Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 1,597 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:
  1. Positive: 1,359 out of 1597
  2. Mixed: 176 out of 1597
  3. Negative: 62 out of 1597
1597 music reviews
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    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss
    This funny, convincing, unembarrassed collection proves she's no cartoon.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    It Won't Be Soon Before Long
    An icy-hot blend of electro-funk and blue-eyed soul that works its cruel streak with the confidence of Daniel Craig's James Bond.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love and War
    West Virginia singer, songwriter and guitarist Brad Paisley has proven himself a wizard at striking a canny balance among earnestness, whimsy, social awareness and party-hearty celebration. With Love and War he’s conjured another 16 tracks that skillfully traverse those lines.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Best Damn Thing
    It's a consciously lightweight pop-punk romp that appears to have been inspired by "Since U Been Gone," Kelly Clarkson's massive hit.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    The Cost
    The tempos are more uniform, and the huge arcs of all those ballads, hoisted high by fiddle, abstract guitar fragments and Glen Hansard's scratchy tenor, feel surprisingly safe.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
    A bold, essential chapter in this young man's inspired body of work.
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin
    This album finds Wilson clearly invigorated by material he feels an affinity with; thankfully, he's not so precious that he can't flood it with sea salt, sunshine and all the qualities that make his music individual.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    While(1<2)
    Deadmau5’s double-album leviathan While(1<2), however, makes room for many new moods while playing with his genre’s formulas.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Plans
    A sad and touching meditation on death and distance, handled with a light melodic touch. [28 Aug 2005]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    An Other Cup
    Can the dedicated Muslim now known as Yusuf Islam, for that matter, recapture the welcoming seeker's voice he plied so well in nonsectarian hymns such as "Morning Has Broken"? The answer gently conveyed here is yes, despite a few zealous missteps.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Lioness: Hidden Treasures
    The 12-song compilation is slight on new insights....But as vault-emptying collections go, Lioness helps rebut the tabloid qualities of her life and death, and return some of the focus back to what won her such allegiance--her voice.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Joy
    The music is rarely rote, nor does it jump, settling for a fussy yet placid amiability, whether the Vermont quartet is in boogie mode ("Kill Devil Falls") or unwinding a 13-minute progressive-rock suite ("Time Turns Elastic").
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Unplugged
    The problems in this 72-minute package come chiefly when the exquisite singer-songwriter moves to what you'd think would be the creative heart of the album: material that isn't on her earlier CDs. [9 Oct 2005]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Return of Mr. Zone 6
    His notoriously screwball wordplay takes a back seat to a more sedate menace, but Gucci's inimitable rasp is where it should be--as prominent as, well, a frozen snack tattoo on your cheekbone.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Twelve
    A bluesy, psychedelic witches' brew that feels like one long, complex incantation to keep us safe, to make us see there is indeed some kinda way out of here.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Soul Punk
    With its sleek club-pop synths, flowery R&B singing and ultra-earnest lyrics about economic hardship and hometown pride, Soul Punk fulfills no known stereotype; it never allows you to tune out, confident in your assumption of where the music is headed.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    The Beekeeper
    She's been de-emphasizing hysterics for a while now, and here she mostly sings prettily, but still powerfully. [6 Mar 2005]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Talk About Body
    Whatever it might lack in inventiveness, MEN makes up for with a smart, detailed comprehension of dance floor dynamics: the tension of the build and the satisfaction of the release.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Freedom's Road
    At times his path is too consciously down the middle — "I'm an American, and I respect your point of view," "freedom's road must be under construction" — but his intentions are good.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Superhero Brother
    This is unapologetically breezy stuff, long on strummed acoustic guitars and shuffling rhythms.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Court Yard Hounds
    The songs and the sentiments ring of honest emotion, but not consistently of inspired lyric writing, and for all the well-considered inner reflection, you wish these Hounds had channeled a bit more of Maines' bark and bite.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Here We Go Again
    When she breaks from her "Sex and the City" act for Mouse-loving millennials, the 16-year-old shows refreshing versatility.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Venus In Overdrive
    Venus in Overdrive rarely strays from Springfield's down-the-middle pop-rock blueprint.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Jeff Bridges
    Bridges' frayed charisma fits these songs perfectly. Nostalgic yet out of time, welcoming but secretly brooding, the combination creates an audio correlative to the beloved characters he's played on-screen.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    5 Seconds of Summer
    Hemmings and his bandmates match these frank admissions with music that’s equally straightforward.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Breeze: An Appreciation of J.J. Cale
    Eric Clapton calls his new album of J.J. Cale songs an appreciation rather than a tribute, and that word choice gets at the appealingly modest vibe of this record.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Cosmic Egg
    Some tunes are catchier than others.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Speed of Darkness
    If King maintains a tight focus for much of Flogging Molly's fifth studio album, his bandmates (on guitar and drums, as well as tin whistle and Uilleann pipes) employ broader strokes, pushing the music toward arena-rousing Bruce Springsteen territory.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Planet Earth
    A sound as sharp and renewable as anyone's in pop history.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Four
    They're growing up not by going wild but--get this--by relaxing. And the result is their best work yet.
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