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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    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Robyn Hitchcock
    ather than reinventing himself, Hitchcock has made an album that underlines his strengths.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Mental Illness
    This is a solid addition to Mann's estimable discography, the kind of record that sets a mood and sustains it for 39 craftsmanlike minutes.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Hot Thoughts
    This is not a dilettantish push into the unknown. Spoon has been heading in this direction for years, and in many ways Hot Thoughts is the payoff.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Heartworms
    After a decade-plus in which they've evolved from cult heroes to respected major-label denizens, the Shins still prove capable of delivering a few surprises.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Drunk
    Each of his solo albums reflects that musical range, and Drunk (Brainfeeder) crams 23 songs and snippets into 51 minutes that evoke the sumptuous jazz-infused R&B of the '70s, filtered through catchy melodies, undergirded by virtuoso musicianship and salted with conflicting emotions.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    In Between
    The band doesn't need to say much, because that message is there in the music.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Nothing Feels Natural
    It sounds fully formed and wickedly confident, the work of four people who had to get a few things off their chest.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Hey Mr Ferryman
    In a sparser framework, the singer and his songs flourish. Eitzel's spite and self-deprecating humor rub shoulders on "The Road" and "In my Role as Professional Singer and Ham."
    • 82 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Ty Segall (2017)
    If you're looking for a relatively concise 10-track, 36-minute introduction into the best of Segall's music, this is it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Near to the Wild Heart of Life
    At its best, "Wild Heart of Life" approaches that recording's [2012's "Celebration Rock"] peak moments, but it too often undercuts them by trying to pull the duo out of its minimalist arena-punk corner.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Run the Jewels 3
    The tracks tumble out in short three- and four-minute bursts with barely a pause. The density of the wordplay heightens the dizzying momentum.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Redemption
    A few songs fail to blossom beyond an initial intriguing burst of color. But the album's ambitions reward long-haul, continuous listening.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Blue and Lonesome
    The Jagger on Blue & Lonesome is 73, three years older than Waters was when he died in 1983, and Richards is 72, Watts 75 and guitarist Ronnie Wood 69. In a sense, the Stones have become their elders, and their seasoning as a first-rate blues band is evident.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Long Live the Angels
    Subtlety isn't a typical pop virtue, but it suits Sande.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Black America Again
    One of the year's most potent protest albums. ... The album sags midway through with a handful of lightweight love songs, but finishes with some of its most emotionally resounding tracks: the "Glory"-like plea for redemption "Rain" with Legend, the celebration of family that is "Little Chicago Boy," and the staggering "Letter to the Free."
    • 92 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    You Want It Darker
    This is not one of those waiting-at-death's-door late-career farewells that have become a cottage industry since Johnny Cash closed his career with a series of acoustic albums recorded by producer Rick Rubin. It instead presents an artist still near the height of his considerable powers
    • 88 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    American Band
    The band's feel for melodies remains sharp, and Hood's accomplished songwriting is now matched by Cooley, which makes for one of the band's strongest front-to-back albums.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    A Seat at the Table
    A Seat at the Table is in no hurry to deliver a knockout punch. Instead, its subtle grooves and delicate vocals underplay the steely resolve, the long-simmering ache in the words.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Heads Up
    The band has become more adept at bringing its love of body music to the forefront and melding it with experimental impulses.
    • 95 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Skeleton Tree
    The album peaks in its second half, with a series of songs in which Cave doesn't just again walk the narrow line between love and death, but ponders whether "nothing really matters anymore."
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Schmilco
    Wilco has made a weird little folk record. It not only sounds different than the band's previous album, but slightly out of step with the rest of its discography.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    My Woman
    lsen's songwriting has a way of undressing emotions, and she's got a voice that holds nothing back. Now she's made an album that sounds far bolder than anything she's released so far.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Blonde
    The entire album plays like an Ocean view, clear and uncluttered by outsized cameos.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
    There's no rage in this music, but it feels unsettling all the same, and that's a major step for a young artist as he starts to find his voice.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Real
    The music is more refined than previous Loveless albums. With the exception of the sonic roar in "Same to You," the pleasures on Real turn on instrumental subtleties.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Love & Hate
    With Burton as his accomplice, the singer has learned how to juxtapose contrasting textures and emotions for maximum impact, and it makes for one of the year's most consistently engaging listens.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Wildflower
    Daydreams don't get much more vivid than the Avalanches iconic debut album, but Wildflower is a worthy--if not quite as revelatory--sequel.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Hit Reset
    Hanna has actually upped the ante. In many ways, this is the singer's most personal and musically diverse album.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    blackSUMMERS'night (2016)
    He is subtle rather than strident, sensitive rather than demanding.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Mountain Will Fall
    Shadow's beats programming remains formidable, as he steers clear of standard bangers in favor of something far more difficult to pin down. This isn't an album built for dancing. It's more about its rhythmic intricacy, a master class for connoisseurs of nuanced production.
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