GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Music

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
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
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

 

Upcoming & Recent Releases

sort by name sort by score

64 A Camp
78 Akron/Family
73 Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women
74 Amazing Baby
62 Tori Amos
54 The Answer
74 Anti-Flag
74 Art Brut
71 Au Revoir Simone
65 Zee Avi
70 Bachelorette
77 Bat For Lashes
68 Big Business
76 Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
67 Black Dice
57 Black Eyed Peas
74 Black Moth Super Rainbow
71 Blank Dogs
65 Booker T.
54 The Boxmasters
65 The Boy Least Likely To
74 Brakes [aka brakesbrakesbrakes]
68 British Sea Power
66 Jeff Buckley
75 Busdriver
59 Busta Rhymes
64 Cage The Elephant
82 Bill Callahan
80 Camera Obscura
68 Cam'ron
79 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
58 Chester French
82 The Church
61 Ciara
72 Clues
69 The Coathangers
74 Jarvis Cocker
90 Leonard Cohen
70 Elvis Costello
66 Graham Coxon
76 Crippled Black Phoenix
71 The Crocodiles
69 Cryptacize
71 Crystal Antlers
56 The Crystal Method
69 Dananananaykroyd
76 Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse
71 De La Soul
77 Death Cab For Cutie
68 Deer Tick
81 Deerhunter
70 Depeche Mode
78 Dinosaur Jr.
85 Dirty Projectors
86 DJ Quik & Kurupt
77 Doves
68 Dredg
76 Bob Dylan
82 Steve Earle
70 Eels
62 El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez
58 Eminem
60 Empire Of The Sun
54 The Enemy
67 Jeremy Enigk
68 Nathan Fake
85 The Felice Brothers
79 The Field
65 Fink
60 Fischerspooner
77 Flatlanders
62 Flo Rida
64 Franz Ferdinand
77 Gallows
72 Melody Gardot
59 Ginuwine
71 Golden Silvers
61 Gomez
69 Grand Duchy
73 Great Lake Swimmers
59 Great Northern
72 Green Day
86 Grizzly Bear
75 The Handsome Family
69 Ben Harper And Relentless7
75 PJ Harvey & John Parish
66 Heaven & Hell
85 Levon Helm
74 The Hold Steady
79 Patterson Hood
75 Jon Hopkins
82 The Horrors
69 Hanne Hukkelberg
74 Ida Maria
65 Immaculate Machine
75 The Intelligence
76 Iron & Wine
79 Isis
68 It Hugs Back
88 J Dilla aka Jay Dee
61 Jadakiss
86 Japandroids
61 Joan Of Arc
84 Joe Lovano Us Five
72 John Doe & The Sadies
70 Joker's Daughter
62 Jonas Brothers
53 Mike Jones
71 The Juan Maclean
76 Junior Boys
68 Kasabian
74 Diana Krall
56 Lady Sovereign
43 Ben Lee
68 The Lemonheads
76 Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
77 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
65 Little Boots
79 The Low Anthem
67 Jason Lytle
75 The Maccabees
76 Magik Markers
80 Major Lazer
70 Malajube
71 Manchester Orchestra
85 Manic Street Preachers
57 Marilyn Manson
66 The Mars Volta
68 Dave Matthews Band
62 Maximo Park
70 Meat Puppets
80 Method Man & Redman
77 Metric
75 Micachu & The Shapes
69 Chrisette Michele
76 Miike Snow
67 Mika Miko
75 Rhett Miller
49 Mims
72 Mr. Lif
72 Moby
78 Moderat
70 Mandy Moore
80 Mos Def
70 Bob Mould
74 Nadja
72 New York Dolls
72 Nite Jewel
67 NOFX
76 Noisettes
60 Paolo Nutini
67 Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band
74 Papercuts
76 Passion Pit
74 Peaches
71 Pet Shop Boys
68 Peter Bjorn And John
82 Phoenix
76 Pink Mountaintops
63 Placebo
66 Pomegranates
64 Iggy Pop
67 Prefuse 73
81 Ramblin' Jack Elliott
76 Rancid
54 Rascal Flatts
68 Lionel Richie
77 Alasdair Roberts
73 Rick Ross
55 Asher Roth
72 Savath & Savalas
61 Polly Scattergood
65 The Shortwave Set
60 Shout Out Out Out Out
66 Silversun Pickups
85 Todd Snider
78 Sonic Youth
72 The Soundcarriers
61 The Sounds
74 Regina Spektor
63 Spinal Tap
65 Spinnerette
81 St. Vincent
59 Still Flyin'
58 Street Sweeper Social Club
87 Sunn O)))
82 Sunset Rubdown
84 Super Furry Animals
74 Richard Swift
78 Taking Back Sunday
85 Tanya Morgan
81 Otis Taylor
71 Telekinesis
70 Telepathe
80 Thee Oh Sees
79 The Thermals
74 Rob Thomas
64 Thunderheist
74 Tiga
57 Tinted Windows
72 Tortoise
82 Allen Toussaint
71 Trembling Bells
69 Two Fingers
84 UGK
68 Keith Urban
71 John Vanderslice
85 The Vaselines
74 The Veils
73 Viva Voce
63 Patrick Watson
79 White Denim
77 White Rabbits
57 The Whitest Boy Alive
74 Wilco
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
78 Wolves In The Throne Room
65 The Wooden Birds
67 Wooden Shjips
81 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
70 Pete Yorn
93 Neil Young
60 Neil Young
72 Yusuf

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

The First Lady
by Faith Evans

Faith Evans reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 72 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.0 out of 10
based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 6 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The singer's first album in four years features contributions from the Neptunes, Jermaine Dupri and Mario Winans.

LABEL: Capitol
RELEASE DATE: 05 April 2005
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): R&B

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...

90
All Music Guide
The First Lady is terrifically balanced in its distribution of club tracks, midtempo grooves, and slow jams.
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly
Though blemished by a few toothless slow jams... the album's mature whimsy reflects a healthier, happier Faith Evans. [8 Apr 2005, p.63]
80
Billboard
By turns playful, sexy, soulful, funky and passionate, Evans showcases the full range of her talents on her most consistent effort yet.
Read Full Review
80
Village Voice
Her tightest set yet.
Read Full Review
80
Paste Magazine
Lyrically, The First Lady offers plenty of revelations.
Read Full Review
80
Mojo
She's right back on track with this terrific debut for Capitol. [Jun 2005, p.110]
70
New Musical Express
[Evans is] a sharp songwriter with an acute ear for melody and a voice that could bitch-slap any R&B wannabe into place. [21 May 2005, p.66]
70
Vibe
There's no doubt that Evans can still finesse the notes. But instead of continually pushing her sound into the future, she often backtracks, covering much of the same ground as her previous offerings. [Jun 2005, p.156]
70
Dot Music
The quality is unmistakable and confirmation enough that she deserves to be remembered as more than just Biggie’s widow.
Read Full Review
70
Blender
Intermittently great. [May 2005, p.117]
70
Rolling Stone
Remarkable for its warm reliability.
Read Full Review
70
PopMatters
By the time you've absorbed her past, her new label, her cover, her album title, and then the mostly fresh music behind it all, you should be largely won over by Faith Evans's genuine talent.
Read Full Review
70
The Guardian
Evans restores soul music's long-overlooked tradition of autobiographical storytelling, dissecting her life before and after the spotlight began to burn.
Read Full Review
60
Uncut
She proves... that she's more than a professional widow. [Jul 2005, p.104]
50
E! Online
The First Lady should be the last album on anyone's shopping list.
Read Full Review
40
Q Magazine
Chic but charmless. [Jun 2005, p.111]
30
musicOMH.com
There's little in the way of fire or grit here.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Elton W gave it a9:
This album was very refreshing considering the current state of R & B. It's nice to see Faith keep soul the heart of music. She took risks with this album and it is very rewarding. Key songs are I Don't Need It, Mesmerized, Again, Until You Came, Stop N Go, and Tru Love.

Sam Sexy gave it a10:
Dis iz da best it iz so worf it. I r8 it 5 star It iz wiked at da mo. itz worf byin

Omar B gave it an8:
This album is great. The first track is not that good but I will listen to it. The rest of the album flows nicely except for Jealous and Lucky Day. They are well written but the beat is not up to par with the rest of the album.

Dallas C gave it a9:
A great contemporary soul album that is tight in it's production. Faith sounds great as always and except for two rap-infused songs, the irritating first song, Going Out which at least will make you move and the much better Hope from the Coach Carter soundtrack, she is front and center and invokes a lot of First Ladies of Soul of the past while still remaining herself.

Discuss this album in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use