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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    • 61 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Black Panties
    So-so cuts like "Right Back" and "All the Way," a meandering duet with Kelly Rowland, give the impression that the singer might've padded the album in his determination to get it out in time to capitalize on the renown he's established this year. But then he'll bust out a steamy slow jam as gorgeous--and as generous in spirit--as "Crazy Sex."
    • 61 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Break the Spell
    This is by-the-numbers arena rock, played with muscular competence by a relatively young band showing off its chops by executing successful formulas.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Discipline
    Discipline tries to service both Tyler Perry-loving moms and their gone-wild progeny, sacrificing Jackson's own vision in the process.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Bangerz
    Yet for all the attitude herehere's also "Do My Thang," a live-it-up club jam co-produced by will.i.am--Bangerz reveals that Cyrus isn't just a twerk-bot programmed to titillate (though there's always a need for one of those in pop music).
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    LotusFlow3r
    LotusFlow3r is the work of a musician who's still curious after all these years.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    We'll Live and Die in These Towns
    Thanks to Clarke's well-developed tune sense and his bandmates' primal need for speed, We'll Live and Die in These Towns doesn't sound the way life in a cubicle feels; if anything, it replicates the adrenaline rush of one of those YouTube videos in which a stir-crazy office worker decimates a copy machine.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Dignity
    Duff doesn't seem entirely comfortable and confident in her new image.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    How To Destroy Angels
    With its tick-tocking death-disco beats and its precisely designed blasts of digital fuzz, How to Destroy Angels might be the best-sounding work Reznor has ever done....Yet as songs go, tracks such as "The Space in Between," "Fur-Lined" and the seven-minute "A Drowning" rank among Reznor's least compelling.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Push and Shove
    At its best, Push and Shove channels some of the infectiously restless energy of "Rock Steady," the band's pre-hiatus farewell. And it further polishes a bold mix-and-match aesthetic that feels familiar today in part because of records such as "Tragic Kingdom."
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Waking Up
    Fortunately, on OneRepublic's second album Waking Up, they've internalized a lot of the things that made Timbaland such a compelling producer--that good sounds are paramount, songs should move in odd directions and many different ideas can constitute a hook.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    World Wide Rebel Songs
    What Morello lacks in subtlety, he makes up for in visceral feeling.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    ARTPOP
    There are other duds, including the clunky arena-rock goof “Manicure” and “Donatella,” an excruciatingly lame homage to her friend Donatella Versace.... But Lady Gaga approaches other fresh modes with more spirit, particularly in a handful of songs that pull deeply from R&B
    • 61 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    The Monsanto Years
    This is Young the aged bellwether, raging about the state of the world with the focus of someone with little left to lose.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Prism
    Prism has neither fat nor pretense. In its own masterful way, in fact, Perry's new work contains as much of-the-moment sonic surprise as any other modern pop album this year.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Fabled City
    Morello's singing could inspire chuckles rather than revolution. But on The Fabled City, he and O'Brien have dressed it up enough to make it seem almost super at times.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    War Stories
    The result is a stormy set of dark, synth-streaked psych-rock jams that carries a whiff of tomorrow while looking back to the stomping proto-metal of Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2
    A 12-song sequel that comes on stronger than its ingratiating predecessor.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Certified Lover Boy
    With 21 tracks over 86 minutes somehow still feels tight next to the interminable “Donda” — is an enjoyment even at its bleakest. ... Even minus this get-out-of-jail-free stuff, “Certified Lover Boy” is so sharply composed and performed as to be largely irresistible.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Christmas Songs
    The album is definitely tongue-in-cheek but suggests a real affection for these standards, putting Bad Religion in a long line of acts that find religion interesting even if they don't believe in it for a second.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Long Road Out Of Eden
    Sprawling, but pristinely produced, animated by righteous indignation and regret, this double album offers everything fans want and detractors scorn.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    The E.N.D.
    Most of The E.N.D. doesn't ask too much from those fans. Its more substantive musical and thematic statements are interrupted by many others showing the Peas' deep, deep commitment to a good party.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Bangarang [EP]
    The quick cuts that defined his early EPs are more skillful and sonically intriguing [here.]
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Peace And Love
    The songstress revisits some familiar themes in her deceptively straightforward compositions, underscoring mournful realizations with bonhomie.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Y Not
    The heart of the 10-song collection comes from his continued exploration of how to hold onto noble ideals in the face of ever-rising cynicism and violence.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Sheezus
    Throughout, Allen and producer-collaborator Kurstin deliver a dynamic, if lyrically flatulent, album, one that harnesses the full force of the singer's tell-all verbiage in the service of songs built for popular radio with an almost schizophrenic desire for commercial acceptance.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    In a World Like This
    Is anything here going to be as iconic in their catalog as "Everybody"? Probably not. But there are far worse records than this to greet you at the pearly gates.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Lucky Old Sun
    This is a quiet, introspective collection, predominantly an effort to find and take comfort wherever it presents itself.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Release Therapy
    This batch of songs is solid, but when Ludacris sticks to bombastic production and uses his inventive delivery styles, as on the boastful "Ultimate Satisfaction" and the thumping "Warning (Intro)" and "Grew Up a Screw Up," the results are gloriously enjoyable. [24 Sep 2006]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Own the Night
    Not surprisingly, everything sounds bigger, brighter and shinier than on Lady A's first two albums. That'll probably go over well with fans of grandiose country pop, but the all-stops-out production gradually loses impact.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Fantasy Ride
    Originally intended as a triptych divided into one hip-hop-flavored disc, another featuring futuristic club cuts and yet another of seductive ballads, this final version is intriguing but inconsistent.
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