by
John Maus
- Record Label: Ribbon Music
- Release Date: Jul 17, 2012
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- Critic score
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Jul 16, 2012This compilation won't do anything to make Maus' bizarre intentions more clear or his cloudy legacy more cohesive, but for those already converted, its 16 songs will be essential.
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Aug 21, 2012It's an impressive feat, and a genuine reminder for those bemoaning pop's current state that challenges can still be made as long as you never stop asking questions.
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Jul 26, 2012Each of these tunes, including the classical inflected "Fish With Broken Dreams" (the earliest track, ostensibly recorded when Maus was 19), hold up to the standard of his previous studio efforts, perhaps even surpassing some of the filler from his two earliest LPs.
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Jul 20, 2012It probably won't rope in many. But for those few who do get it, A Collection Of Rarities will provide a truly uncommon and sometimes jarring glimpse into the evolution of an incredible musical mind.
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Jul 16, 2012Perhaps there's not enough variation on the album as a whole, with only the odd anomaly which then sounds rather out of place, but even the anomalies are very distinctly John Maus and at times that may be a grim, cold, dark, slightly pretentious thing, but it is no bad thing.
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Jul 16, 2012A Collection... isn't Maus' best record--played back to back with We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves, it blanches in comparison--but it's a fine insight into the mind of an inspired Lord Of Misrule.
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Aug 15, 2012Selections here appear sketch-like, but the artist's roots in post-punk drink amply despite the brevity.
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MagnetAug 23, 2012[The album is] really fun. You don't have to know about 12-tone serialism to appreciate the wonderfully goody innards of this appropriately titled compilation. [No.90, p.59]
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Jul 16, 2012This rag-tag collection, dating from between 1999 and 2010, sets out his stall as an outsider savant in an Ariel Pink vein.
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Jul 20, 2012This remastered Collection of Rarities is intriguing beyond its archival purposes, as it traces the evolution of an artist over the course of 11 years.
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Aug 24, 2012Rarities are all the pieces that didn't fit. And furthermore, they're mostly fantastic.
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Jul 16, 2012The odds-and-ends nature of this compilation is spelt out by its title, but the quality barely suffers for that.
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The WireDec 5, 2012A mixed bag. [Oct 2012, p.62]
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Under The RadarAug 22, 2012The 16 cut offering--if not out and out innovation--then at least a reminder that his deconstructionist approach is more than clever for clever's sake. [Aug/Sep 2012, p.123]