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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Blacklisted
Universal acclaim
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 19 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Bloodshot
Release Date: 20 August 2002
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
Alt-country singer-songwriter Neko Case returns with her third solo album, after last appearing on the New Pornographers' acclaimed 'Mass Romantic" album. Here, the moody, cinematic music is provided by members of Calexico and Giant Sand.
Also By This Artist: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood Middle Cyclone The Tigers Have Spoken
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...
Stylus Magazine
While there is lots of good, even great music out there, not much of it even begins to touch Neko’s passion.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
In this trans-American setting, Case emerges as a roots powerhouse. [13 Sep 2002, p.156]
Dusted Magazine
Blacklisted rings with lost voices and strange journeys, and does a better job of balancing hope, innocence, and darkness than just about anything I’ve heard in a while.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Her albums have matured exponentially with every release, and with Blacklisted, an album that will get your blood pumping and give you goosebumps at the same time, Neko Case emerges as a true original.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Neko Case has crafted an album whose quiet drift only adds to its power; it's hard to say if hanging out with Nick Cave on tour had much of an influence on her, but this disc sounds a bit like Case's version of The Boatman's Call, a personal exploration of the heart and soul that proves sad and beautiful can often walk hand in hand.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Blacklisted is soaked to the bone in rueful wit, luxurious miserablism, and morbid cold sweat—c&w virtues too often reduced to self-pity by lesser latter-day sweethearts of the rodeo.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
A rare record from an extraordinary artist, and one of the year's best.
Read Full Review >Splendid
If you take your pleasure from the sheer palpability of the music -- the way it walks icy fingers up and down your spine, and paints pictures in the air, so real you could step into them -- Blacklisted will enjoy a long, happy stay in your CD player.
Read Full Review >Uncut
A candidate for country album of the year. [Nov 2002, p.130]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
The songs are spectral, yearning, and a bit opaque, the kind of music appropriate for a bar in which everyone has had a few and feels no better for it.
Read Full Review >Mojo
She's one of a handful of people who could sing the telephone directory. [Dec 2002, p.115]
Spin
She treats Americana like a wellspring of weirdness, not a retro refuge. [Sep 2002, p.134]
Neumu.net
Blacklisted proves that Case's musicianship has evolved alongside her songwriting skills.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Blacklisted's accompaniment is roundly excellent and evocative, but Case's voice is what really sells the record.
Read Full Review >Nude As The News
Blacklisted is certainly a high-water mark for Case; a statement, if you will.
Read Full Review >Billboard
While much of "Blacklisted" is hyper-stylized, suited for playing against the backdrop of psychedelic sunsets that only exist in novels and movies, the album's heart remains Case's voice, as real and strong as they come.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Case continues to refine her mix of alternative-country music and film-noir sensibility on Blacklisted.
Read Full Review >Blender
Case's own melodies aren't nearly as indelible as the country classics she's emulating. [#10, p.115]
Q Magazine
There are exquisite moments here, mostly the simpler ones, but not as many as there should be. [Dec 2002, p.100]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Kellan gave it a10:
Neko Case is out of control. This is the third album I've bought, and I just keep getting drawn further and further in by that voice and those creepy, creepy lyrics. I think I'm working backwards chronologically, which is fine by me, as long as there's still more by her out there to get my hands on.
What gave it a10:
Neko Case possesses the best voice in music today. So powerful and emotional, yet she can be restrained and wistful and still move me. I get chills down my spine everytime I hear her boom "deep red bells" from the song of the same name, and tears in my eyes during the soft ballad "I Wish I Was the Moon." I'm not normally a country fan, but this is what real country should sound like. Not Shania Twain, Garth Brooks, or Big & Rich (puke), but Johnny Cash. Loretta Lynn. Patsy Cline. Old school. If you're looking for what Nashville craps out onto the airwaves nowadays, you won't find it here. Just a helluva singer singing her heart out.
Kate B gave it a 10:
I'm With Jenz F - screw Pam W, I have fallen in love with Neko Case. At first I only liked track 11 on Blacklisted, but now I love the whole album. It goes down as one of my all time favorite albums. #5, #1 and #11 are classics.
Andrew D gave it a 10:
I heard track #7 late at night on NPR while on a 1100 mile trip back home, somewhere on route 85 in North Carolina. It was better than 20 cups of black coffee, and the rest of the CD is right there with it. A fullblown winner. Haunting.
Jenz F gave it an 8:
Good record, moody and consistent. Case's lyrics and vocal style please me. To Pat W., Maybe Nashville won't bite and thank God for that, it sounds like you bite Nashville's ass anyway.
Stephen B gave it a 10:
How could something of such beautiful, lyrical and even nostalgic yearning also seem so pee-in-your pants scary and defiant? This album has left echoes banging around in my head for days now. Holy moses, I think I'm in love with this woman!
pat w gave it a 1:
Oh dear, can't anybody get past her once good looks to actually admit this is boring, derivative and terribly sugar coated. Tell me, if you market yourself as "so authenticly country-Cline" why do you go out of your way to sound so brown-nosedly radio friendly... Nashville ain't gonna bite, not because you are oh so tragically authentic, but because you did your putting out in the old indie-punk rock biz when you were still a cute and fresh drummer.
