Los Angeles Times' Scores

For 1,596 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 0.1 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Dear Science,
Lowest review score: 25 The New Game
Score distribution:
1596 music reviews
    • 85 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    “Evermore,” in a first for Swift, simply repeats its predecessor’s trick, which means the new album’s tunes must stand on their own. And not all of them are up to the standard she set on “Folklore.” There are some incredible songs here. ... Yet too many of the remaining songs on “Evermore” feel like leftovers from “Folklore.” with recycled vocal cadences and melodic phrases or lyrical scenarios that seem unfinished. ... For most pop stars, that might be enough. Not for Swift.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Though long and featuring a bounty of ideas, The Electric Lady is surprisingly slight.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The most significant change is in Swift’s singing voice, a once-brittle instrument that of course has gotten deeper, huskier and more flexible since the late ’00s. But she only really takes advantage of that shift a couple of times. ... As for the lightweight bonus material, which she cut in the studio with her “Folklore” and “Evermore” collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, none of it argues that it deserved a place on “Fearless,” though “Mr. Perfectly Fine” comes close.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Lips' catalog is exhaustingly long, but Arabia Mountain is a fine reassertion that its talents extend far beyond running from venue security.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    AC/DC’s legendary stylistic consistency is on display across these 12 tracks. ... But with a group as locked on a signature sound as this one, the quality of the individual songs is paramount, and too many of those on “Power Up” — from the hookless “System Down” to the blandly bluesy “No Man’s Land” — are forgettable even after half a dozen spins.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Occasionally, as in “The Sound,” Jepsen musters enough feeling in her high, slightly raspy voice that you can understand why her fans view her with a kind of protectiveness; only Robyn does crying-in-the-club more vividly. ... But too much of “Dedicated” blurs together in a mix of lovelorn confessions and throwback grooves you’d have to listen to obsessively to differentiate. For some, that’s just the invitation they crave.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    “Star-Crossed” is actually a less emotional experience than the blissed-out “Golden Hour,” which practically vibrated with feeling. ... Musgraves’ writing on “Star-Crossed” is squishier and more prone to cliché than on “Golden Hour” or her earlier albums.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    She's clearly capable of belting a worthy song out of the park, but once again she's hampered by bloop singles and the infrequent double.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In his determination to establish his own lane, though, James has let his once-strong songwriting sag.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    As a set of songs, though, Divine Fits' debut feels pretty process-oriented, more workbook than showpiece.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The King Is Dead clings so closely to formula that it doesn't sound like homage or even truth; it sounds like the studious but unconvincing work of an extremely gifted mimic.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    If the style is intact, though, the songs here seem a bit lackluster; only the relatively jangly "Harmony Around My Table" and the Velvet Underground-ish "Peanuts" (think of O'Hara in Moe Tucker's role) really stand out from the tasteful mid-tempo blur.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    1989 is a deeply catchy, sleekly-produced pop record with the slightly juiceless quality of an authorized biography, a would-be tell-all bleached of the detailed insight she’s trained us to expect from her.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    There are exceptions, but most of "Talkie Walkie" is static and not fleshed out, like a perfectly produced series of unfinished demos.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The album's polished, middle-of-the-road approach isn't exactly for everyone, but its agreeable heart doesn't hit any sour notes, either.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    There's no denying that, three albums in, the winning novelty of Art Brut's tightly defined project is beginning to wear off.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Acoustic guitars replace glistening synths, bittersweet steel guitars slide in to provide the patina of rural rootsiness, yet Richie still never really steps away from the polished sheen that characterized his musical heyday.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Suck It and See (English slang for "give it a try"), slows the pace but ultimately feels even more detached.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    By the time the band rumbles into album-closer “Glendale Junkyard,” its engine may be glowing and the radiator overheating, but somehow the wreckage has stayed intact, no worse for the wear.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    As impressively specific as those sonic ideas are, though, Deschanel's songwriting here is less distinctive than it was on "Volume One." Too many of the tracks bleed together in a well-appointed mush of major-minor melodies and hand-me-down lyrics about the inevitability of heartbreak.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Wack Album feels awfully short on fresh ideas.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Where Does This Door Go feels like a once-promising OK Cupid date that's gone off the rails.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Yet for an album that promises revelation, Meaning of Life is full of generalities.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The sounds are largely tepid arrangements that fail to generate much excitement.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    And musically, at least, that journey paid off. ... Martin can be awfully simplistic in these songs — a problem in any context but especially on an album otherwise marked by some of his most nuanced words.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Freeway's penchant for ham-handed hooks and emotionally flat attempts at introspection ('I Cry') and romance ('Take It to the Top') reveal, over the course of these 14 songs, an ultimate two-dimensionality.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    It seldom gathers enough momentum, and doesn't feel the least bit cohesive.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The cussing, the horror, the anger, the disappointment, the alienation, the frustration, while real and scary and sad, gets tiresome. That's a lot of Tyler, and so much ego-maniacal nihilism, while fascinating and at times revolutionary, wears thin very quickly.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    In his quest to impress, Big Boi short-changes the street-level swagger that always kept his partner Andre 3000 here on Earth.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Yet for all the sleek settings and the vocal firepower Ledisi deploys, Turn Me Loose doesn't really present an artistic persona any more memorable than the earnest traditionalist from "Lost & Found."