GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Music

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

 

Upcoming & Recent Releases

sort by name sort by score

64 A Camp
78 Akron/Family
73 Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women
74 Amazing Baby
62 Tori Amos
54 The Answer
74 Anti-Flag
74 Art Brut
71 Au Revoir Simone
65 Zee Avi
70 Bachelorette
77 Bat For Lashes
68 Big Business
76 Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
67 Black Dice
57 Black Eyed Peas
74 Black Moth Super Rainbow
71 Blank Dogs
65 Booker T.
54 The Boxmasters
65 The Boy Least Likely To
74 Brakes [aka brakesbrakesbrakes]
68 British Sea Power
66 Jeff Buckley
75 Busdriver
59 Busta Rhymes
64 Cage The Elephant
82 Bill Callahan
80 Camera Obscura
68 Cam'ron
79 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
58 Chester French
82 The Church
61 Ciara
72 Clues
69 The Coathangers
74 Jarvis Cocker
90 Leonard Cohen
70 Elvis Costello
66 Graham Coxon
76 Crippled Black Phoenix
71 The Crocodiles
69 Cryptacize
71 Crystal Antlers
56 The Crystal Method
69 Dananananaykroyd
76 Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse
71 De La Soul
77 Death Cab For Cutie
68 Deer Tick
81 Deerhunter
70 Depeche Mode
78 Dinosaur Jr.
85 Dirty Projectors
86 DJ Quik & Kurupt
77 Doves
68 Dredg
76 Bob Dylan
82 Steve Earle
70 Eels
62 El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez
58 Eminem
60 Empire Of The Sun
54 The Enemy
67 Jeremy Enigk
68 Nathan Fake
85 The Felice Brothers
79 The Field
65 Fink
60 Fischerspooner
77 Flatlanders
62 Flo Rida
64 Franz Ferdinand
77 Gallows
72 Melody Gardot
59 Ginuwine
71 Golden Silvers
61 Gomez
69 Grand Duchy
73 Great Lake Swimmers
59 Great Northern
72 Green Day
86 Grizzly Bear
75 The Handsome Family
69 Ben Harper And Relentless7
75 PJ Harvey & John Parish
66 Heaven & Hell
85 Levon Helm
74 The Hold Steady
79 Patterson Hood
75 Jon Hopkins
82 The Horrors
69 Hanne Hukkelberg
74 Ida Maria
65 Immaculate Machine
75 The Intelligence
76 Iron & Wine
79 Isis
68 It Hugs Back
88 J Dilla aka Jay Dee
61 Jadakiss
86 Japandroids
61 Joan Of Arc
84 Joe Lovano Us Five
72 John Doe & The Sadies
70 Joker's Daughter
62 Jonas Brothers
53 Mike Jones
71 The Juan Maclean
76 Junior Boys
68 Kasabian
74 Diana Krall
56 Lady Sovereign
43 Ben Lee
68 The Lemonheads
76 Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
77 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
65 Little Boots
79 The Low Anthem
67 Jason Lytle
75 The Maccabees
76 Magik Markers
80 Major Lazer
70 Malajube
71 Manchester Orchestra
85 Manic Street Preachers
57 Marilyn Manson
66 The Mars Volta
68 Dave Matthews Band
62 Maximo Park
70 Meat Puppets
80 Method Man & Redman
77 Metric
75 Micachu & The Shapes
69 Chrisette Michele
76 Miike Snow
67 Mika Miko
75 Rhett Miller
49 Mims
72 Mr. Lif
72 Moby
78 Moderat
70 Mandy Moore
80 Mos Def
70 Bob Mould
74 Nadja
72 New York Dolls
72 Nite Jewel
67 NOFX
76 Noisettes
60 Paolo Nutini
67 Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band
74 Papercuts
76 Passion Pit
74 Peaches
71 Pet Shop Boys
68 Peter Bjorn And John
82 Phoenix
76 Pink Mountaintops
63 Placebo
66 Pomegranates
64 Iggy Pop
67 Prefuse 73
81 Ramblin' Jack Elliott
76 Rancid
54 Rascal Flatts
68 Lionel Richie
77 Alasdair Roberts
73 Rick Ross
55 Asher Roth
72 Savath & Savalas
61 Polly Scattergood
65 The Shortwave Set
60 Shout Out Out Out Out
66 Silversun Pickups
85 Todd Snider
78 Sonic Youth
72 The Soundcarriers
61 The Sounds
74 Regina Spektor
63 Spinal Tap
65 Spinnerette
81 St. Vincent
59 Still Flyin'
58 Street Sweeper Social Club
87 Sunn O)))
82 Sunset Rubdown
84 Super Furry Animals
74 Richard Swift
78 Taking Back Sunday
85 Tanya Morgan
81 Otis Taylor
71 Telekinesis
70 Telepathe
80 Thee Oh Sees
79 The Thermals
74 Rob Thomas
64 Thunderheist
74 Tiga
57 Tinted Windows
72 Tortoise
82 Allen Toussaint
71 Trembling Bells
69 Two Fingers
84 UGK
68 Keith Urban
71 John Vanderslice
85 The Vaselines
74 The Veils
73 Viva Voce
63 Patrick Watson
79 White Denim
77 White Rabbits
57 The Whitest Boy Alive
74 Wilco
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
78 Wolves In The Throne Room
65 The Wooden Birds
67 Wooden Shjips
81 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
70 Pete Yorn
93 Neil Young
60 Neil Young
72 Yusuf

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Alright, Still
by Lily Allen

Lily Allen reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 79 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.1 out of 10
based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 65 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

This debut album from the British singer (and daughter of actor Keith Allen) mixes pop with ska and reggae.

LABEL: Capitol / Regal
RELEASE DATE: 30 January 2007
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Pop, Rock

NOTES: Original UK release 17 July 2006. The 2007 American release contains two bonus tracks.


What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Observer Music Monthly
Allen has fused together a uniquely acidic brand of pop, and the icing on the cake is that brutally barbed tongue.
Read Full Review
100
The Guardian
The female Mike Skinner? She's far, far better than that.
Read Full Review
91
The Onion (A.V. Club)
A great summer record it remains, even in the dead of winter.
Read Full Review
91
MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
Only two songs ring false. [Feb/Mar 2007]
90
Blender
What's amazing about Alright, Still is how similar the girl with the blog is to the girl with the hit record. [Mar 2007, p.129]
90
Playlouder
The pop album of the year.
Read Full Review
89
Austin Chronicle
Like Blondie circa 1981, Allen breathes needed fresh air into the game.
Read Full Review
86
Filter
A seeping, heaving summer album through and through.
Read Full Review
83
Pitchfork
In terms of a debut record-- and especially given the weight of expectation placed on her to deliver something special-- Alright, Still isn’t anything else but a fantastic success.
Read Full Review
81
cokemachineglow
She’s funky, confident and fun, and that’s just on the first song.
Read Full Review
80
musicOMH.com
Pop music needed saving and in Lily Allen we've found just the woman to do it.
Read Full Review
80
Uncut
This may just be [the] finest pop break-up album since [Justin] Timberlake's Justified. [Aug 2006, p.95]
80
Mojo
A blast from start to finish. [Aug 2006, p.102]
80
Prefix Magazine
The music deliberately sits somewhere between glossy and unobtrusive. It shimmers enough to mask Allen's tepid singing voice but remains far enough away to allow her largest asset -- her snappy personality -- to take charge.
Read Full Review
80
Under The Radar
Allen [is] one of the wittiest new voices in pop. [#16, p.89]
80
Spin
Alright's sparkly high-life beats... all gleam with upmarket panache. But strong medicine always requires a little sugar. [Feb 2007, p.82]
70
Hartford Courant
An incisive and funny introduction to the 21-year-old English singer.
Read Full Review
70
Rolling Stone
She never sounds like she's trying too hard.
Read Full Review
70
All Music Guide
Enough of Alright, Still works -- as pure pop and on the meta level Allen aims for -- to make the album a fun, summery fling, and maybe more.
Read Full Review
70
PopMatters
A simple, smart pop record by one of the most charismatic young talents to come along in a while.
Read Full Review
70
New Musical Express
If the pop dreams get slightly tarnished by the graffiti put-downs of 'Not Big' (her ex has a 'size problem') and 'Alfie' (her brother smokes too much dope) then that's not too worrying. With a personality this size, this isn't the last time you'll be hearing from her.
Read Full Review
70
Drowned In Sound
As much of a cliché as it is, you're either going to love Allen or hate her.
Read Full Review
60
BBC collective
Lyrically, Allen spins the street-slang tales of blowjobs and booze told with varying success by everyone from The Streets to Shampoo.
Read Full Review
60
Dot Music
For now, it's way more than a stop-gap but sadly not the second coming you might have been hoping for.
Read Full Review
60
Q Magazine
The overall effect is not dissimilar to Sugababes, only with added adult content. [Aug 2006, p.111]
40
Slant Magazine
The production on tracks like "Shame For You" and "Alfie" is fantastic, and there are plenty of catchy melodies and clever samples, but Allen is a poser who lacks charisma, bites off of everyone else, and is so sickeningly contemptuous of everyone but herself that it makes the pretty, melancholy piano-and-drum-loop ballad "Littlest Things" seem like a farce.
Read Full Review
25
Stylus Magazine
Alright Still is nothing more than pop for people who hate pop music, poptimist Quorn, phony music for people who can't let go of their inhibitions (indie-bitions?) and have to have their music classified as REAL.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 65 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Khalid B gave it an8:
put it like this, the cd has 2 crappy toons, and everything else is good, an amazing example of a good song is Everything is just wonderful, i wish that were the third single,instead of alfie, which i find great, but dosent feel like a single. Anyways Great cd lily

pete c gave it a10:
I thought this album was really good! Its way different to other pop albums and Lily uses really new and unique lyrics! She also deals with issues which teens can relate to! Such as having an annoying sibling (Alfie) or finding out people arent true friends (friend of mine)! This is a must have album in my opinion!

ash s gave it a0:
disgusting!

Lo La gave it a5:
Really enjoyed some of her tracks......but listening to the album straight through is a straight bore. She has this nonchalant monotone voice that gets on your nerves after 4 songs.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
once you've listened through a couple of times you'll begin to enjoy it. it's a great mix of different genre, while there are a number of standout tracks - littlest things, ldn, alfie and everything's just wonderful. it also has some downsides namely two tracks - friend of mine and shame for you. but what lily lacks in musical talent, she makes up in snazzy upfront songwriting and smooth vocals. nice work.

casey Ar! dubya gave it a10:
Not as good as her earlier work. Just kidding. I just wanted to use the most common phrase on this website. A thrilling mess of talent.

Ben K gave it a9:
Although there are weak spots on the album, it is generally a pretty solid effort. Lily's music both quirky and original. Her lyrics are very straight-forward and witty, with really blunt innuendo. I enjoy her music a lot...."Everything's Just Wonderful" and "Alfie" are just amazing.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this album in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use