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 0.1 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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    • 73 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Reviver [EP]
    Points are docked for including the half-realized noise experiment 'Endless Sleeper,' but Reviver captures one of L.A.'s most promising new bands beginning to come fully into its own.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    One Of The Boys
    Rather than moving boldly forward, she ends up holding her ground.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Women + Country
    The 11 tracks of "Women and Country" are similarly dressed [as the Robert Plant-Alison Krauss collaboration "Raising Sand"] with low-key Americana atmospherics. The results, however, are mixed.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Laws of Illusion
    If only McLachlan would've stripped out the more unoriginal instrumentation on other tracks and relied solely on her voice; it's a haunting, evocative thing we'd follow anywhere.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Hands
    The vintage futurism that drapes Hesketh's songs has stayed in vogue, and there's fun to be had here.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Rebirth
    For an album so indebted to artists he inspired, Rebirth still feels thoroughly and essentially Cliff's.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Another Day On Earth
    A fascinating look at planet Eno. [10 Jul 2005]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 78 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Pick A Bigger Weapon
    The Coup returns with its polarizing politics in tow and an interesting -- for them, at least -- side-focus: sex. [23 Apr 2006]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 67 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Keep On Loving You
    It's admirable that McEntire can stay current, but even more impressive when she sounds so joyfully timeless.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Drastic Fantastic
    It's more professional than compellingly personal, but a lack of pretension lets the choruses soar and the hooks kick in with full, pleasurable effect.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    We Be Xuxa
    Many moments of We Be Xuxa come close to fulfilling the band's Slits-meets-Wipers mania, but much of the record feels so giddily tossed off that one almost wishes for a little sheen.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Rebelution
    With Rebelution, Pitbull's filled a rakish niche in pop-rap.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Not Without A Fight
    Producer Mark Hoppus (of Blink-182) helps the band remove all the air from the music, but the effect isn't stifling, it's reassuring. With no leeway available, it's not possible for the train to come off the tracks. The result is adolescence reconfigured as a highlight reel.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Higher
    Higher as an album is decent enough, but it's hardly essential.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Music Speaks
    There are signs of individual life here.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Nothing Gold Can Stay
    This is hushed, deliberately paced acoustic music perfect for sitting around a fireplace pondering the coming thaw....As pretty as this stuff is, though, it can get a little snoozy.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    America
    Though America is an explosive document, half the time it's a lot of smoke and bang, and it treads on territory that others have explored more thoughtfully.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse
    This record really is enjoyably elusive.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    All of You
    All of You puts a significant amount of force into the illusion of effortlessness; its scrim of summer-fun abandon obscures a stage busy with high-level record-making.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Belong
    Berman and his bandmates also play more purposefully here than they did on their debut, as though the bigger arrangements finally provided the shy-guy contrast they'd been looking for. Their move toward muscle feels genuine.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Loso's Way
    Though Loso isn’t quite his opus, Fabolous knew what he was doing here, and did it well.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Persona
    Persona is stylistically everywhere and yet it skips over some fruitful ground.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Asleep In The Bread Aisle
    The album isn't completely charmless. 'Lark on My Go-Kart,' the Cee-Lo aided, 'Be by Myself' and 'I Love College' reveal a breezy affability. But far too often, Roth's quest for relatability reeks of redundancy.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Around The Sun
    A noncommittal aura undermines Michael Stipe's most personal, poetic and moving set of lyrics in years. [3 Oct 2004]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 72 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Rabbits on the Run
    She clearly wanted to craft a grand-scale melodic-pop opus, but she hasn't delivered stories and emotions commensurate with the panoramic production work.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Lasers
    It's a moderate disappointment, then, that Lasers feels more like a compromise than a cohesive album.
    • 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
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    From This Moment On
    Many of the tracks suggest that she may have left some of the familiar Krall spunkiness back in the other room. [17 Sep 2006, p.E44]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 62 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    I Am the West
    On his ninth album, the independently released I Am the West, he retreats to self-satisfied taunts about his legendary status, the enervated state of the Left Coast, and his rivals, both real and imaginary.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Pebble To A Pearl
    The result is Costa's most natural-sounding record by a mile; compared to the jittery electro-funk of 2001's "Everybody Got Their Something."...Yet as any Winehouse fan knows, soul music needs a little unease to transcend baby-making utility, and with none of that here, Costa's creation occasionally comes off like a well-appointed museum piece.
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