Chicago Tribune's Scores

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For 566 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 51% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 46% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 I Like to Keep Myself in Pain
Lowest review score: 25 Graffiti
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 456 out of 566
  2. Mixed: 97 out of 566
  3. Negative: 13 out of 566
566 music reviews
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    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ultraviolence
    Ultraviolence almost qualifies as a parody. Unfortunately, there's not enough punch in the songs to make listeners care whether she's joking or not.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ghost Stories
    Variation, once a strong suit of Coldplay’s songwriting, isn’t much in evidence. Over nine songs, Martin and company create a mood and then stick with it--to a fault.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Everyday Robots
    The album's attempts at shaking up the down-tempo, down-hearted mood fall short.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    High Hopes
    Little wonder the two finest moments ["Hunter of Invisible Game" and "The Wall"] on this otherwise ho-hum Springsteen album are by a considerable margin its most understated.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Black Panties
    Kelly is best when he is at his most absurd, comical and over-the-top.... Sometimes, the jokes go too far.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Britney Jean
    An army of producers, including will.i.am, Diplo, Dr. Luke and David Guetta aim to keep Spears centered in the hit parade, but don't take many chances.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    ARTPOP
    For all that firepower, the music is catchy but tame--she's cozying up to chart-topping formulas rather than disrupting them.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Marshall Mathers LP 2
    The sense that we’ve all been here before, twice, is exacerbated by the tired samples and interpolations.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Prism
    Though not exactly spiritual, Prism does come off as a more serious--if no less formulaic--album than its predecessor. But being taken seriously may be Perry’s greatest challenge yet.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Days Are Gone
    The lyrics flirt with turmoil--there are lots of songs about holding on or jumping into the fire, and so forth--but don’t really say much of anything.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hesitation Marks
    Too much of Hesitation Marks sounds tentative.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Blurred Lines
    It’s an album that discourages sitting still. Too bad the icky lyrics ruin the mood.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Magna Carta Holy Grail
    Mostly, this overstuffed album is about Jay-Z and the self-congratulation of his high-powered friends.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Wrote a Song for Everyone
    It's almost impossible to screw up Fogerty's sturdiest numbers, but some of his collaborators sound like they're trying too hard to put their thumbprints all over them.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Terror
    It sounds like it was made by the last survivor on a dying planet, a final transmission from an underground bunker.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Comedown Machine
    The production on most of Comedown Machine is off-putting in its chilliness.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Welcome Oblivion
    Much of Welcome to Oblivion feels like a 65-minute placeholder akin to a remix album rather than a major new direction for Reznor to pursue.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Finally Rich
    Keef is a remote presence on his major-label debut.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Girl on Fire
    Despite being hyped as her most "personal" album, Girl on Fire is really just more of the same.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    King Animal
    They sound more like singer-songwriter leftovers from his solo albums than the stuff of which big rock-band comebacks are made.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Babel
    The real issue with Mumford & Sons is its pedestrian songwriting and predictable delivery.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Uno!
    Armstrong sounds detached, despite a stream of curse words, and the band plays with a machine-like efficiency.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Fortune
    Chris Brown's fifth studio album, Fortune, is a pure-pop candy cane, meant to be enjoyed, consumed and forgotten.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    What We Saw from the Cheap Seats
    Most of the songs are so flat that the singer sounds constrained.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Blues Funeral
    Lanegan remains a master of mood, his baritone croon one of rock's most inviting instruments. But even that voice can't patch over the weak spots on this inconsistent album.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Wrecking Ball
    He's written some resonant songs. But he lost his nerve as a coproducer, going for stadium bombast instead of the unadorned grit these stories of hard times demand.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Kisses on the Bottom
    These songs are meant to swing, but McCartney lets them plod.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Born to Die
    After all the hub-bub of recent weeks, one of Lee's greatest songs sums up Del Rey's grand entrance: "Is That All There Is?"
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Talk That Talk
    "Talk That Talk" sounds like a rush job designed to keep Rihanna rolling through the holidays.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
    Gallagher never turns these slight detours into genuine departures. By not veering far from the Oasis blueprint, he invites unflattering comparisons to his best work.
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