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

Keep It Like A Secret
by Built To Spill

Built To Spill reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 79 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.6 out of 10
based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

This second major-label release from Doug Martsch and company (following 'Perfect From Now On') features shorter, cleaner-sounding songs than that previous release.

LABEL: Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE: 23 February 1999
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Indie, Rock

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
E! Online
Beautiful pop symphonies that hit like a Louisville Slugger.
Read Full Review
100
Austin Chronicle
The last album's title ['Perfect From Now On'] was a promise; this one makes good on it.
Read Full Review
93
Pitchfork
Recalls last year's fine Halo Benders release, The Rebels Not In, the album Martsch recorded with Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson and former Spinanes and current Built to Spill drummer Scott Plouf. And that's not a bad thing at all.
Read Full Review
90
All Music Guide
In a sense, this is Built to Spill's pop album: every song is direct and clean, without the long, cerebral jamming that characterized their earlier albums.
Read Full Review
90
Ink Blot Magazine
Perhaps the secret they're trying to keep here is that Built To Spill quite frankly write some of the most original, interesting and catchy pop songs you'll ever hear.
Read Full Review
90
MTV.com
Somehow these fragments instantly assemble themselves into a gorgeous whole, and there's not a piece you could imagine replacing.
Read Full Review
85
Nude As The News
Regardless of how much noodling, compromising or second guessing this trio does, Martsch and crew remain the best band America is not listening to.
Read Full Review
80
CDNow
Built to Spill's combo of wry phrasing and explosive sound is more honed on this album than ever before.
Read Full Review
80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
With its layers of guitars and sharp lyrics, Keep It Like A Secret is a smart, challenging installment in a career that's been as varied as it is prolific.
Read Full Review
80
Almost Cool
It's sort of a cross between the epic masterpieces of Perfect From Now On and the shorter, more pop songs of There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Basically, it's another winner from the group.
Read Full Review
75
Entertainment Weekly
Built to Spill make music with a weird naive excitement that recalls R.E.M. at their fresh-out-of-Athens finest.
Read Full Review
70
New Musical Express
The album you always want Sebadoh to make: unrestrained, kinda sensitive, speckled with paranoia and insecurities and, best of all, in love with the very idea of making music for the sheer thrill of it.
Read Full Review
70
Rolling Stone
Keep It Like a Secret is tightly wound clang, effectively understated in spots.
Read Full Review
70
Puncture
Sounds exactly like its predecessor, except the songs are shorter and less interesting. [March 1999]
60
Launch.com
Built To Spill have made a concise, pop-smart record.
Read Full Review
50
Trouser Press
It's pure BTS, but without enough sparkle or rough-hewn beauty to be memorable.
Read Full Review
40
Q Magazine
Built To Spill sound as if they're trying too hard, and ultimately both The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev do this sort of thing with far more panache.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dave gave it a10:
Truly an outstanding, fully realized, elegant recording. Perhaps the best ever "indie-pop-rock" album. The lower meta score is a bit perplexing. I notice that White Stripes' Elephant and TV's Return to Cookie Mountain have very high scores; I have and enjoy both of those records and do not really understand why this BTS record was not as widely acclaimed. Perhaps critics prefer the edgy punk-metal sound of Elephant or the unusual new sound of Cookie Mountain. Keep It Like A Secret is no less creative, complex, brilliant and moving than those two records, or anything else out there for that matter. Highly recommended!

jim h gave it a10:
The low rating of this album is proof of how jaded and cynical critics can be. This is one of the most quintessential rock albums of the 90's.

Tom B gave it a10:
My favorite album of all time. I've listened to atleast a track off this album about once a week for the past 4 years. It's good to pop into your car stereo or put on headphones and pick apart song layers--like eating a layer cake: sometimes you want to eat some frosting, sometimes you want to eat some strawberry filling, and sometimes you just want to eat hunks of forkfulls of it all. Each layer of each song goes down so smoothly and is so dumbfoundingly incredible. It's so beautiful , thought- provoking, timeless, earnest, genius... It's basically the album I use to tell if people have an ear for good music or not. Ranks up with the great artworks of this millenium. Perfect.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
best cd and yet it didn't receive a high rating. o well i dont want them to go mainstream and sell out so its ok that ppl dont like them.

Bob Dole gave it a10:
why the heck isn't the rating for this album higher? amazing.

ya right gave it a10:
one of the best records of the 90s in my opinion. sounds alot like their first great record theres nothing wrong with love. simply amazing!!

Rich C gave it a 10:
It didn't take long for me to grow to love this album as one of my favorites. One of the most rewarding albums I have ever listened to.

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