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Whole New You
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Columbia
Release Date: 27 March 2001
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Pop, Folk
Summary
Shawn Colvin's first album of new material in five years contains 11 tracks, including a collaboration with Edie Brickell ("Roger Wilco").
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...
Mojo
As a singer, the South Dakota-born, Ontario and Illinois-raised Colvin occupies a niche between pensive Sheryl Crow and pre-jazz Joni Mitchell: no histrionics but a telling, often moving restraint.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Now that she's on the mommy track, Colvin writes about the impossibility of leaving, much less returning, with a torch. [3/30/2001, p.68]
Q Magazine
While this falls short of the momentous A Few Small Repairs, it's still something to treasure.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Whole New You peters out in its midsection, falling back on a succession of pleasant but unremarkable songs, but its opening third takes the shape of one career highlight after another. Marred only by the occasional well-worn vocal inflection--and the occasional "we try and try / we cry, baby, cry" couplet--those songs are strong enough to bring the album as a whole up to their distinguished level.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Whole New You may not contain a song that will spark sales and awards the way "Sunny Came Home" did, but anyone who, like the artist herself, has come to the safe harbor of family life (even with its many challenges) after a long, uncertain voyage through personal relationships and life experiences will appreciate Colvin's ruminations on the subject.
Read Full Review >Billboard
Whole New You easily rises above the din of the sound-alike pop and rock recordings currently crowding the marketplace, offering a plethora of complex yet sweet melodies and lyrics that are both smart and rife with empathetic emotion.
Read Full Review >CDNow
Musically a pretty blend of folksy guitar and lightly new-wave synth, these tunes seethe in a nice-girl way, simmering slightly, but never quite boiling over.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
I don't think this collection has quite the edge of Repairs, yet there are enough sepia portraits of romantic angst, enough evocations of exposed sensitivity, sufficient signs that this mistress of the melancholy will once again win the hearts of earlier subscribers to her work.
Read Full Review >Wall of Sound
It comes off softer than its predecessor, and not nearly as affecting.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
The contrast between Colvin's manner-free singing and the pristine arrangements by her co-songwriter and producer, John Leventhal, creates an interesting dance of the offhand and the strategic.
Read Full Review >Sonicnet
Colvin has a small but honeyed voice, never too sad or too happy, and multi-instrumentalist [producer John] Leventhal has encased it in caressing arrangements, complete with the occasional string quartet. The ensuing pleasures are generally low-key, and while one can appreciate the attentive craftsmanship applied to each song, the cumulative mood is a little snoozy.
Read Full Review >Spin Cycle
The music is rarely up to the task set by the lyrics. Truly successful union of melody and words occurs only twice—on the sparsely arranged stream of consciousness titled "Bonefields" and on the album's most original piece, "Another Plane Went Down," which teeters beautifully on the edge of dream and reality.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Macky E gave it a10:
She is one of the best artists in America, this is a really great album , Its a pity she does not recieve more aclaim.
[Anonymous] gave it a 6:
A bit disappointing. Was really looking forward to playing this album over and over as I did with A Few Small Repairs, but, alas, I am afraid I have not and will not likely do so. Colvin has lost that brilliant but subtle sophistication that came with Repairs.
Krissi gave it a 9:
Gorgeous, often insightful and finally, moving. Dave Matthews does the backing vocals for almost an angel. :o)
[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
Fantastic effort realized beautifully. May not grab you by the balls on the first listen-through, but soon thereafter, anyone with a heart or a mind will be reeling...she is genius!
Matt M gave it a 7:
Though not as monumentally moving as "A Few Small Repairs," "Whole New You" is full of deeply personal love songs, and Colvin and collaborator John Leventhal really know how to craft a fine song. A few dull songs slow down this otherwise brisk and listenable album.
Sue B. gave it an 8:
The long-awaited collection of new songs from one of the country's best singer-songwriters is a welcome digression from teen-pop and broken beats, a walk in the forest on a hot summer day. Motherhood has taken some of the sharpness off Colvin's edgy view of the world, but the lyrics still cut through the simple-but-fitting musical arrangements. This album has been living in my CD rack for weeks -- it hasn't gotten tired yet.
