Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 1,599 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: 1,361 out of 1599
  2. Mixed: 176 out of 1599
  3. Negative: 62 out of 1599
1599 music reviews
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    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Kala
    The album hits hardest by embodying the process by which certain voices are bottled up and distorted within the global noise of what M.I.A. calls "Third World Democracy."
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    La Radiolina
    Now, like an intermittent short-wave transmission that suddenly catches a clear and vivid frequency, Radiolina comes into sharp focus, defining a mature sound in a mesmerizing collection of 21 new tracks.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Magic
    It's the way Springsteen injects his American bible stories with the air of disbelief that makes Magic a truly mature and memorable album.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Odd Couple
    Odd Couple is every bit as musically inventive as "Elsewhere."
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Love On The Inside
    This is adult contemporary music that's enough fun for the kids and true-blue country without any trace of flag-waving or bigotry.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Conor Oberst
    His melodies curl to drive the stories, while his lyrics illuminate the road with a sometimes dazzling light.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    An Invitation
    Parks proves an ideal partner for George, who grew up studying Shakespeare and is married to a film director, Jake Kasdan.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Block
    Believe it or not, though, they've got the right stuff.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Dear Science,
    Dear Science, the third album from the Brooklyn-based art rock band TV on the Radio, is a vivid, angry, sensual soundtrack to the haunted life.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Hurricane
    No one intones like the stentorian Warhol muse -- and then she breaks into vibrato-driven song, throbbing and strong.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Crying Light
    As music, it's simply exquisite--more controlled and considered than anything Antony and the Johnsons have done and sure to linger in the minds of listeners for more than a season.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Easy Come, Easy Go
    On her latest full-length collection, Marianne Faithfull, the queen of torch songs for the damaged soul, reteams with producer Hal Willner for another beautifully haunting tour of a landscape littered with the detritus of shredded hearts.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Written In Chalk
    There's a sense of timelessness rooted in rural America, along with a stripped-down musical ambience, that makes this a worthy companion to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' "Raising Sand," for which Buddy was part of their touring band.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Together Through Life
    Chasing allusions is half the fun of listening to Dylan's music. On Together Through Life, the other half involves plainer pursuits, shaking a tail feather and shouting along.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Eternal
    The music remains ageless and weird, fueled on chaos and clarity, but these are songs, not sound experiments for their own sake.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Jay Stay Paid
    A record that not only tops any solo offering that the late James Yancey released during his lifetime, but also rivals Slum Village’s “Fantastic Part 2” and his own “Donuts” as his finest full-length effort.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Horehound
    There's no joke here--just mountains of chest-rattling primal rock designed to reassert the elemental power of the four-piece rock group. Mission accomplished.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    BLACKsummers'night
    For those who like their pop delicate and unapologetically deep, this is one for turning up loud and wallowing.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Backspacer
    The lightness and dexterity of the playing throughout Backspacer, and of Vedder's hard-driving, often playful vocals, come from Pearl Jam's members taking this music seriously, honing in and nailing it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The List
    Their contributions serve only to enhance Rosanne Cash's renditions of songs that Johnny Cash understood to delineate cornerstone facets of American culture.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Rated R
    A complex and fascinating portrait of a young woman's emotional process after enduring abuse.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Live Anthology
    Tom Petty, another classic rocker, has assembled an impressive collection of his live work with his band the Heartbreakers that's similar in spirit to Young's remarkable anthology if not quite as expansive.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert [40th Anniversary Deluxe Box Set]
    The sound is sterling, Richards’ guitar soaring effortlessly over the nimble rhythm section work by bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Sea
    The Sea is a remarkable accomplishment. It's a step toward something--Rae's inner peace, and her next artistic breakthrough--that has its own considerable rewards.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Crows
    Wringing beauty from her pain, Moorer creates music that illustrates an age-old truism: Without sorrow, there is no joy.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Have One On Me
    She goes deep, as deep as any artist working today, into the loud forest of stories where our ideas about love and the self are born. Her trail of crumbs isn't always obvious, but you can follow her there.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Praise & Blame
    Here, he and Johns are working with a faultless batch of songs.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Guitar Song
    With The Guitar Song, he's made an ambitious work that goes down easy. Johnson may masquerade as a throwback but what he really aims for is timelessness, and he usually hits his mark.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Promise
    The Promise album, with gems like the Crystals' homage "Ain't Good Enough for You" and the lilting ballad "Candy's Boy" (a far cry from "Darkness' " aggressively lustful revision "Candy's Room") showcases the danceability, catchiness and even sentimentality Springsteen had to rein in to create "Darkness."
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Let England Shake
    The double in the room on Let England Shake is the whole modern world. PJ Harvey has given us a righteous scare.
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