Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Music

All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
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

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

70 AFI
65 Air
71 Alice In Chains
77 Amerie
85 The Antlers
75 Arctic Monkeys
68 As Tall As Lions
82 Atlas Sound
75 The Avett Brothers
67 Backstreet Boys
56 Bad Lieutenant
68 Devendra Banhart
72 Lou Barlow
88 Baroness
69 Basement Jaxx
81 David Bazan
72 Brendan Benson
72 The Big Pink
96 Big Star
46 Billy Talent
75 The Black Crowes
51 Black Mold
68 Blitzen Trapper
75 BLK JKS
77 A.A. Bondy
73 The Bottle Rockets
63 Box Elders
65 Boys Like Girls
76 Brand New
73 Tyondai Braxton
87 Brother Ali
70 Ian Brown
75 Michael Buble
78 Built To Spill
61 Colbie Caillat
79 Califone
68 Mariah Carey
84 Brandi Carlile
73 Julian Casablancas
83 Rosanne Cash
69 Castanets
65 The Cave Singers
84 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79 Vic Chesnutt
75 Choir Of Young Believers
81 Circulatory System
68 The Clean
84 The Clientele
71 Cobra Starship
85 Converge
71 Eric Copeland
80 Cymbals Eat Guitars
71 Datarock
59 Dead By Sunrise
76 Dead Man's Bones
88 Destroyer
63 The Dodos
77 Drive-By Truckers
66 Bob Dylan
44 The Entrance Band
67 Esser
69 Fanfarlo
63 Felix Da Housecat
68 Fink
78 The Flaming Lips
66 Flight Of The Conchords
79 Florence And The Machine
67 John Fogerty
83 Fuck Buttons
71 Nelly Furtado
47 Gary Go
68 Ghostface Killah
79 Girls
69 Gossip
62 David Gray
66 David Guetta
79 Richard Hawley
74 Mayer Hawthorne
66 Headlights
79 HEALTH
77 Joe Henry
66 Hockey
69 Whitney Houston
68 Imogen Heap
59 Jack Ingram
79 Islands
73 Jessie James
74 Jamie T
65 Jay-Z
51 Jet
69 Daniel Johnston
76 Karen O And The Kids
72 Toby Keith
69 Kid Cudi
65 Kings Of Convenience
62 Sean Kingston
64 KISS
76 Kris Kristofferson
68 KRS-One & Buckshot
76 La Roux
84 Miranda Lambert
72 Ledisi
75 Sondre Lerche
56 Juliette Lewis
82 Lightning Bolt
73 Little Dragon
44 Pixie Lott
73 Lyle Lovett
66 Lovvers
75 Baaba Maal
77 Madness
84 Madonna
85 Manic Street Preachers
62 Maps
55 Massive Attack
57 Matisyahu
67 Reba McEntire
66 Tim McGraw
65 Brian McKnight
79 Mew
77 Malcolm Middleton
77 Mika
68 Amy Millan
76 Mission Of Burma
76 Molina And Johnson
80 Monsters Of Folk
62 Morrissey
85 Mount Eerie
78 The Mountain Goats
62 Múm
72 Muse
66 Willie Nelson
78 Nirvana
97 Nirvana
72 Nisennenmondai
80 No Age
71 Noah And The Whale
75 Noisettes
79 Nudge
47 Dolores O'Riordan
74 Os Mutantes
73 Osso
81 Owen
76 Paramore
76 Pastels And Tenniscoats
51 Sean Paul
80 Pearl Jam
66 Jemina Pearl
72 Jack Penate
65 Phish
82 Pissed Jeans
61 Pitbull
79 A Place To Bury Strangers
66 Robert Pollard
79 Polvo
72 Porcupine Tree
80 Q-Tip
80 R.E.M.
89 Raekwon
69 Rain Machine
70 Ramona Falls
75 Dizzee Rascal
75 The Raveonettes
76 Jay Reatard
82 Reigning Sound
81 Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79 Russian Circles
69 Buffy Sainte-Marie
73 Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61 Sally Shapiro
78 Shudder To Think
70 Simian Mobile Disco
58 Simple Minds
72 Six Organs Of Admittance
69 Slaughterhouse
80 Slayer
61 The Slits
62 Mindy Smith
78 Soulsavers
77 Speech Debelle
58 Spiral Stairs
58 Squarepusher
55 Steel Panther
73 Sufjan Stevens
52 Rod Stewart
65 Joss Stone
75 George Strait
83 Barbra Streisand
76 A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74 Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78 The Swell Season
76 David Sylvian
83 Taken By Trees
78 Tegan And Sara
68 The Temper Trap
72 Themselves
82 They Might Be Giants
67 Third Eye Blind
66 J Tillman
69 Times New Viking
57 Tokio Hotel
67 Trey Songz
71 The Twilight Sad
58 Carrie Underwood
56 The Used
68 Various Artists
70 Various Artists
74 Various Artists
77 The Very Best
71 Kurt Vile
67 Vivian Girls
71 Volcano Choir
76 Rufus Wainwright
59 Weezer
80 White Denim
76 Why?
83 Wild Beasts
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59 Andrew W.K.
71 Patrick Wolf
67 Wolfmother
84 The xx
79 Yo La Tengo
83 Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51 Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59 Zero 7

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Strangers

EMAILPRINTby Ed Harcourt

Ed Harcourt reviews
74
8.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Astralwerks / Heavenly

Release Date: 01 February 2005

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Singer-Songwriter, Indie, Rock

Summary

The English singer-songwriter returns with his fourth album in four years.

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

Under The Radar

Perhaps Harcourt's strongest asset is in making the hackneyed sound fresh. [#8, p.106]

90

PopMatters

Comparisons to Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright certainly make sense, but the consistent personality of Strangers affirms Harcourt's unique talent.

Read Full Review >
90

Splendid

It's the sound of a man in perfect harmony with himself.

Read Full Review >
80

All Music Guide

A devastatingly accomplished album.

Read Full Review >
80

Blender

The music is cheery even when the feelings are miserable; it's like rainy-day Smiths driven by pianos instead of guitars. [Mar 2005, p.140]

80

New Musical Express

Harcourt... has done the unthinkable: fallen in love with a laydee and made his "happy" album. Luckily for us, it's the best of his career. [11 Sep 2004, p.55]

80

Dot Music

If relationships were straightforward they’d be no need for albums like this. Thank god they aren’t.

Read Full Review >
75

Entertainment Weekly

[A] slap-happy hodgepodge of an album. [4 Feb 2005, p.133]

74

ShakingThrough.net

The warmest, most life-affirming album of his still-budding career.

Read Full Review >
70

Playlouder

This is probably the record that everyone who bought the Keane album should buy.

Read Full Review >
70

Drowned In Sound

It's a very good effort, but ultimately it lacks the consistency of true greatness.

Read Full Review >
70

The Onion (A.V. Club)

There's little rhyme or reason to it, and the whole doesn't equal the sum of its parts. But many of the parts are worth noting.

Read Full Review >
70

Urb

Clearly he's been listening to much Jeff Buckley... as Strangers throbs with that familiar bluesy bombast. [Mar 2005, p.112]

60

Magnet

Pretty and pleasant without ever being especially compelling. [#67, p.100]

60

Rolling Stone

Sodden ballads rear their mopey heads in the second half. [10 Feb 2005, p.80]

60

Tiny Mix Tapes

Harcourt's piano proficiency separates him artistically from guitarists who tinker with mere chord-banging to accompany lyrics. There are a few misshapen puzzle pieces on this one, though.

Read Full Review >
60

Q Magazine

The intensity of his pain is inescapable in this exhausting explanation of what really becomes of the broken-hearted. [Oct 2004, p.124]

60

Mojo

Often he makes a lot of noise without really connecting. [Oct 2004, p.100]

50

Austin Chronicle

Suggests that he's finally coming into his own, albeit gradually and grudgingly.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

matt a gave it a9:
I'm just glad that the pitchfork review isn't included because I'm sure they railed on it (although we still have to deal with the poor taste of Mojo and Q). Beautiful album. Just barely below his last CD in my opinion, but it's hard to really say because the two cd's are so different and he was obviously going for something new, something happier than the gorgeously dark From Every Sphere. His first cd may have been a mixed bag (with at least two classics in Hanging with the Wrong Crowd and Apple of My Eye) but his last two efforts have been all around solid and he has defenitely cememted himself has one of the most vital voices in british music right now.

Davis W gave it an8:
Ed makes some of the best pop songs today and this album brilliantly showcases his importance to music with incredibly beautiful music. "Loneliness" is easily one of the best songs in years.

Music Guy gave it a9:
The power of Ed's imagination and musicial skill always amazes on every CD he puts out. You honestly never know what he is going to sing about or the arrangments he will use. This makes him one of the most talented and exciting talents out right now. He is unfortunately unknown to a lot of people because he really can't be tagged with an easy label. Fans of real singer/songwriters would do themselves a favor by picking this up.

Mr O gave it a9:
Better than all of the overly sincear piano junk that seems to have caught on lately and far less poular. Strangers features some of Harcourts best songs in the fom of 'Lonliness' and 'The music box' to name a few. The only thing preventing it from getting 10 for me is the dodgy lyrics in the title track and the god awful 'kids (rise from the ashes)' but that's what the skip button was made for right? Lyrically Harcourt kicks the ---- out of most other artists and this, along with a charming oddness, is what really sets him apart. However you read the lyrics there's always something you connect with in either the music or the words. Be warned though... he is a very angry man... with cool hair.

Old Y gave it a9:
It beggar's belief that more people don't buy Harcourt's records - strong tunes and a great voice! Just buy people, before he gets dropped from his label!

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

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