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
70
AFI
65
Air
71
Alice In Chains
77
Amerie
70
Anjulie
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
59
Amanda Blank
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
64
Desolation Wilderness
88
Destroyer
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
74
The Duke & The King
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
77
Fruit Bats
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
59
Gloriana
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
83
Japandroids
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
76
Lightning Dust
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
73
Modest Mouse
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
68
Nurses
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
63
Julian Plenti
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
75
Sian Alice Group
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
69
Slaughterhouse
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
62
Mindy Smith
83
Solillaquists Of Sound
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
68
Throw Me The Statue
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
70
YACHT
75
Yim Yames
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.
Chaos And Creation In The Backyard
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 220 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Capitol
Release Date: 13 September 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock
Summary
Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich helms the bassist's 20th post-Beatles album, which finds McCartney in true solo mode, playing every instrument on these 13 songs.
Also By This Artist: Driving Rain Memory Almost Full
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: The Beatles: Let It Be... Naked The Beatles: Love
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
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...
Stylus Magazine
Never in his career has McCartney seemed more serious in tone and more aware of the play of his lyrics as poetry.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
The result is that most rarefied of things, a Paul album with no throwaways.
Read Full Review >Uncut
These are McCartney's most arresting songs for a long, long while. [Oct 2005, p.94]
Rolling Stone
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is the freshest-sounding McCartney album in years.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
The quiet nature of Chaos and Creation may mean that some listeners will pass it over quickly, since it's a grower, but spend some time with the record and becomes clear that McCartney is far from spent as either a songwriter or record-maker.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
For all the nods to the past, not a note of Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard comes close to Beatle standards: it's an intriguing diversion rather than a major addition to the canon. What it has is a sense of purpose, lovely tunes in abundance, and charm.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
Sir Paul has always been an instinctive songwriter, and he sounds as surprised by these songs as his listeners may be. [12 Sep 2005]
Entertainment Weekly
There's no question that in places, it's a tad too twee. But what we're hearing is an artist honestly following his muse--always a compelling event. [16 Sep 2005, p.84]
Los Angeles Times
This is the intimate McCartney in the vein of his 1970 solo debut or "London Town," and the comfort allowed him to be as unguarded as he's ever been. [4 Sep 2005]
Billboard
McCartney continues to surprise, opening this set with four of his best songs in ages. [17 Sep 2005]
Dot Music
No one was expecting Godrich to turn this noble British pop institution into Radiohead, of course. But the glimpses of greatness are enough to leave you wishing that bottle had prevailed and more in the vein of "Too Much Rain" had resulted.
Read Full Review >Mojo
After the laboured Driving Rain, a welcome return of that definitive, love-it-or-hate-it McCartney effortlessness. [Oct 2005, p.98]
Q Magazine
He's found some endearing and unexpectedly affecting songs. [Oct 2005, p.120]
Paste Magazine
One can't help but miss the days when his buoyancy sounded less strained. [Dec 2005, p.116]
cokemachineglow
A sturdy if frustrating effort that exceeds and disappoints expectations all at once.
Read Full Review >E! Online
Even though he didn't use Godrich's elegant landscaping to its full advantage, we'll still listen to what this man has to say.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
By teaming up with Godrich, McCartney has come out of his safety zone and challenged himself in a way not seen since his first solo album way back in 1970. But the feeling remains that the one person who could really inspire him to write one final classic record was tragically murdered in 1980.
Read Full Review >Blender
It's rather straight where [his 1970 debut] was eccentric and charming. [Oct 2005, p.139]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 220 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Günter S. gave it a9:
Sorry, only 9, but I first heard "memory almost full" ...
Ronald G. gave it a9:
A winner.
Sophie gave it a10:
One of his best albums - a fantastic piece of work and one of the best of the decade. Some of the tracks are absolutely wonderful.
Danny L gave it a10:
Rarely do you come across an album with so many fantastic songs. The simple arrangements are such a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of the over-produced music currently being released. LISTEN TO PAUL - more is not always better! Over half of the songs on this album are just plain brilliant and had they been released 40 years ago under the Beatles banner, they would have been immediate number one's across the globe. The other songs are just good. The best album by any artist for a long, long time.
Miguel G gave it a10:
My favorite McCartney album of all time!
Rohit V gave it a10:
This album definitely grows on you. The first time it was a little slow and easy to pass by, but there are basically no songs on here that are bad. "Riding to Vanity Fair" is just very cool and different than Macca in recent years, and this album has plenty of awesome sounding pop/rockers such as "Fine Line" and "Promise to You Girl". "Jenny Wren" shows that Paul still has amazing musical talent with that guitar of his. And each of the rest of the tracks are equally special. There isn't much filler on this album at all. "Anyway" is an amazing ending.
Brooke S gave it a10:
My favorite McCartney album of all time..i even think it's better than band on the run, and that is awesome.
