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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
The Grey Album
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 37 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: [self released]
Release Date: 03 February 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rap, Rock, DJ Mix
Summary
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.
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: DangerDoom: The Mouse And The Mask Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere Jay-Z: The Black Album
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
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...
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]
Entertainment Weekly
A startlingly, shockingly wonderful piece of pop art. [19 Mar 2004, p.64]
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 37 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
G Money gave it a10:
This album is an almost surreal fusion of great music. The Beatles samples don't overpower Jay-Z, they instead give him a rousing echo that can't be found anywhere else, but the halls of Danger Mouse's studio.
Anon Y. gave it a0:
I had the misfortune of hearing this album the other day. Abysmally mixed, far too bass heavy and with scant attention paid to tuning or tonality, this has to be one of the least pleasant things I've heard.
Greg M. gave it a10:
Either love it or leave it alone.
jacked up gave it a9:
Honestly, i've listened to many a mashups, but this is literally close to brilliant. It may just be the drugs im on, but i am speaking from a pure place. It found new angles in jay-z songs, and placed the most beautiful parts of beatles songs (usually guitar riffs) into a song....the mixing is fucking brilliant...i regretted not listening to this 3 years ago wen i hear dabout it...togehter these songs have so much meaning, you see things in them that u never found to be particularly beautiful and signifcant...go buy it, do w/e, get it...i recommned dec 4th (a song i never really liked in the first place, but love now), justify my thug, and dirt off your shoulder....oh and get the constants are changing by boards of canada..greatest song.
Dan ManManManMan gave it an8:
Great, though not quite on the level of The Black Album and The White Album on their own.
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.
