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Anywhere I Lay My Head

EMAILPRINTby Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson reviews
58
6.4 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 51 votes
Read user comments
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Album Info

Label: Atco

Release Date: 20 May 2008

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Rock

Summary

The debut album by actress Scarlett Johansson was produced by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek.

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...

80

Filter

Anywhere I Lay My Head is a starling achievement not because Ms. Scarlett has simply managed to cleverly re-imagine some assemblage of Tom Wait songs, but rather, because she has seized upon precisely why they affected us so much the first time round. [Spring 2008, p.91]

80

New Musical Express

This is a brilliant album that will no doubt top some ‘best of 2008’ lists, but it’s hard to work out if it’s a one-off or not.

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80

The Guardian

You might wish there was more from Waits' 70s barfly period--what would Johansson have made of Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis?--but it's a measure of this album's surprising allure that you're left wanting more.

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80

Observer Music Monthly

It's a bravely eccentric selection and a captivating homage to a singular writer.

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80

Paste Magazine

Through it all, Johansson is just another instrument in the mix, and her willingness to allow the arrangements to transform Waits’ creaky intimacy into wide-eyed atmosphere ultimately results in the rare covers album that actually has its own identity.

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80

Hot Press

Nouveau synth-pop and shoegazer drones mightn’t seem like the wisest bedding for Tom Waits’s compositions, but Scarlett and Sitek know exactly what they’re doing.

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80

Dot Music

Scarlett Johansson has proved herself as much a rock queen as a roll queen.

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75

Lost At Sea

While Johansson's debut is not as pleasant as Zooey Deschanel's work with M.Ward, Anywhere I Lay My Head will surely surprise Johansson's doubters; having grown to appreciate Scarlett Johansson for being more than a pretty face and mediocre actor, I can speak from experience.

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70

Village Voice

Against all odds, Anywhere I Lay My Head doesn't feel like a vain stunt. Mostly.

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70

Billboard

The whole set is heavily dosed with reverb and electro-swirls, perhaps to cloak Johansson's vocal limitations as much as to add psychedelia.

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70

PopMatters

There’s no in between for this one; it will go down as one of those love it or hate it records.

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60

Hartford Courant

At its core, though, Anywhere I Lay My Head is a curious project that never seems to light on any raison d'etre beyond indulging Johansson's love of Tom Waits.

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60

Q Magazine

The album is fine enough, undeniably modish and much better than you might anticipate. [June 2008, p.136]

60

The New York Times

As workarounds go, Scarlett Johansson’s collection of Tom Waits songs, Anywhere I Lay My Head verges on the heroic.

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60

Drowned In Sound

Perversely given the record’s comprehensive musical overhaul it’s perhaps a surfeit of respect for the source material that proves Anywhere's undoing; for all its undoubted accomplishments there’s a lingering suspicion that this is too safe, too respectable a record to do justice to an artist who remains forever mid-topple from the bar stool in the popular consciousness.

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60

Uncut

Johansson’s bland, flat contralto leaves you admiring the Cocteau Twins-style sonic backdrops and wondering how another singer--Liz Fraser, perhaps?--might improve them.

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60

Blender

Sonically, it's a tour de force.... But the success of this record depends on Johansson and she's not up yo the task. [June 2008, p.73]

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58

cokemachineglow

Sitek’s technique is, successfully, fascinating and unexpected. But so many purposes and conceits, both avoided and embraced, collide over the course of the album’s eleven tracks that technique simply overwhelms melody and Johansson’s voice both, but mostly whatever it is about the song that Waits nailed to the wall in the first place.

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55

Pitchfork

On several songs, Johansson gets lost in Sitek's swelling production, which may suggest a weak interpreter or a dearth of vocal personality but adds to the album's pervading dreaminess.

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50

The Onion (A.V. Club)

She isn't a traditionally talented vocalist, which in itself can be fine. But she isn't much of an interpreter, either; she brings the flat, throaty tones of the heavily drugged to songs that beg for passion.

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50

Slant Magazine

The album itself is kind of an afterthought; what its creation says metatextually about the artists responsible for it is more interesting than any of the music it contains.

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50

Entertainment Weekly

In burying Johansson's vocals so deeply in the druggy ambiance, producer David Andrew Sitek (of TV on the Radio) means well but ends up obscuring Waits' great tunes.

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50

All Music Guide

Anywhere I Lay My Head doesn't quite work, but it can't quite be dismissed, either.

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50

Rolling Stone

Johansson's voice is unremarkable and her pitch sometimes unsteady; she's a faintly goth Marilyn Monroe lost in a sonic fog.

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50

Spin

Beyond the fact that her voice is deep enough for her to front Crash Test Dummies, there's nothing particularly compelling about Scarlett Johansson's singing.

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50

Delusions of Adequacy

This isn’t a horrible album by any means, but it also isn’t very good. Sitek has done an astounding job of creating misty atmospheres and it’s these small touches that aid the album in becoming an interesting listen.

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50

Prefix Magazine

Johansson simply lacks the intensity to stay afloat in Waits's whirlpools of ear-drummed madness.

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40

Magnet

This album isn’t a total disaster, but it’s difficult to imagine most people wanting to listen to Anywhere I Lay My Head more than once.

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40

Sputnikmusic

Anywhere I Lay My Head is a vanity project made by Scarlett Johansson, for Scarlett Johansson, and what's more, it sounds suspiciously like a desperate cry for credibility from a woman who doesn't actually need any.

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40

Mojo

Much of this album's re-booting of Waits' back pages in an ambient '80s style is fussy and forgettable. [June 2008, p.112]

40

Under The Radar

Anywhere I Lay My Head is neither laughable nor unlistenable, but what's the most disappointing about it is that producer David Sitek of Tv on the Radio is its most prominent contributor, not Johansson. [Spring 2008, p.77]

40

Boston Globe

The balance is tenuous, and the "Tinkerbell on cough syrup" effect that Sitek describes in the liner notes as his aesthetic brass ring sometimes comes off more like Scarlett out of her league.

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40

Paste Magazine

These songs were already so impeccably performed that Johansson didn’t have very many new places to take them, and although her effort and nerve are commendable, “not as terrible as you thought it would be” just isn’t the same thing as good.

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30

Dusted Magazine

Anywhere I Lay My Head falters on Johansson’s vocals, or lack of a distinctive voice.

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20

NOW Magazine

Sitek attempts to do Johansson (and us) a favour by burying her monotonous voice deep in the mix, but unfortunately, the musical support isn’t interesting enough to carry the album. Skip it.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 51 User Votes

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

Dejan S. gave it an8:
Mix of Nico and Sonic Youth. Amazing! Perfect 4 lazy evening.

Eric S. gave it a9:
Scarlett's voice just fits. it's not the best album of the year, but it was worth the shot.

Alex H gave it an8:
I'm a Tom Waits fan and I checked out this album with the same cynical attitude a lot of people had, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Scarlett's voice is very nice and David Sitek gives further evidence that he's one of the best producers working today. The album alternately reminds me of Sinead O'Connor's version of 'Nothing Compares 2 U', and of a music box playing in blizzard, and I mean both of those things as compliments. I think most of the haters probably don't like this style of music in the first place, and/or refuse to take it seriously because of who she is.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Don't believe the nay-sayers.

Jérôme N. gave it an8:
Sure everything is not perfect, but the creativity of this album is impressive and deserves to be well rated. Furthermore, the overall atmosphere reminds me of productions like these of Mazzy Star, Cat Power, Cocteau Twins or This Mortal Coil, fact that I find rather refreshing, as really getting out of today's standards.

Emily C. gave it a1:
Just because someone is an actress does not mean they should (or can) sing songs written by a legend. People should do themselves a favor, and stay away.

Rich N. gave it a10:
I really didn't expect to like this at all, let alone this much. Something in it just works.

Read more user comments >

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