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Nixon

EMAILPRINTby Lambchop

Lambchop reviews
84
9.4 User Score:

Album Info

Label: Merge

Release Date: 08 February 2000

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Rock, Country, Indie, Alternative

Summary

The 13-piece outfit from Nashville (that isn't a country band) returns with a concept album about the former president (that really isn't about the former president). It's one of those things that you have to hear to understand.

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...

100

Trouser Press

The album navigates effortlessly from peak to peak.

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90

Spin

A near-masterpiece of magical sounds that are both familiar and wildly new, a stunning blend of classic Americana and classical orchestration.

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90

Mojo

The most fully realised Lambchop record, the most perfect blend yet of their alt country roots and their obsession with soul.

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90

New Musical Express (NME)

By any criteria an astonishing work.

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90

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Nixon sounds like the Superfly soundtrack recorded in a different dimension, one in which Mayfield and Marvin Gaye met up with Lawrence Welk for an impromptu jam session.... a drowsy near-masterpiece.

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80

Q Magazine

Heartbreaking, gorgeous and totally individual, these big-production numbers meld the different but complementary beauties of Nashville country and sweet soul while adding a dash of wine-dark weirdness.

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80

CDNow

Piled high with elegant strings, horns, and vibraphone, these 10 tracks mark a new sophistication for this talented group.

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80

Nude As The News

Music this laid-back but this deep, so full-bodied and yet so restrained, could only have been made by Lambchop.

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80

Splendid

Expansively orchestrated, Nixon ultimately comes off as beautiful but slightly disturbing...

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70

Rolling Stone

[Lambchop vocalist Kurt] Wagner shares a sense of offbeat phrasing and doleful humor with his singer-songwriter friend Vic Chesnutt that is both profoundly Southern and affectingly universal.

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65

Pitchfork

Nixon serves as a reminder that expertly executed stylistic hybrids and ironic juxtapositions-- great though they may be-- don't replace memorable songwriting. Sure, it's a novel concept, but while some of us may still be patient enough to "get it" five albums into the band's career, Wagner's talent and unique vision should demand a more challenging album.

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60

All Music Guide

This will still strike most as a mighty odd record, though. Ostensibly much of this record was inspired by former president Richard Nixon (there is even a suggested reading list of Nixon-related books on the sleeve). But there are no direct references to him, and even any indirect ones are so oblique that you'd never make the connection if the record had a different title...

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40

Salon.com

"Nixon," Lambchop's fifth solo LP, does have its moments, some of them truly glowing. But much of the rest of the album turns toward precious self-indulgence.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes

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

Rui O gave it a10:
Fucking brilliant!

Dave F gave it a10:
A superb, luscious, inventive, thoroughly beautiful album that just keeps getting better with every listen. Quite possibly a perfect record.

Edson U gave it a10:
Fantastic! Only this...

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