Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
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
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
62
50 Cent
70
AFI
65
Air
70
Alice In Chains
53
Kris Allen
78
Amerie
79
Annie
76
Anti-Pop Consortium
86
The Antlers
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound
77
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
59
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
71
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Beak>
72
Brendan Benson
84
Biffy Clyro
72
The Big Pink
95
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
72
The Black Heart Procession
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
53
Bon Jovi
76
A.A. Bondy
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
83
Brother Ali
72
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
77
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
78
Califone
69
Mariah Carey
81
Brandi Carlile
72
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
71
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
82
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
64
Exene Cervenka
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System
67
The Clean
84
The Clientele
72
Cold Cave
85
Converge
71
Eric Copeland
76
The Cribs
79
Cymbals Eat Guitars
62
Dashboard Confessional
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
77
Del The Funky Homosapien & Tame One
88
Destroyer
73
Do Make Say Think
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
67
Bob Dylan
58
Echo & The Bunnymen
61
Electric Six
44
The Entrance Band
69
Fanfarlo
71
Jay Farrar And Benjamin Gibbard
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
66
Orenda Fink
79
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
65
Calvin Harris
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
67
Hockey
67
Whitney Houston
80
Hudson Mohawke
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
68
Daniel Johnston
76
Norah Jones
77
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
75
Kid Sister
66
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
63
Mark Knopfler
73
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
85
Miranda Lambert
72
Ledisi
71
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
62
Leona Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
74
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
83
Patty Loveless
73
Lyle Lovett
79
Lucero
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
61
Maps
73
Mario
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
62
John Mayer
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
75
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
75
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
66
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie
76
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
82
Nirvana
96
Nirvana
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
64
OneRepublic
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
78
Osso
67
Alec Ounsworth
81
Owen
73
Paramore
78
Pastels And Tenniscoats
54
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
69
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
72
Port O'Brien
79
Q-Tip
79
R.E.M.
88
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
74
The Raveonettes
79
Real Estate
76
Jay Reatard
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
66
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
78
Russian Circles
69
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
78
Say Anything
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
75
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
68
Joss Stone
83
Barbra Streisand
77
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
79
The Swell Season
80
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
80
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
78
The Dutchess & The Duke
71
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
74
Them Crooked Vultures
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
67
Third Eye Blind
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
73
Frank Turner
71
The Twilight Sad
60
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
69
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
70
Kurt Vile
65
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
73
Rufus Wainwright
78
Wale
57
Weezer
81
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
69
Robbie Williams
59
Andrew W.K.
65
Wolfmother
84
The xx
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
52
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Electric Circus
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: MCA
Release Date: 10 December 2002
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rap
Summary
On his fifth album, the underground rapper ventures more into the rock, soul, and jazz territory of his influences, with production help from the Soulaquarians. An eclectic array of guests includes Prince, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Bilal, Mary J. Blige, and Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier.
Also By This Artist: Be Finding Forever Universal Mind Control
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...
Ink Blot Magazine
The Electric Circus turns out to be a place that exists in Hip-hopolis and Rawk City and Bacharachville and DixieLand and Heaven, all at the same time. Holy crap, people, Com did it: he broke on through to the other side.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Although he can be self-righteous, scattered, and grim, a team of truly youthful-minded producers is there to color the gray.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
While Talib's Quality and The Roots' Phrenology break new ground for both acts, Electric Circus is clearly the most adventurous of the trio of releases.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
While those seeking a quick fix of cheap thrills hip hop will be disappointed, anyone who likes their music lush, multi-layered and lyrical should pick this up without delay.
Read Full Review >Mojo
A record of startling breadth. [Feb 2003, p.96]
Q Magazine
It works... stretching rap into weird new shapes. [Feb 2003, p.97]
Alternative Press
Even the psychedelic overreach shows a most uncommon artist at work. [Feb 2003, p.64]
Playlouder
This is a brilliant, visionary album and needs rewarding with units - MTV won't have the scoobiest what to do, radio programmers will freak, and hip-hop will, once again, move forward.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Electric Circus does suffer from that which ails many contemporary hip-hop albums -- too many guests and a generally lengthy program drag this one down a tad. Nonetheless, Electric Circus is a brave and ruthless statement wrapped in sincerity.
Read Full Review >Uncut
To be filed alongside the Root's recent Phrenology. [Mar 2003, p.95]
Mixer
A hip-hop record brimming with soul and artistry. [Jan 2003, p.74]
Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
Outfitted in this music, however, Common's pretensions stand up and do jumping jacks.
Read Full Review >Launch.com
If Prince had ever successfully come to grips with hip hop, this is what the result might have sounded like.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Electric Circus is a wild, vibrant trip billowing with purple-haze guitars, ethereal choruses and warped scratching.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Like The Roots' new Phrenology, Electric Circus possesses many of the weaknesses associated with ambition: a bloated running time, the faint aroma of pretension, an obligatory spoken-word piece, and songs that outlast their welcome.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
So, is this genius or is this madness? As enjoyable as it is on occasion, I’m inclined to side with the latter.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Com comes off as alternately uncomfortable and downright lazy, half-speaking-- or worse, singing-- new-age revelations to the masses.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Beautifully engineered, Circus sounds chocolaty and recombinant even when it doth protest the Enlightened Guy angle too much.
Read Full Review >Spin
The storytelling here isn't as sharp as on Common's previous albums. [Feb 2003, p.100]
Neumu.net
One problem: Common is an MC, not a musician. Which makes it difficult for him to achieve his lofty goals. Mostly he fails.
Read Full Review >Blender
Its attempts at a more ethereal sound crash up against Common's cumbersome intellectualizing. [#13, p.91]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Scotty S gave it a10:
Dude this album is hot to me better than BE. So what if he has too many guests Common is trying to shar eto us other artist that are great and we never heard of like Laetita Sadier of Stereolab, Bilal,Dart Chillz, and Omar
Tyler H gave it an8:
Genius, Jimmy P. knows what hes talking about. Star 69, come close, between me you and liberation. Common is a lyrical genius and this album is a classic. Im woundering how ne one thought it was better than "Be" i mean "Be" was good but just not up to commons standards.
Jimmy P gave it a10:
This album is unbelievable. I enjoyed this album so much. This cd is ambitious, and it's great that Common took a chance. To me Star 69 and Come close are the standouts
Akinyele O gave it a 9:
I thought that as ambitious as this CD was, it fulfilled its purpose. It explored new phases of Hip-Hop Music by utilizing experience and other types of music. This is very different from Common's other albums, but its still a memorable one. This album's shift from Common's previous works make it even more interesting, but a warning, only for those with an open mind.
[Anonymous] gave it an 8:
hip-hop meets psychedellic rock. not my cup of tea.
