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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Goodbye
by Ulrich Schnauss


9.3

based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 10 votes
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Rate this album

The third album for the German electronica artist.

LABEL:	Domino
RELEASE DATE:	10 July 2007
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Electronic

NOTES: Original UK release date 25 June 2007

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...

Billboard

Ulrich Schnauss returns with more lush, ambient music fitting for any chill-out session or long summer drive with the windows down.

Lost At Sea

An album that doesn't immediately astound, but gradually unfurls in dense atmospheric strands.

New Musical Express

This, his third album and major-label debut, stretches this sea of sound even further, ebbing and flowing from ethereal opener "Never Be The Same," to the folky strum of "For Good."

Village Voice

With Goodbye, he's finally got the levels just right. By moving even closer to the shoegazer sound, the result sounds less like pilfering and more like reinvention.

Spin

Gracefully melancholic electronica with too much soul to be relegated to sushi-restaurant background music. [Aug 2007, p.106]

All Music Guide

Goodbye is striking and rewarding in its own way; it just might take a little more time to sink into the murky new agey abyss.

cokemachineglow

Goodbye's shoegaze fascination, organic glow, and subtle shifts belie its apparent initial simplicity.

Filter

Goodbye follows in the same muted patterns as 2003's "A Strangely Isolated Place," but layers on the vocals (in thin, gauzy, washes of course) over his treble-heavy, misty backdrops of beats and synths.

Blender

He took three years to produce this follow-up, and the labor shows, for good and ill. [August 2007, p.117]

Amazon.com

In fact, "delayed," "drenched," and "dervish" pretty much sum up Goodbye. Schnauss piles on effects and layers in a psychedelic melee that would leave Ozric Tentacles and Pink Floyd standing transfixed by his stroboscopic strategies.

Stylus Magazine

Goodbye contains both the best and the worst of Schnauss’ output until now.

The Guardian

Schnauss sounds like a cross between Chapterhouse, My Bloody Valentine circa Soon, the Cocteau Twins and Enya, chugging along on barely audible Balearic beats.

BBC collective

It’s an evanescent experience, for whilst you’re awestruck by the sonics beneath the electronic sheen, you can’t remember anything much about them after they’ve evaporated at the end.

NOW Magazine

Goodbye's overall prettiness is both its weakness and its strength; the album is pleasant but blends into the background a bit too easily.

Almost Cool

Goodbye has a tendency to blur together in many places during the course of ten tracks and just under an hour in running length. If you like his past work, you might want to check this one out, but others will probably want to take a pass.

Pitchfork

The bad news is that the overwhelming vibe is still that of easy listening digital mush.

Under The Radar

The lack of a cohesive album sound and memorable melodies are real problems. [Summer 2007, p.88]

Drowned In Sound

On the whole Goodbye isn't really much more than a background music soundtrack, something that would probably sound much better in an elevator than on an iPod. That said, it’s good for running a mile to.

Playlouder

It was possible to ignore Schnauss' new age leanings previously but they're rammed home mercilessly here making too much of this album sound like Enya-period Sigur Ros.

Magnet

With a few exceptions, the rest of Goodbye remains little more than background music destined for life in service to candle boutiques and Saturn commercials. [Summer 2007, p.106]

PopMatters

In an apparent attempt to open up his appeal to broader audiences, Schnauss leaves his compositions seeming oddly detoothed.

The average user rating for this album is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chelc gave it a10:
Exceedingly deep and equally fragile, Schnauss has definitely continued in the right direction with this album. Truly thought provoking and touching, so rarely does electronica succeed so perfectly at emoting pure sweet emotion. Played live the music is surprisingly better, a rare occurence in this genre. Schnauss is too often underrated and misunderstood, but in the following years, his solid and devout following will surely continue to grow.

J VT gave it an8:
This album is just made to put on in the car.It makes even the most mondain shopping trip into an epic voyage. Not the best album from Ulrich so far mind you but it's up there with 'a strangely isolated place'. Just put it on and drive towards a hazy sunset and you'll realise what this album is all about. Bliss.

Damian T. gave it a7:
Quite good. Some of the tracks have a tendency to sound like each other. Worth listening to for 'Goodbye' though.

victor m gave it a10:
afull pack of dream. battery include.

H G gave it a10:
Songs "Goodbye" and "Stars" make the album.

Keith C. gave it a9:
Goodbye is a perfect album for anyone seeking to contemplate and/or digest difficult ideas. The music is certainly low-key, but I wouldn't say forgettable, for it has a way of penetrating to the core of one's mind while bypassing the 'popular hook' method of songwriting.

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Goodbye by Ulrich Schnauss

Goodbye
by Ulrich Schnauss