How Big How Blue How Beautiful Metacritic Thread (73) [New Reviews]

[Redstreak 6,653]

New York Daily News - 80

Even as the band’s music keeps expanding, Welch’s lyrics have narrowed in focus. They’re less abstract this time, more attuned to the vagaries of love.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/stars-florence-machine-new-album-article-1.2232308

 

musicOMH.com - 80

On How Big How Blue How Beautiful, Welch refines a successful formula in a way that plays to her strengths without it being too familiar.

http://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/florence-and-the-machine-how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful

 

Q Magazine - 80

Musically, she delivers that desired top-down, sunny LA drive-time feel

 

Billboard.com - 80

No matter the mood and tempo, though, the Florence & The Machine heard on How Big How Blue How Beautiful is a newly self-aware one. It shows a different kind of mastery by allowing for a different kind of vulnerability, an especially delicate balancing act for a young woman in pop music.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/review/6576024/florence-the-machine-how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-review

 

NME - 80

Overflowing with stately songwriting and lyrical craftsmanship, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful makes for a restrained but joyful return, and a collection that will last long after Welch’s broken bones are mended.

http://www.nme.com/reviews/florence-and-the-machine/16081

 

The Independent UK - 60

The emotional turmoil is better served by the more introspective balladry of “Various Storms and Saints” and “Long and Lost.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/florence--the-machine-how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-album-review-welch-confronts-her-demons-in-a-frank-manner-10284329.html

 

Uncut - 60

Welch delivers clunky self-help lines wrapped in elemental metaphors.

 

The Guardian - 60

It’s an album that’s too overblown and daft for the songs to have the desired emotional impact: it’s never really intimate enough for the feelings Welch expresses to connect. Instead, it wobbles precariously along the line that separates the enjoyably OTT from the faintly exhausting.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/28/florence-and-the-machine-how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-review

 

 

Erm it needs to be higher...

[Didymus 34,379]

Really surprised by the 60 reviews.

My ideal score would be 83.

[Vernier 3,786]

Forming a prayer circle(while chanting Which Witch), that it gets mid 70s at worst 

Not like it matters to me much, but still she deserves a good score  

[Tanner 810]

I know a lot of people say albums deserve really high scores, but she TRULY doesn't deserve anything under 75. I'd love to see her get an 80-85 but its clear she'll probably hit somewhere in the 70's

[Hellspont 1,468]

needs to be a 94 like my score  

[Yanko 9,860]

the album was amazing 

75+ 

[Staryu 6,162]

 It's one of the best albums of 2015 so far, so they can stick their 60s you know where.

[Dorothy Gale 7,575]

If this gets a lower score than FROOT. 

[tomsches 17,399]

Top 3

1. Long & Lost

2. Various Storm & Saints

3. Queen of Peace/What Kind of Man

 

I wouldn't mind more low-tempo moody songs like L&L or VS&S

[Paper Planes 340]

How in the hell does it currently have a lower score than both Ceremonials and Lungs when it is clearly next-level ****?

P.S. - good sis got a 5/5 star review from me  http://auralfixationreviews.blogspot.com/2015/05/how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-florence.html

[Brainiac 10,940]

anything below an 80 is a pure injustice to the effort put into this amazing piece of work.

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

^Tbh

Just because you don't like grand orchestration doesn't mean its bad,  Nor does it make her lyricism or voice any less strong. Like I haven't read a single review (under 80) that doesn't dog on the fact that the orchestration and instrument choices were different from Lungs and Ceremonials. Some even praise her for stripping down on the metaphors and being more open with her feelings, but almost none of these seem like actual "reviews" in the sense that they don't look at many criteria at all. Also, some say that she hasn't progressed from the last album  Ceremonials was my first F+TM album and it sounds NOTHING like this, melodically sonically vocally at all  Her voice is more focused and imo better used - she almost over sang on every song and the processing and instrumentals almost felt too heavy (I still love the album its one of my faves  ) but like, none of these reviews talk about this, yet they still want to bring up Lungs and Ceremonials. Like, she would have to do a complete EDM or complete folk album for reviewers to see her as doing something "different". I don't get it

Anyway, AOTY imo  I don't see any upcoming releases that could come close tbh, maybe Honeymoon, but honestly I doubt it will be as good as this  

[Rat Boy 43,578]

This album definitely deserve more than 80.

[faux 2,190]

meh I don't find this album good

only like 5 songs

[Redstreak 6,653]

7 new reviews, still at 73

 

Pretty Much Amazing - 83

How Big How Blue How Beautiful may just be a better record than the one it follows. It chisels at Ceremonials’ baroque marble sculpture to reveal something smaller and more appealing.

http://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/florence-machine-how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful

 

Boston Globe - 80

How Big How Blue How Beautiful is a record about maneuvering around and through matters of the heart--sometimes triumphant, sometimes sad, and always deeply felt thanks to Welch acting as tour guide

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2015/06/01/with-new-album-how-big-intimate-florence-machine/UrKVVwuqXonovQwa8TghuL/story.html

 

The Telegraph (UK) - 80

Welch still has the love--and the tunes--we need to see us through.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/cdreviews/11636690/Florence-and-the-Machine-How-Big-How-Blue-How-Beautiful-review-thunderous.html

 

DIY Magazine - 80

Whatever the lyrical content, musically every move feels like an affirming one. You’re never more than a short skip from something gigantic.

http://diymag.com/2015/05/31/florence-the-machine-how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-album-review

 

Drowned in Sound - 70

She’s gone from making an album that felt in constant peril of collapsing under its own weight to one that carries her predilection for drama with genuine confidence--for now, at least, that’s redemption enough.

http://drownedinsound.com/releases/18827/reviews/4149048

 

All Music Guide - 60

Her Brit-pop soul treacle is still miles better than some of her contemporaries' top-tier offerings, and when the album connects it moves right in and starts to redecorate, but when it falters, it's akin to a chatty party guest failing to realize that everyone else has gone home.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-mw0002825613

 

The Observer (UK) - 60

HBHBHB finds her circling the drain of an imploded relationship, this time with novel directness.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/31/florence-machine-how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-review-observer