GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Music

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
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
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

 

Upcoming & Recent Releases

sort by name sort by score

64 A Camp
78 Akron/Family
73 Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women
74 Amazing Baby
62 Tori Amos
54 The Answer
74 Anti-Flag
74 Art Brut
71 Au Revoir Simone
65 Zee Avi
70 Bachelorette
77 Bat For Lashes
68 Big Business
76 Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
67 Black Dice
57 Black Eyed Peas
74 Black Moth Super Rainbow
71 Blank Dogs
65 Booker T.
54 The Boxmasters
65 The Boy Least Likely To
74 Brakes [aka brakesbrakesbrakes]
68 British Sea Power
66 Jeff Buckley
75 Busdriver
59 Busta Rhymes
64 Cage The Elephant
82 Bill Callahan
80 Camera Obscura
68 Cam'ron
79 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
58 Chester French
82 The Church
61 Ciara
72 Clues
69 The Coathangers
74 Jarvis Cocker
90 Leonard Cohen
70 Elvis Costello
66 Graham Coxon
76 Crippled Black Phoenix
71 The Crocodiles
69 Cryptacize
71 Crystal Antlers
56 The Crystal Method
69 Dananananaykroyd
76 Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse
71 De La Soul
77 Death Cab For Cutie
68 Deer Tick
81 Deerhunter
70 Depeche Mode
78 Dinosaur Jr.
85 Dirty Projectors
86 DJ Quik & Kurupt
77 Doves
68 Dredg
76 Bob Dylan
82 Steve Earle
70 Eels
62 El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez
58 Eminem
60 Empire Of The Sun
54 The Enemy
67 Jeremy Enigk
68 Nathan Fake
85 The Felice Brothers
79 The Field
65 Fink
60 Fischerspooner
77 Flatlanders
62 Flo Rida
64 Franz Ferdinand
77 Gallows
72 Melody Gardot
59 Ginuwine
71 Golden Silvers
61 Gomez
69 Grand Duchy
73 Great Lake Swimmers
59 Great Northern
72 Green Day
86 Grizzly Bear
75 The Handsome Family
69 Ben Harper And Relentless7
75 PJ Harvey & John Parish
66 Heaven & Hell
85 Levon Helm
74 The Hold Steady
79 Patterson Hood
75 Jon Hopkins
82 The Horrors
69 Hanne Hukkelberg
74 Ida Maria
65 Immaculate Machine
75 The Intelligence
76 Iron & Wine
79 Isis
68 It Hugs Back
88 J Dilla aka Jay Dee
61 Jadakiss
86 Japandroids
61 Joan Of Arc
84 Joe Lovano Us Five
72 John Doe & The Sadies
70 Joker's Daughter
62 Jonas Brothers
53 Mike Jones
71 The Juan Maclean
76 Junior Boys
68 Kasabian
74 Diana Krall
56 Lady Sovereign
43 Ben Lee
68 The Lemonheads
76 Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
77 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
65 Little Boots
79 The Low Anthem
67 Jason Lytle
75 The Maccabees
76 Magik Markers
80 Major Lazer
70 Malajube
71 Manchester Orchestra
85 Manic Street Preachers
57 Marilyn Manson
66 The Mars Volta
68 Dave Matthews Band
62 Maximo Park
70 Meat Puppets
80 Method Man & Redman
77 Metric
75 Micachu & The Shapes
69 Chrisette Michele
76 Miike Snow
67 Mika Miko
75 Rhett Miller
49 Mims
72 Mr. Lif
72 Moby
78 Moderat
70 Mandy Moore
80 Mos Def
70 Bob Mould
74 Nadja
72 New York Dolls
72 Nite Jewel
67 NOFX
76 Noisettes
60 Paolo Nutini
67 Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band
74 Papercuts
76 Passion Pit
74 Peaches
71 Pet Shop Boys
68 Peter Bjorn And John
82 Phoenix
76 Pink Mountaintops
63 Placebo
66 Pomegranates
64 Iggy Pop
67 Prefuse 73
81 Ramblin' Jack Elliott
76 Rancid
54 Rascal Flatts
68 Lionel Richie
77 Alasdair Roberts
73 Rick Ross
55 Asher Roth
72 Savath & Savalas
61 Polly Scattergood
65 The Shortwave Set
60 Shout Out Out Out Out
66 Silversun Pickups
85 Todd Snider
78 Sonic Youth
72 The Soundcarriers
61 The Sounds
74 Regina Spektor
63 Spinal Tap
65 Spinnerette
81 St. Vincent
59 Still Flyin'
58 Street Sweeper Social Club
87 Sunn O)))
82 Sunset Rubdown
84 Super Furry Animals
74 Richard Swift
78 Taking Back Sunday
85 Tanya Morgan
81 Otis Taylor
71 Telekinesis
70 Telepathe
80 Thee Oh Sees
79 The Thermals
74 Rob Thomas
64 Thunderheist
74 Tiga
57 Tinted Windows
72 Tortoise
82 Allen Toussaint
71 Trembling Bells
69 Two Fingers
84 UGK
68 Keith Urban
71 John Vanderslice
85 The Vaselines
74 The Veils
73 Viva Voce
63 Patrick Watson
79 White Denim
77 White Rabbits
57 The Whitest Boy Alive
74 Wilco
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
78 Wolves In The Throne Room
65 The Wooden Birds
67 Wooden Shjips
81 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
70 Pete Yorn
93 Neil Young
60 Neil Young
72 Yusuf

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Razorlight
by Razorlight

Razorlight reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 60 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.3 out of 10
based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 32 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Chris Thomas (U2, Pulp) produced this brief, self-titled follow up to the Johnny Borrell-led band's 2004 debut 'Up All Night.'

LABEL: Mercury
RELEASE DATE: 22 August 2006
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Alternative, Rock

NOTES: Original UK release 17 Jul 2006.


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
Q Magazine
In its progress from raw ambition to actual intent, this mirrors U2's great leap forward from Boy and October to War. [Aug 2006, p.108]
80
The Guardian
[It] touches on everything great about classic, epic rock from the past 30 years.
Read Full Review
80
New Musical Express
It's a soulful, romantic album about what happens when the lights come up at the end of the night and life smacks you in the face.
Read Full Review
80
Observer Music Monthly
Razorlight have dropped the urgency and brashness of indie-disco floor-fillers like 'Rip it Up' and traded it for the boldness of tracks such as 'Somewhere Else'. It isn't easy to graduate from teenage bedrooms to coffee-table status without compromising on credibility, but the quartet have managed it somehow.
Read Full Review
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Razorlight ultimately has more in common with Wham! than The Jam, and Bay City Rollers more than The Strokes. But the band can write a hook.
Read Full Review
70
Spin
[Razorlight] give post-Strokes neo-garage rock a tidy soul makeover. [Sep 2006, p.111]
70
All Music Guide
They make honest indie rock for those looking for a solid, good song. There's no frills, no fancy production, just the purity of these songs.
Read Full Review
67
Austin Chronicle
Razorlight shoots from the hip noticeably more immediate than the group's more manicured 2004 debut.
Read Full Review
60
Prefix Magazine
The thinness of the sound, the lack of any edge, and the fact that most of these songs start off terribly prove too much to overcome, but Razorlight is not nearly the disaster that it could've been.
Read Full Review
60
Uncut
It strives shamelessly for the widescreen appeal of U2's Big Music. [Aug 2006, p.88]
60
Mojo
On the downside, Razorlight is lyrically hamstrung. [Aug 2006, p.104]
50
Drowned In Sound
They’ve merely decided to exchange one set of quite transparent influences for another, less-effective set.
Read Full Review
50
Under The Radar
Up All Night is far from terrible and often a pleasant listen, but there’s nothing particularly enchanting about singer Johnny Borrell’s “vox,” and if anything seems to be lacking here, it’s perhaps a sense of musical identity. [#15]
40
musicOMH.com
It's those lyrics that make much of this second album such a disappointment.
Read Full Review
40
Rolling Stone
The tight arrangements are impressive in their guitar-bass-drums spareness, but the overall feel still falls somewhere between sterile and silly. [7 Sep 2006, p.107]
30
PopMatters
Razorlight is a bloodless, careerist record that has nothing to say that you haven’t heard a million times before.
Read Full Review
28
Pitchfork
They've jettisoned nearly all their Strokes, Television, and other grab bag post-punk propensities, turning instead to adult alternative as a foundation for this late-20s midlife crisis. I guess if ya can't beat 'em, just quit and make soft rock!
Read Full Review
0
Stylus Magazine
The solipsism and trite accounts of benders from the first album are still there, but the music has gone exceedingly soft.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 32 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Gabi P. gave it a10:
<3 genius

mark p gave it a10:
Thank god Razorlight have grown up a bit.. a far better second album, their first still lingering in teenage angst (groan... cliche etc...) Bubbling with excellent melodies and likeability, it was the best album of 2006, er, along with Lilly Allen and Joanna Newsome. A mix of Talking Heads 77, Violent Femmes in their fresh, playful way. The difficult second album is a timeless classic. 10/10

Jurgen B gave it a2:
This album is full of trite lyrics although some good hooks arise from time to time, never convinced by singer's voice, bland soft pop/rock, plenty of pointless guitar melodies strewed over.

Review Boy 15 gave it an8:
This is different. But a good kind of different. I dont like the way razorlight are being pasted by reviewers. Their music has a kind of warm feeling to it, particularely in songs like : " 'in the morning', 'America', and 'Los Angeles Waltz' "

dave r gave it a5:
i didn't much like the first album, bar a couple of diamonds in the rough. this is a watered down and even less varied effort which, despite its occassional peaks, kind of comes and goes without you noticing or really caring. that said, anyone who reviews an album on the strength of hearing just 3 songs (Guy H) and rates it '0' is a tit.

Ben Q gave it a2:
Average. It's all too soft. It's put me right off razorlight now. Don't buy it.

Guy H gave it a0:
I can't believe Q has given this album 5 stars... then again they judged REM's 'Reveal', the Chili Peppers 'By The Way' and the latest by Muse as five star albums (all disappointing albums... doh!). I have only heard three songs off this album including the single and 'America' and they are pitiful. Please can someone stop the televised advertising campaign...

Read more user comments...

Discuss this album in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use