Superfly – The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Curtis Mayfield – Superfly – The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: B-Side Breakdown 96 (A) from 5 critic reviews.

Album cover for Superfly – The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield
Released July 1972
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Curtis Mayfield

Superfly – The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

96 A-Side: the critics' top tier
B-Side BreakdownGrade A · 5 critics · 100% approval
B-Side Breakdown96Grade: A
Approval100%5 of 5 critics scored it 75 or higher
DivisivenessUnanimousHow close the scores are: most critics land within 8 points of each other

An early A-Side. It earned the badge from its first 5 reviews. More outlets are still weighing in, and if their scores pull it below the line, the badge comes off.

By the numbers: All 5 critics liked it, and the lowest score was 91, from Robert Christgau. Critics barely disagreed: every score fell between 91 and 100.

020406080100Pitchfork: 91Robert Christgau: 91Los Angeles Times: 100Q: 100AllMusic: 100 Breakdown 96
The gist
Los Angeles Times via Wikipediaby Robert Hilburn 4/4 100 1998 “*** CURTIS MAYFIELD, "Superfly" soundtrack.”
Q via Wikipedia 5/5 100 2003
AllMusic via Wikipedia 5/5 100 2003
Pitchfork via Wikipediaby Mychal Denzel Smith 9.1/10 91 2018 “Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today we explore the political soul of…”
Robert Christgau via Wikipediaby Robert Christgau A- 91 2003

More R&B & Soul from around 1972

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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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