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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Educated Guess
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 20 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Righteous Babe
Release Date: 20 January 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Summary
The singer-songwriter's latest is a solo release in every sense of the word, as DiFranco wrote, produced, played, and sang everything on the album (not to mention releasing it on her own record label).
Also By This Artist: Evolve Knuckle Down Red Letter Year Reprieve Revelling/Reckoning
Also On The Web: Righteous Babe Records
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...
Delusions of Adequacy
Educated Guess is an absolutely stunning creation, although it did take a few listens for me to begin to fully appreciate what I was hearing.
Read Full Review >Splendid
While Educated Guess may not be her best album to date (a near impossible-to-achieve expectation for an artist 21 albums in), it marks yet another transformation of her talents.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times
Here she returns to the stark, acoustic feel of earlier recordings, and the sense of isolation in such numbers as "Swim" is reinforced by her creative approach. [18 Jan 2004]
Spin
An album sanded with sad humor and a return to old loves. [Mar 2004, p.96]
Filter
She dives into a murkier, less-definable world that is part acoustic neo-soul, part spoken word and dreamier than you might imagine. [#9, p.102]
Billboard
Characterized by production rawness--for better (the immediacy of the performance) and worse (traces of off-key harmonies).
Read Full Review >Blender
These are among the most rivetingly unconventional vocal performances she's ever offered. [Mar 2004, p.116]
PopMatters
Educated Guess explores new musical territory that is challenging enough to engage even the most folk-averse listeners while it maintains a unity of tone which yields a highly listenable work.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Paradoxically, its spare, solo-voice-and-guitar format... comes closer to matching DiFranco's charismatic live performances than prior band-driven efforts. [Mar 2004, p.87]
The New York Times
It's worth putting up with a few overbearing moments to hear someone so willing to take chances.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
The album benefits from DiFranco's emphasis on spare shimmer, though it also perpetuates her recent tendency to let her songs languidly drift along, for better and for worse.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
A decent but not spectacular album that, not for the first time, finds DiFranco on her way to somewhere else.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
THe jazzy stylings are a mixed blessing... [but] her fans will not be disappointed. [Mar 2003, p.101]
The Guardian
The New York protest singer has returned to folky pontificating, in which her inherent decency is overshadowed by the dullness of the enterprise.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
On Educated Guess, which DiFranco wrote, produced, recorded and mixed entirely on her own, this awkward, improbable tendency goes unchecked, as does DiFranco's penchant for jarring arrangements.
Read Full Review >E! Online
It's just so staccato and nonlinear, a sort of free-jazz version of rock with just too much going on and little worth hearing.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Michelle C gave it a7:
Fascinating album. I heard "swim" and "educated guess" live first-- it was quite a shock to hear them so jarringly dissonant on the album after they soar so gorgeously on the live versions. However, this may more than anything point to Ani's versitality within her own art. The album definitely speaks to her talent and independence as a writer and a performer.
Tony W gave it a 9:
Loved it.
Benjamin Bunny gave it a 1:
Self-indulgent waste.
dorrie gave it a 10:
I believe this album is one of her greatest achievements. Along with having absolutely amazing lyrics, as usual, she is now using the music to portray the words in it's own way. In her previous albums, which were all incredible with great music, there was a level of superficiality to it. The music was there for her to sing along with. Over time, her albums have gotten better and gotten more sophisticated...this one is by far the most sophisticated yet.
Seth B gave it a 10:
"I focus on the quiet now/and occasionally fall asleep somehow.." That lyric from "Bodily" just about nails it. This is a quiet album. Dealing with the loss of her lover and having disbanded her band it figures why this would be quiet record. I liked it. I like honesty in singers and artists, it's what makes them artists. I can't believe these poor reveiws from some of you people. Artists create self-portriats in their music, it's impossible to capture an entitre "self" in one record or even two or three. Most take ten or twenty records and still are not complete. This record is Ani where she is now so sit back and listen and enjoy.
ani appreciator gave it a 10:
dig deeper, folks. we are lucky to be around at the same time at this album (and her others...). in the future, people will wistfully dream of living during ani's time, and you'll be napping...WAKE UP! this is a great album...
Ak Ak gave it a 9:
intimate and passionate..
