1 other) to 90 (PopMatters).
- Highest 90 PopMatters
- Lowest 40 musicOMH and Q
- Career #6 of Ry Cooder's 9 albums with a Breakdown
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PopMatters via Wikipediaby Jeff Schwager | 9/10 | 90 | 2012 | |
| Rolling Stone via Wikipediaby David Fricke | 4/5 | 80 | 2012 | “Check out our album review of Artist's Election Special on Rolling Stone.com.” |
| The Independent via Wikipediaby Nick Coleman | 4/5 | 80 | 2012 | |
| The Guardian via Wikipediaby Robin Denselow | 4/5 | 80 | 2012 | “Ry Cooder's take on the US presidential race is a brave, thoughtful and powerful work, writes Robin Denselow” |
| The Telegraph via Wikipediaby Martin Chilton | 3.5/5 | 70 | 2012 | |
| AllMusic via Wikipediaby Thom Jurek | 3.5/5 | 70 | ||
| musicOMHby Geoff Cowart | 2/5 | 40 | 2012 | “Sick of the American presidential race yet? With only 100 days to go, the long-winded slag-off-athon culminates in November’s vote with a fever-pitched” |
| Q via Wikipedia | 2/5 | 40 | 2012 |
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Election Special in Ry Cooder's catalog
How these critics usually treat Ry Cooder
- Rolling Stone Kinder than usual13 points above the other critics here. Usually 16 points below on Ry Cooder's other albums (3).
- PopMatters Kinder than usual24 points above the other critics here. Usually 1 point above on Ry Cooder's other albums (3).
- The Guardian Kinder than usual13 points above the other critics here. Usually 3 points above on Ry Cooder's other albums (3).
- AllMusic About usual for them1 point above the other critics here. Usually 3 points above on Ry Cooder's other albums (8).
More from Ry Cooder
← Earlier Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (2011)Later → The Prodigal Son (2018)
More Folk, Country & Americana from around 2012
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, 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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