Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 1,600 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 62% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 35% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Chemtrails Over the Country Club
Lowest review score: 25 The New Game
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,362 out of 1600
  2. Mixed: 176 out of 1600
  3. Negative: 62 out of 1600
1600 music reviews
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    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Untitled
    More often than not, though, Nas offers windy whines instead of innovative ideas.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Around The Bend
    Some songs still leave you wishing to hear what George Jones or John Anderson might have done with them, but a quarter-century down the line, Travis finally seems comfortable inhabiting his human skin.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Modern Guilt
    Modern Guilt is “Wall-E” for anyone who prefers rock 'n' roll to kids' movies.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Love Is Dead
    Although her songs occasionally feature the alto piano of Apple or the otherworldly trilling of Morissette or Björk, her voice can sound thin and inconsistent, giving the whole thing a somewhat derivative feel.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Hymn and Her
    Releasing another full-length effort less than a year later is unusual, but the accelerated pace might account for the infusion of freshness that makes Hymn and Her so arresting.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Forgiven
    The ho-hum tunes on Forgiven won't flip your wig, but the playing-- particularly in the three cuts featuring Dr. John on the keys--oozes bone-deep feeling throughout.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Fire Songs
    The Path of Slow has led countless down-tempo electronica acts into the dead-end of dinner music. But when slow works, it can be voluptuously pleasurable, as the Watson Twins show on their lovely full-length debut.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 37 Critic Score
    Saints Of Los Angeles
    There is some of the old energy here, thanks in part to the presence of drummer Tommy Lee, who drives 'Down at the Whisky' and 'Chicks=Trouble' like somebody with a head full of stimulants. Yet the album lacks the tune-craft that once made vintage Crüe such hits as 'Dr. Feelgood' and 'Kickstart My Heart' so appealing.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Superhero Brother
    This is unapologetically breezy stuff, long on strummed acoustic guitars and shuffling rhythms.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace
    The album tends to sag in the middle, and as for those gentler moments, well, one for two isn't bad ('Kristi, Are You Doing Okay?' is OK).
    • 84 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Tha Carter III
    Ultimately, Tha Carter III will have you believing in Wayne's greatness but wondering why, as often as not, he just isn't very good.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Weezer (Red Album)
    Though it tails off toward the end, the second Weezer-Rubin collaboration (and the band's third self-titled album, out June 3) is a rush, starting with a sustained, four-song soliloquy on pop music's allure.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Wanderlust
    Nothing here is complicated or profound; melodies go where you expect them to, while dynamics follow the quiet-loud pattern Nirvana turned into a recipe. Yet there's an appealing guilelessness to Rossdale's writing that gives the predictable a whiff of universality.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Perfectly Clear
    There is little hint of her past as a modern folk-rock singer, but she does hold on to a certain genuineness as a lyricist of songs of love and self-determination.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Virgins
    Cumming might still be a petty thief--of sounds and ideas now, not clothes--but he clutches at this material as if he invented it, and the band's boldness is hard to resist.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Here I Stand
    The album would be much better without its excess of undistinguished ballads, but that aside, it's a more accomplished version of "Confessions," the hooks more effortless, the singing even better, the songwriting more consistent.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Lay It Down
    Featuring some of the Reverend's finest work in years, Green's latest is proof positive that as important as it is to show up, you still need to know how to lay it down.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Songs in A&E
    Mostly, though, this is music from someone who's been there and back, and now truly knows he prefers things here.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Dystopia
    If Dystopia lacks the sophisticated subtleties of stuff by Daft Punk, the music successfully distracts you from its absence with huge hooks and driving beats that make subtlety seem like a bourgeois contrivance.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    II Trill
    Bun B's second solo record is an impressive late-career triumph, one with a poignancy and resonance worthy of his dedication and devotion to the memory of his departed friend.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Rockferry
    Duffy's not a belter, but she boasts a cool power that is immensely aided by the cleverness of Rockferry's instrumental settings, which employ mostly acoustic instruments for a warmer sound that, in combination with Duffy's vocal prowess, stays sweet, soulful and satisfying.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Nouns
    Nouns showcases the appealing joy to No Age's process, the band attacking its music with relish and humor.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Momofuku
    Some of the songs toward the end seem downright slight ("My Three Sons," "Song With Rose," "Go Away"), but in all it's a rewarding, rambunctious ride.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Third
    Though several doses of this languid, tension-filled music get a tad draining, taken altogether it is a suitable sound for our troubling times, and there's an invigorating mysteriousness.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Rising Down
    Overall, Rising Down doesn't replicate the balanced charm of last year's "Game Theory," but in other ways, it's the more provocative effort.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Mudcrutch
    It's rock the old-school way--born of real-time collaboration and realized with heaps of joy and sweat.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Mr. Love & Justice
    Unfortunately, when Bragg ventures back into well-trod territory, it falls somewhat flat. Though 'Sing Their Souls Back Home' focuses on troops stationed all over the world, the teeth of past protest songs are entirely absent.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Elephant Shell
    Though its follow-up full-length, Elephant Shell, doesn't disappoint, neither does it surprise too much.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 37 Critic Score
    Bittersweet World
    She has to, you know, sing. You can tell she's not into it.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    E=MC2
    E=MC2 is a little better--the songwriting is more consistent, the feel a bit more natural--but it too lacks a ruling temperament or artistic vision.
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