New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

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

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.

Split The Difference
by Gomez


9.4

based on 19 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 12 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

The UK five-piece worked with producer Tchad Blake for this fourth LP.

LABEL:	Virgin
RELEASE DATE:	18 May 2004
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock

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...

E! Online

Think of it as more of a mix tape because the British quintet's jam-band explorations dip into everything from Beatles-esque pop and Delta-blues-influenced ballads.

All Music Guide

For those who have been waiting for Gomez to come up with something that truly rivals their amazing debut Bring It On, wait no longer. This one is great.

Stylus Magazine

In Split the Difference, Gomez has not lived up to, but surpassed, their initial success.

The Guardian

In looking beyond pure innovation, Gomez have poured some heart into their blues.

PopMatters

They're such a pleasure to listen to because they hear the past and thrive on it, learning from what musicians did before them, and not repeating all of the same mistakes.

The New York Times

If only all stupid rock music could be this intelligent.

Filter

Rather than trying to funk up and freak out the tunes with oddball sonic contributions, the fivesome rely heavily on the strength of their three-part harmonies and the head-bouncing guitar hooks. [#10, p.90]

Billboard

The British answer to Fountains of Wayne.

Entertainment Weekly

While the hooks could be sharper, [Tchad Blake's] hand clearly makes the Difference. [28 May 2004, p.124]

Dot Music

As an album it’s so random and erratic that it’s neither a brave step forward nor a disastrous wrong turn; just an entertaining detour while they workout where they’re actually going.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Split The Difference isn't as strong as In Our Gun, but it does show Gomez continuing to explore relaxed, earthy songwriting, with fruitful results.

Rolling Stone

On most of Split The Difference... Gomez pour on the punch that makes their live shows such a gas. [27 May 2004, p.82]

ShakingThrough.net

Split the Difference simply isn't very engaging.

Uncut

Tracks such as "Where Ya Going?" and "Chicken Out"... make them sound like Southport's answer to ZZ Top. But there's plenty more going on that doesn't involve such dumbing-down. [Jul 2004, p.107]

Tiny Mix Tapes

If you've enjoyed Gomez's musical direction in the last six years, you're sure to take pleasure in listening to Split The Difference.

Q Magazine

Unusually direct. [Jun 2004, p.98]

Pitchfork

So Split the Difference is an opportunity missed, with Gomez settling into a safe, well-worn ocean colour scene at a time when an adventurous indie/jamband hybrid might've clicked with Lollapaloozers.

Logo

Unfortunately, whereas sounding out of place in the late 90s worked in their favour, in the mid-noughties the lack of pretty faces, Converse Allstars and - perhaps most important of all - any half-decent tunes is unlikely to bring Gomez first prize even in their local pub’s battle of the bands.

Magnet

By stripping away the symphonic, avant edge... [Gomez] loses much of what made it unique in the first place. [#64, p.96]

The average user rating for this album is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

tim e gave it a10:
Their finest work to date. One of the best albums of the decade. :-)

Ash B gave it a10:
Gomez at their best. Dig these songs... Catch Me Up, Do One, These 3 Sins

Rob Pep gave it a10:
Amazing album that just keeps on getting better with every listen!

Rimmer Rimmer gave it a10:
Gomez is the only band I have consistently listened to for around 3 year now.. In the hope of not sounding too gushing... They are simply the most creative bunch of string plucking individuals I have heard for year... In Our Gun got a bit of a roasting by the press but it's much more of an album than so many blinkered reviewers could have found themselves listening too..

Todd B gave it a 9:
If you want the truth on this album then just notice that the lower the score given by the critics, the more superficial the review. I actually didn't like this album the first time I heard it but it just gets better and better with each listen. Gomez continues to lay absolute claim to the title of the world's best unknown band.

Jason S gave it a 10:
Superb Album. with such musical variation, a band with three songwriters with different vision create a musical event that cannot be missed. a must have.

cinthya g gave it a 10:
sheer brilliance!

Split The Difference by Gomez

Split The Difference
by Gomez