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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

The Grey Album
by Danger Mouse


7.9

based on 16 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 33 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

MUSIC:

Official Artist Site

DJ Danger Mouse's bootleg hit, which mixes together vocals from Jay-Z's 'The Black Album' and music from The Beatles' 'The White Album,' has brought legal action from Beatles record label EMI, preventing record stores from selling the album.

LABEL:	[self released]
RELEASE DATE:	03 February 2004
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Rap, Rock, DJ Mix

NOTES: Release date is approximate. Due to legal action, the record is unavailable for purchase at retailers (including eBay); however, it is known to be widely available through file-sharing networks.

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

Spin

While the novelty factor alone makes it worth the download time, it works as a cohesive album long after the initial shock wears off. [Apr 2004, p.91]

100

Entertainment Weekly

A startlingly, shockingly wonderful piece of pop art. [19 Mar 2004, p.64]

100

New Musical Express

For what it is, for what it does, for what it represents and for exposing the idiocy of people who only care about 'what it earns us', then, a truly, TRULY great pop record.

The Wire

One of the year's best releases, remix or not. [#241, p.71]

Delusions of Adequacy

The diversity of the mixes on The Grey Album also is a testament to how carefully Danger Mouse has cut and pasted together his unauthorized sonic pastiche.

Tiny Mix Tapes

Dangermouse's actions have breathed creative life back into a 35-year-old record while inventing a completely new work of hip-hop art.

Q Magazine

[Makes] two known quantities thrillingly new. [May 2004, p.101]

Neumu.net

Each of the 12 tracks on the Grey Album is finely tuned -- the precision cut-and-paste sampling DM exhibits is often mind-blowing.

Pitchfork

While The Grey Album is truly one of the more interesting pirate mashups ever done, it ultimately fails at the hands of perfectionism with several pieces sounding rushed to beat some other knucklehead to his clever idea.

Junkmedia

The concept does start to wear thin towards the end of the CD, and the recontextualized product is inherently one sided: it's the Beatles' soundtrack that is made to dance around Jay-Z's unedited verses.

Urb

This'll retain its heat only until everyone's heard it. [Apr 2004, p.88]

Dusted Magazine

There are certainly more fun moments than not, at the very least rendering The Grey Album enjoyable, but it’s hard to argue for any reason other than its novelty.

Stylus Magazine

The Grey Album isn’t much more than a well-executed novelty, nor does it illuminate some genius hidden deep within The Black Album.

ShakingThrough.net

The Beatles don't meet Jay-Z as equals; they're sliced and diced, the innate musicality of their work all but compromised into nothingness, into vaguely familiar square pegs crammed into the comparatively round holes of Jay-Z's original vocals.

Village Voice

Of course it's a gimmick, but about half of it works anyway.

Dot Music

He can't seem to decide whether he wants to make a straightforward hip-hop remix of Jay-Z's tunes, quirky sampladelia like DJ Steinski or Coldcut, or an avant-garde project in the vein of plunderphonic composers John Oswald and Negativland. A lot of the time, he falls awkwardly between the three camps.

The average user rating for this album is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Colm M gave it a9:
this album is teh bling!

Chris W gave it a10:
Absolutely a work of art. This album is great from beginning to end. Mixing 2 legends of their own genres into one unforgetable album. It is a crime that it was not distributed nationally. EMI should have realized the art that was made instead of stopping it.

Kirolos I gave it a10:
Its brilliant. Period.

Dmitriy gave it a1:
I love Gnarls Barkley, but I don't know what the hell Danger Mouse was thinking here. He took the greatest album of all time and mixed it with Jay Z's garbage. It's not an original concept and it doesn't work.

mohan k gave it a10:
fantastic. original. most tracks are better than the original jay z versions.

DJ Urban Cool gave it a0:
An abomination, a total bastardisation of a work of art by a talentless idiot, sounds like a 5 year old's mixed it in his bedroom, beyond boring, beyond appalling.

Zach S gave it a9:
Incredible! Loved it from the beginning to the end. The only song I was partial to was Allure (track nine). 99 Problems is great and Dirt Off Your Shoulder is fantastic. If you don't have it I strongly reccomend searching your favorite (legal :p) P2P network.

The Grey Album by Danger Mouse

The Grey Album
by Danger Mouse