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MojoFeb 2, 2015If there's little of the duelling gamesmanship that made their 1993 debut so remarkable, this is still a joyful comeback, brimming with big screen music. [Feb 2015, p.91]
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Dec 4, 2014Don't call it a comeback, call it a collective, or a compilation from solo artists who sound enthused to be back with an especially inspired RZA as ringleader.
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Dec 1, 2014It’s a pretty decent album, with their trademark melange of rap stylings at their most spikily effective, each track switching between self-promotion, street-crime narrative, social commentary and cosmological speculation as different members take the mic.
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Dec 8, 2014A Better Tomorrow isn’t all good (most noticeably, it’s lacking killer verses from Raekwon and Ghostface Killah), but it’s a bold, clever album that’s thankfully positioned away from the hip-hop zeitgeist.
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Dec 2, 2014All in all, the Wu remains palatable. They each have their own skillset they bring to the table, and all of them do so with varying degrees of grit on the album.
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Dec 2, 2014A Better Tomorrow doesn't quite hit the heights of The W, but it's a considerable improvement on 2007's 8 Diagrams, making it a stellar body of work for a group celebrating their twentieth anniversary.
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Dec 1, 2014Even as grown-ups, Wu-Tang Clan still has sharp, startling reflexes.
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Dec 1, 2014The record doesn’t successfully break new ground as much as it reassuringly treads familiar paths
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Q MagazineJan 7, 2015It's far from perfect, but if this is Exit The Wu-Tang, they can go out with heads held high. [Feb 2015, p.112]
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Dec 11, 2014With a slimmed down tracklist and looser vision, A Better Tomorrow would be a fantastic offering. But as it stands, what could be the last Wu-Tang album ever leaves much to be desired.
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Dec 2, 2014A Better Tomorrow mostly proves that, no matter what conflicts may be simmering, there's enough sustained talent at work here to keep the usual material feeling fresh. It's forays outside that established template that make for the worst moments.
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Dec 2, 2014Something is definitely missing on A Better Tomorrow: not necessarily the cryptic slang and mythology, but that RZA and the other members haven't found something to replace what stood them apart from the crowd.
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Dec 1, 2014RZA’s chosen musical style here appears to be “mid-paced jam band” which hardly helps in enlivening rappers who give off a distinct vibe of puffy middle age. The better tracks – Necklace, Miracle, 40th Street Black--are produced by others.
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Dec 1, 2014Nothing here sounds contemporary, but it’s all accessible, and the likes of Crushed Egos (big shouty chorus, nimble organ-haunted verses) sound as good as back in the day.
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Dec 1, 2014A Better Tomorrow never really coalesces into a satisfying whole.
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Dec 3, 2014Where overbearing arrangements don’t get in the way, a cloying sentimentality does.
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Dec 18, 2014This is the sound of a team of great fighters competing in an uncomfortable new arena.
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Dec 9, 2014RZA is certainly experimenting on a bunch of tracks, but results are unconvincing.
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Dec 2, 2014While RZA’s desire to evolve is laudable (drumline, terrific), the flawed musical execution on sluggish tracks “Ron O’Neal,” “Miracle,” and “Preacher’s Daughter” is at odds with the rappers’ combustible virtuosity.
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Dec 1, 2014While the goodwill is obfuscated by a lack of direction, A Better Tomorrow is made further futile because of the misinformed goal of simply giving the fans another Wu-Tang album.
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The WireDec 16, 2014A Better Tomorrow feels trapped by history, an impotent reflection versus a proposed resurrection. [Jan 2015, p.65]
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Dec 10, 2014RZA does his fair share of huffing and puffing on A Better Tomorrow (see hooks to 'Hold The Heater' and 'Crushed Egos'), but the widescreen production lacks the intensity to motivate a jaded clan.
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Dec 1, 2014Still their strongest effort since The W, but Wu-Tang Clan exhaust their fans' good will and nostalgia without a classic to show for it.
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Dec 2, 2014A Better Tomorrow has very little to do with the music of 20 years ago, but it has even less to do with the music of today; it’s completely out of joint, an island of irrelevance forced into being by the labor- and drama-intensive nature of the group.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 48
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Mixed: 18 out of 48
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Negative: 4 out of 48
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Dec 2, 2014
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Dec 2, 2014
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Dec 5, 2014