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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

No Cities Left
by The Dears


8.9

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

They might sound Britpop (and at the very least, a bit like The Smiths), but this collective led by Murray Lightburn hails from Montreal, Canada. This is their second album and first U.S. release.

LABEL:	Spin Art
RELEASE DATE:	12 October 2004
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock

NOTES: Originally released in Canada in 2003.

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

There isn't a tune on No Cities Left, the Dears' gorgeous second album, that's not pitched at a minor state of emergency. [Jan 2005, p.99]

Tiny Mix Tapes

Sad music has never sounded so uplifting.

Playlouder

This is an album on which EVERYTHING ace you can think of in indie happens.

Mojo

A drizzly doomsday masterpiece. [Nov 2004, p.108]

Filter

An astoundingly complex, deeply evocative pop record. [#13, p.98]

Uncut

This is seriously literate stuff, and all the better for it. [Nov 2004, p.120]

New Musical Express

Sound[s] like Marvin Gaye fronting The Smiths while the London Philharmonic Orchestra has a stab at the Burt Bacharach songbook. [9 Oct 2004, p.55]

All Music Guide

At its best sounds like a suicidal combination of Blur and the Divine Comedy.

The Guardian

An album that shimmers in unexpected places, is never predictable, and should set the Dears up to be major contenders in 2005.

Stylus Magazine

There’s a bit too much flab on No Cities Left for it to be the truly great album it aspires to be.

PopMatters

No Cities Left is a very good album, just not quite the timeless classic some would lead you to believe.

Billboard

A curious amalgamation of styles that is ultimately quirky and compelling.

Drowned In Sound

[An] intense and epic album.

Q Magazine

Can be summed up succinctly: Damon Albarn sings The Smiths. [Nov 2004, p.130]

Pitchfork

The Dears, by and large, make tracks that would slide without much distinction onto any number of mid-90s albums, neither gumming up the works nor sounding particularly special.

cokemachineglow

It is true, this album does have songs and nearly all of them suffer the same fate: a few great ideas ruined by the need for everything to be so overblown and melodramatic.

Blender

Neither for the faint of heart, nor for those allergic to pretentiousness. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.103]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

There's a strange, almost perfectly equatorial divide between five largely stunning songs, and six that might shine brighter in lesser company. As arranged, it's jarringly half-brilliant and half-blah.

The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Denny C gave it an8:
Lost in the plot & we can have it God damn brilliants songs

Tom J gave it a10:
amazing

Hein gave it a10:
Briljant album full of passion.

Nick M gave it a10:
The Dears are amazing, i feel priveliged to have know about them so long ago, and im so happy that others feel the way i do about this album, it is a masterpiece, and no one could tell me different!

hugol r gave it a10:
dears rules!!

David B gave it a10:
A breath of fresh air, a must listen. Been waiting years for something like this.

marco c gave it a10:
brill

No Cities Left by The Dears

No Cities Left
by The Dears