Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 1,598 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 Dear Science,
Lowest review score: 25 The New Game
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,360 out of 1598
  2. Mixed: 176 out of 1598
  3. Negative: 62 out of 1598
1598 music reviews
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    • 67 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Trick
    While nothing on Trick feels incredibly urgent or revelatory, it's a rare late-night album that assumes you'll wake up next to someone you actually like.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Shine
    In relying so heavily on a phalanx of Nashville songwriting pros--these 11 songs are the product of 32 credited writers--there's a music-by-committee quality that inevitably creeps in.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Amelita
    Amelita might be the most buoyant album of 2013, a lighter-than-air set of summery folk-pop tunes with titles like "Sunshine" and "The World Smiles."
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Educated Guess
    Here she returns to the stark, acoustic feel of earlier recordings, and the sense of isolation in such numbers as "Swim" is reinforced by her creative approach. [18 Jan 2004]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Element Of Freedom
    After the all-too-human ups and downs she's experienced through the rest of the album, ultimately she comes out of it sounding pretty, well, super.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    It's a Corporate World
    Putting aside the coy playfulness of the act's name, Josh Epstein and Daniel Zott actually specialize in tenderness, crafting a collection that places a premium on harmonies and a studious reliance on electronics.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Mentor Tormentor
    Murray and co-founder Aaron Espinoza celebrate romance in tracks such as 'Answers and Questions,' but more affecting are such ruminations on vulnerability and heartbreak as the stark, propulsive 'Fakey Fake' and the electro-torchy 'Never Mind the Phone Calls.'
    • 66 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Xscape
    Xscape offers a chance to once again be whisked back to his creative prime and recall the man before his flaws felled him, when he was untouchable.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything Now
    “Reflektor” lacked killer tunes to go with its propulsive grooves, whereas this album is filled with them--including two separate tracks that recall Abba.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Total
    He's got an undeniable flair for layering trashy techno-rock textures over hard-thumping disco-metal grooves.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    A Time To Love
    As always, his heart's in the right place, but his pop brilliance has dimmed to the level of mere mortals. [16 Oct 2005]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Massacre
    A joyride of an album that's as fun as it is familiar. [2 Mar 2005, p.E2]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 66 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Everything Goes Wrong
    Cassie Ramone sounds like a more confident guitarist, stretching out her leads, while the bass lines of Kickball Katy bubble out front to carry the melodies. And once again those melancholy harmonies are to die for, as Ramone chips off pieces of her heart in lamenting the boy who got away.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    The Hunger For More
    Though not one of the songs on the album stands out in terms of head-popping new production -- there's not a hit that will transcend the hip-hop hard-core -- each cut is utterly bulletproof, and Banks' lyrics provide a few new twists. [18 Jul 2004]
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Breakout
    Breakout is unlikely fodder for the razzle-dazzle road shows and 3-D concert films to come. As a portrait of the artist as a young malcontent, though, it's rarely less than fascinating.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    A Crow Left Of The Murder
    "Crow" is a striking redefinition, an album that roars and twitches with the raw, aggressive, fury of urgent rock activism.
    • 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.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Z [EP]
    Tthe album's reach is as powerful as its depth.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    I Look To You
    Though I Look to You doesn't soar like the old days, it's fine to hear Houston working on her own recovery plan.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Happy People / U Saved Me
    Charming, unpretentious and effortless, the singer presides over a party whose pace never flags and whose soul is fun-loving and wholesome. [22 Aug 2004]
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Southern Voice
    McGraw sees this, his 10th studio effort, as a way of reclaiming his voice, and bucking the powers that be might well be one facet of that voice. If only more of that feistiness were evident in the songs he's selected.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Christmas Is Here!
    Some listeners may find the meticulous arrangements a tad sterile by the end, but Danny Elfman’s “Making Christmas” brings a welcome bit of edge to the project.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Dig Out Your Soul
    There's a forward motion to the backward glances, but the spiritual-philosophical bent of many of the songs suggests that brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher preferred the era when rock stars set out to explore the meaning of life rather than maximize the monetization of their brand.
    • 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
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Jesus Piece
    Game makes a better villain than he does a good guy, however, and on this often-earnest album he seems hard-pressed to accept that.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Charm
    Sparxxx returns on his third album with increased commercial appeal and the solid lyricism that helped earn him praise early in his career. [26 Mar 2006]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Party Ain't Over
    Her thin, raspy voice retains plenty of sass six decades on, and White's live-sounding band conjures the ambience of a gritty gig in some back alley bar for a rowdy crowd of mariachi bikers. Well done, Grandma Wanda.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    A Little Bit Longer
    The Jonases show more vulnerability with such numbers as the mid-tempo, yearning love song 'Shelf' and the title ballad, with its plaintive vocals and subtle touches of piano and strings. Still, the album is mostly a bland gloss, offering no depth or cleverness in material that covers familiar territory.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    One Love
    For the most part, though, Guetta knows what he's doing here. Bring America to the club? Nah. He'll bring the club to America.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    What Kind of World
    The new set, Benson's fifth, is as solid as its predecessors.
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