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The Cost
by The Frames

The Frames reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 66 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.8 out of 10
based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The Dublin, Ireland band returns with a follow-up to 2005's 'Burn The Maps.'

LABEL: Anti
RELEASE DATE: 20 February 2007
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Indie, Rock

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
This stuff is pure musical and lyrical inspiration.
Read Full Review
83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
The Frames' latest album, The Cost, contains only a handful of tracks like "Sad Songs," where the guitar springs along and the tempo stays steady... More typical is the title track, a noir-ish doom ballad in the Richard Thompson vein, designed to leave listeners stunned and morose.
Read Full Review
82
Lost At Sea
The Cost is an emotional trip worth taking, one that seems to move further inward in its focus and insight with each track.
Read Full Review
80
Boston Globe
The album is sophisticated and layered with deft orchestration. And yet, the band's songwriting and delivery display an earnestness and lack of pretension that's pure rock.
Read Full Review
80
NOW Magazine
Singer Glen Hansard moves from quiet introspection to earnest Jeremy Enigk-like wailing and back again, all the while reminding you just how rewarding a listen The Cost is.
Read Full Review
80
Slant Magazine
Epic in both sound and content, The Cost is both The Frames' most accomplished album and deeper and more rewarding than U2's recent work.
Read Full Review
80
Uncut
There's a nervy, frayed soulfulness to these songs. [Feb 2007, p.76]
78
Filter
Ambitious, beautiful and sorrowful--it's everything a fan of the gloriously sad stuff could hope for on a rainy day. [#24, p.97]
75
The Phoenix
The Cost... captures them at their best.
Read Full Review
70
Blender
Coldplay barely scratch these levels of exultation and agony. [Apr 2007, p.111]
70
PopMatters
However textured the musical journey The Cost offers, however, the album tends to lapse too excruciatingly into the darkness from which Hansard’s creativity seems to come.
Read Full Review
70
Hartford Courant
"The Cost"... comprises 10 tracks that range from hopeful (but triumphant!) to sorrowful (but triumphant!) to morose (but triumphant!).
Read Full Review
70
Under The Radar
Recording The Cost live has injected some feeling and adrenaline into an otherwise soft and ethereal album that somehow sizzles with underlying zeal and commitment. [#16, p.91]
70
Paste Magazine
While The Cost has as many majestic peaks as the Himalayas, the cumulative effect is exhaustingly monolithic. [Mar 2007, p.67]
70
Delusions of Adequacy
The Cost is hardly a poor album - in fact it's a quite good album - but after the release of so many gems, I find it difficult for it to completely measure up to the stiff competition.
Read Full Review
70
The New York Times
The music stays diverse and dynamic. [26 Feb 2007]
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70
Q Magazine
[It] is the stirring, rounded collection leader Glen Hansard has hinted at since they formed in 1990. [Feb 2007, p.99]
63
Los Angeles Times
The tempos are more uniform, and the huge arcs of all those ballads, hoisted high by fiddle, abstract guitar fragments and Glen Hansard's scratchy tenor, feel surprisingly safe.
Read Full Review
60
Alternative Press
It's a bit unfortunate that the Irishmen decided to keep their songwriting and musical prowess stagnant. [Mar 2007, p.143]
60
Magnet
Pleasant if unspectacular. [#74, p.96]
60
Billboard
The set as a whole lacks variety and rarely shifts tempo. [24 Feb 2007]
52
Pitchfork
While there's nothing wrong with a predictable approach when deployed with expertise, it's disappointing from a band like the Frames.
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50
Rolling Stone
The album slides into tedium and worse. [8 Mar 2007, p.86]
50
Playlouder
Alas, 'The Cost' is closer to the Noughties ipoddery of 'sensitive' folksters like Damien Rice or James Blunt than a Fleetwood Mac or a James Taylor.
Read Full Review
42
Entertainment Weekly
The Frames just about define overripe, both musically (imagine if Coldplay decided to make its power ballads even more bombastic) and lyrically. [23 Feb 2007, p.99]
40
Sputnikmusic
Despite pulling out all the stops towards the end, The Cost is everything The Frames usually eschew: it’s bland, it’s monotonous and it barely achieves a tempo shift across forty-four minutes.
Read Full Review
33
Stylus Magazine
The Cost is bleached of any sort of lifeblood, stumbling out of the gate and moping towards the finish line.
Read Full Review
30
Spin
A tepid effort that bogs down their previously rugged and introspective rock with power-ballad vibrato, lurid over-orchestration, and petulantly vague lyrics. [Feb 2007, p.83]
30
Austin Chronicle
Everything about The Cost is inflated and with little payoff, a blight for a band worth so much more.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Todd H. gave it an8:
Uneven, but with several stand-out songs, most especially People Get Ready, which deserves far more international airplay than it has received.

Matthew P. gave it a10:
A fine album! Glen hansards voice echoes a sadness that only a few artists can match. If you're after an arena band, this is not it! This is real people singing about real problems! Real music!

Ger D gave it a10:
An amazing album that requires several repeated spins to fully appreciate.

david h gave it an8:
The Cost is beautifully written, produced, and performed. Yes it's sad and slow--the tempo rarely breaks pace--but the emotion and dynamics of the performances create the peaks and valleys. Great album. One of their best.

ag gave it an8:
not their best but sure as hell not anything as half-baked and insincere as coldplay. matt d. below is just plain lazy in his comparisons.

marek i gave it a10:
Just another great album of Frames!

timmy d gave it a9:
maybe not as visceral as their previous efforts but still a load better than most stadium rock pap out there. sit down coldplay, retire u2, glen hansard and his men bring intelligence and passion to a stunning effort on the always reliable anti- records.

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