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
62
50 Cent
70
AFI
65
Air
70
Alice In Chains
53
Kris Allen
78
Amerie
79
Annie
76
Anti-Pop Consortium
86
The Antlers
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound
77
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
59
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
71
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Beak>
72
Brendan Benson
84
Biffy Clyro
72
The Big Pink
95
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
72
The Black Heart Procession
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
53
Bon Jovi
76
A.A. Bondy
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
83
Brother Ali
72
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
77
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
78
Califone
69
Mariah Carey
81
Brandi Carlile
72
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
71
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
82
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
64
Exene Cervenka
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System
67
The Clean
84
The Clientele
72
Cold Cave
85
Converge
71
Eric Copeland
76
The Cribs
79
Cymbals Eat Guitars
62
Dashboard Confessional
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
77
Del The Funky Homosapien & Tame One
88
Destroyer
73
Do Make Say Think
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
67
Bob Dylan
58
Echo & The Bunnymen
61
Electric Six
44
The Entrance Band
69
Fanfarlo
71
Jay Farrar And Benjamin Gibbard
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
66
Orenda Fink
79
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
65
Calvin Harris
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
67
Hockey
67
Whitney Houston
80
Hudson Mohawke
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
68
Daniel Johnston
76
Norah Jones
77
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
75
Kid Sister
66
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
63
Mark Knopfler
73
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
85
Miranda Lambert
72
Ledisi
71
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
62
Leona Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
74
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
83
Patty Loveless
73
Lyle Lovett
79
Lucero
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
61
Maps
73
Mario
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
62
John Mayer
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
75
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
75
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
66
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie
76
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
82
Nirvana
96
Nirvana
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
64
OneRepublic
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
78
Osso
67
Alec Ounsworth
81
Owen
73
Paramore
78
Pastels And Tenniscoats
54
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
69
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
72
Port O'Brien
79
Q-Tip
79
R.E.M.
88
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
74
The Raveonettes
79
Real Estate
76
Jay Reatard
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
66
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
78
Russian Circles
69
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
78
Say Anything
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
75
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
68
Joss Stone
83
Barbra Streisand
77
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
79
The Swell Season
80
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
80
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
78
The Dutchess & The Duke
71
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
74
Them Crooked Vultures
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
67
Third Eye Blind
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
73
Frank Turner
71
The Twilight Sad
60
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
69
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
70
Kurt Vile
65
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
73
Rufus Wainwright
78
Wale
57
Weezer
81
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
69
Robbie Williams
59
Andrew W.K.
65
Wolfmother
84
The xx
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
52
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Face The Truth
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 33 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Matador
Release Date: 24 May 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
Malkmus' third post-Pavement recording is his most "solo" effort to date (not to mention his weirdest), with only some of the songs featuring the full complement of Jicks backing him up.
Also By This Artist: Pig Lib Real Emotional Trash Stephen Malkmus
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site SM @ Matador
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...
Lost At Sea
It’s weird, (but not annoyingly so), it’s catchy (but not annoyingly so), and it’s fresh (but not annoyingly so). Face the Truth is the work of a songwriter at his finest hour.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
Malkmus has the same fractured pop sensibility, but his music is more expansive than it’s been before.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
An excellent album graced by the kind of clever hooks, lines, and sinkers that color Malkmus’ best work, be it with Pavement or the Jicks.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
Face the Truth is probably the most eclectic of all Malkmus’s work. There are elements of every Pavement album in amongst the tracks, with familiar noodly guitar intros, shouty, jaunty refrains and languid deadpan-rap segments.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Behind this happy clash of stylistic preferences is a subtly but surely revivified Malkmus, confident to experiment more deliberately than ever.
Read Full Review >Filter
Of the three Stephen Malkmus solo albums, this is the one that sounds the most like Pavement. [#15, p.91]
Stylus Magazine
With the Fiery Furnaces bringing indie-prog rigmarole back in fashion, Face The Truth might get a little more love than Pig Lib did, despite being the same album with a few more fart sounds.
Read Full Review >Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
Consistently enjoyable, predictably inconsequential.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
It's weird, yes, but in a good way. [3 Jun 2005, p.82]
Prefix Magazine
Gone are the spotty moments that marred his previous solo work. Most important, Malkmus seems to be having fun again.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine
The songs, which have the choppy angles and elegant dissonance of Pavement’s, are painstakingly layered with keyboards and all manner of funky blurps and beeps. It all sounds very labor-intensive—and pretty smart, too.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
Malkmus seems to be firing on all cylinders for the first time as a solo artist.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Malkmus has long made a game of languishing, but he now sounds refreshingly eager to turn off the scoreboard and let his songs coach themselves.
Read Full Review >Uncut
The confidence and unforced vigour of Face The Truth suggest Malkmus is happier on the margins of alt.rock than in its spotlight. [Jun 2005, p.112]
cokemachineglow
He’s back in the groove here: relaxed, confident, weird in his own special way, smart, and ready to make great albums again.
Read Full Review >Blender
Blend[s] limpid Velvet Underground textures, strolling country-rock and wry, cryptically plaintive Malkmus poetry well enough to sound like neo-classics destined for a Wes Anderson film. [Jun 2005, p.111]
Tiny Mix Tapes
Face the Truth won me over by showing all the sides of Steve that drew me to him in the first place, along with a few new surprises.
Read Full Review >musicOMH.com
Pig Lib Part Two? Maybe so, but there are enough subtle evolutions here to keep any SM follower listening intently until the cows come home.
Read Full Review >Spin
For good and ill, this jumble couldn't come from anyone but Malkmus. [Jun 2005, p.104]
ShakingThrough.net
Face the Truth is paradoxically the most intriguing Malkmus album and the weakest of his post-Pavement career.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Stuffed with little revelations. [Jun 2005, p.113]
Mojo
Typically, there are also infuriating moments... but overall, this marks a welcome return to form. [Jun 2005, p.106]
Junkmedia
Is Malkmus treading water? Well, maybe. But despite the complaints of those fans who can’t let Pavement go, he’s still making valid, adventurous and - most of all - fun music.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
The album lacks a unifying thread, either sonically or thematicallly. [#10, p.112]
Magnet
Too stylistically diverse, willfully weird and lyrically cryptic to be anything more than an acquired taste. [#68, p.101]
Alternative Press
May be the weirdest record Malkmus has made since Pavement's Wowee Zowee. [Jul 2005, p.174]
Splendid
While Face The Truth rarely presents a side of its creator that has not already been seen, loved, and cried over, it's a passable, even better-than-average album.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
It's easy to boggle at but less easy to love, since there's nowhere to hang your critical hat for longer than about three bars at a time.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
Does a new generation of music lovers really need a third solo album from [Malkmus] which includes songs that house guitar wig-outs and last up to eight minutes? Not really. [28 May 2005, p.64]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Peter K. gave it a7:
The hooks could be larger, but they're still large and I enjoy his aesthetic (distorted guitars, screwed up lyrics, and blips and bleeps a plenty.)
Andrew E gave it a10:
In a weird way, I like this more than slanted and enchanted. I can't go crazy critical right now, but, certainly, the critics are reaching too far. This is the best solo album for sure.
Ryan L gave it a9:
Hooks out the wazoo -- worth it if only for the fact that it'll be stuck in your head for weeks.
najeeb a gave it a10:
Those fans that claim to be true followers, but do not appreciate this album, obviously aren't his true followers. This is Malkmus at his best, it's most reminiscent of Pavement, but only in that it's ambitious, carefree, pretentious, and weirdly experimental. it's poppy and perfect, exactly what us true fans have been waiting for him to put out as a solo artist.
Steven L gave it a9:
I really didn't like this album too much at first, but it really grew on me. One of my favorite releases this year, for sure. Pity it's getting such low ratings, it is a fantastic album.
Jason C gave it a9:
Loved the previous solo efforts. This one may be the best, but who cares if it is, it is just good music. SM brings it everytime. No clunkers.
christopher h gave it a9:
malkmus soloing hist heart out, i can only hope for more.
