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...

100

Observer Music Monthly

Damaged is a transcendent record - poetic, mysterious, witty, wise and at times so musically grand that it changes the colour of a room and the weight of the air.

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Stylus Magazine

You could spend an age listing and describing the musical wealth of Damaged... Better just to listen to it, soak it all in, than fail with words.

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PopMatters

Lambchop have long been one of America’s greatest bands, and Damaged is their greatest achievement.

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Playlouder

'Damaged' is a hugely welcome addition to Lambchop's now frighteningly impressive back catalogue, and an album with few limitations.

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The Guardian

A profound melancholy suffuses the elegant and often sublime Damaged.

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Mojo

An album of colossal strength and maturity. [Sep 2006, p.104]

Filter

Wonderful. [#21, p.94]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Like the 2002 album Is A Woman, Damaged scales back for an opaque set of heartbroken songs inspired by, in Wagner's words, "deeply personal experience."

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cokemachineglow

Though the tracks are lengthy, they’re not indulgent but patient, moving at the pace of Frank Sinatra’s September of My Years (1965) rather than the National’s Alligator (2005).

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Tiny Mix Tapes

Lazy Saturday mornings are meant to be had with this album.

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Q Magazine

The arrangements here are written specifically with a touring quartet in mind, adding ever greater layers of haunting melancholy and soaring grace. [Sep 2006, p.109]

All Music Guide

This ranks with the best work of one of America's most original musical visionaries.

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Uncut

A brave, beautiful record. [Sep 2006, p.76]

musicOMH.com

Are they a country band playing alt.rock or an alt.rock band playing country? These questions are pointless. They are simply and sublimely Lambchop, and we are lucky to have them.

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Drowned In Sound

Damaged... rises to the same dizzying heights achieved by their last few long-players.

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Magnet

Damaged excels in what Lambchop does best, which is to gather up a dozen-plus musicians and get them to play as little as possible. [#73, p.98]

ShakingThrough.net

Damaged is quintessential Wagner: a ponderous, carved-wood gut-punch of a record that finds hope in the mundane details of everyday life, even as the big worldly picture comes crashing down with alarming force.

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Dot Music

"Damaged" is as nuanced, temperate and contemplative as its predecessor.

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Under The Radar

Another solid if somewhat interchangeable album. [Summer 2006, p.82]

Urb

The Nashville crew's sound has slowly aged from alt-country to Stax-styled soul and now brooding ballads. [Jul/Aug 2006, p.122]

Prefix Magazine

The album rewards multiple listens with its sonic depth and subtle structural beauty. It has followed Lamchop tradition and evolved from its predecessor, but it lacks the unruly attitude that makes the band distinct.

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Pitchfork

Damaged is lovely but dull in spots, lacking the fuck-all adventurousness of previous albums.

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The Phoenix

Damaged isn’t the most tuneful record Wagner and company have made.

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Delusions of Adequacy

It never really builds steam until the end, when it is almost too late.

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New Musical Express

Even more subdued than usual. [12 Aug 2006, p.32]

Spin

Kurt Wagner's conversational croak is, charitably put, an acquired taste. [Sep 2006, p.106]

NOW Magazine

Even though the songwriting's tight, the uniformly delicate touch of adult contemporary arrangements will leave you struggling to stay awake till the album's end.

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Blender

It sounds half-heard no matter how many times you hear it. [Sep 2006, p.142]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

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

Adil O. gave it a9:
Soothing and mysterious. The kind of music you'd want to spin after a hard day's work.

Cables gave it a6:
like many critics pointed out, it's lyrically briliant yet it's ac arrangements make it alarmingly dull at times.

mads l gave it an8:
their last double album whammy was a disappointment to me, but now the mighty kurt wagner is back with some of the most consistent, thorough and refined songwriting of his career. The man is a poetic visionary who deserves all the credit in the world! Not as melodically entrancing as Nixon but that's a minor quibble...

Chris K gave it a10:
As consistantly brilliant and beautiful as "How I Quit Smoking," which is saying quite a lot. It's the best record I've heard this year.

Chad S gave it a10:
Now I have to buy all the music Lambchop made after "How I Quit Smoking". "Beers Before the Barbican" is pretty great; so is "Crackers". No, not great. Brilliant. Smog is great. Kurt Wagner is a little better, with the exception of "Dress Sexy at my Funeral". I write songs and "Damaged" gives me a massive inferiority complex. This is a really great album. I mean brilliant. It's "If You're Feeling Sinister"-brilliant.

Steven B gave it a9:
Transcendent and worthy of their fantastic cataluge. One of the better records of 2006 as a whole.

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Damaged

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