Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

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

sort by namesort by score

70 AFI
65 Air
71 Alice In Chains
77 Amerie
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
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
88 Destroyer
63 The Dodos
77 Drive-By Truckers
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
83 Fuck Buttons
71 Nelly Furtado
47 Gary Go
68 Ghostface Killah
79 Girls
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
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
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
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
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
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
70 Simian Mobile Disco
58 Simple Minds
72 Six Organs Of Admittance
69 Slaughterhouse
80 Slayer
61 The Slits
62 Mindy Smith
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
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
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.

Eyes Open

EMAILPRINTby Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol reviews
67
7.9 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 56 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: A&M / Polydor

Release Date: 09 May 2006

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Alternative, Rock

Summary

Martha Wainwright and Ken Stringfellow are among the guests on Gary Lightbody's fourth Snow Patrol album.

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...

83

Stylus Magazine

Eyes Open is composed of broad, obvious songs with broad, obvious hooks, aimed straight for the hearts of as many people as the band can manage. All of this would be bad, horrible even, if it didn't work. But it does.

Read Full Review >
83

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Eyes Open dives headfirst into mainstream waters, hoping the strength of its intentions will be visible through the glossy bombast. It is, but it takes some surface-scratching to reach it.

Read Full Review >
80

The Guardian

Snow Patrol are poised to eclipse Coldplay as pop's greatest anthem-makers.

Read Full Review >
80

All Music Guide

Snow Patrol's hungry rock sound only gets bigger and better this time around.

Read Full Review >
80

Q Magazine

Snow Patrol are on their way to becoming essential. [May 2006, p.120]

75

E! Online

The band's naked ambition would be offputting if it didn't come wrapped in such resounding choruses.

Read Full Review >
75

Los Angeles Times

With thickly distorted, deeply rumbling guitars blazing, the U.K. band comes roaring out of the gate on its fourth album, intent to hammer home the point there's more to it than the Coldplay-like romanticism of its 2004 breakthrough single, "Run." [16 May 2006]

70

Dot Music

As enjoyable as anything this calculated can be.

Read Full Review >
70

Delusions of Adequacy

If there is one tiny flaw on this disc, it's the way some of the songs, after teasing us with intensifying waves of sound, tend to drift to an ending prior to attaining their destination.

Read Full Review >
68

ShakingThrough.net

Eyes Open shows you the elements of a successful record, without the heart that ultimately makes it a success.

Read Full Review >
66

Pitchfork

If Eyes Open lacks the vivacity of its breakthrough predecessor, it remains an assured example of a band still paying more than lip service to the notion of rock music as a vital pop form.

Read Full Review >
60

Uncut

So much of Eyes Open is nearly, but not quite. [Jun 2006, p.114]

60

Blender

Over 45 minutes, it feels monotonous and preposterously self-pitying, but in controlled doses, it bests all the rest of the U.K.'s current wave of post-Coldplay bedwetters. [Jun 2006, p.145]

60

Rolling Stone

Stronger songs could have elevated it past mere prettiness.

Read Full Review >
60

Drowned In Sound

To sum them up in one word, "reliable" would be the most appropriate.

Read Full Review >
60

musicOMH.com

Eyes Open takes the formula of the last album and magnifies it.

Read Full Review >
60

New Musical Express

Gone completely is any passing trace of the grubby, US college rock that made them so beloved underground when the real world wasn't taking notice. In its place, is an awful lot of big, blustery ballads.

Read Full Review >
60

Observer Music Monthly

Big, bold, cleverly-executed, thoroughly hollow stuff.

Read Full Review >
60

Mojo

Eyes Open hardly furthers Snow Patrol's rote one guitar attack, and repetition exposes Lightbody's interpretations of love's little hiccups as a tiring experience. [Jun 2006, p.108]

50

Prefix Magazine

Anything that was either subtle or complicated has been erased to provide ready-made heart-on-sleeve love songs.

Read Full Review >
40

Under The Radar

Snow Patrol got it all wrong with this album. [Summer 2006, p.93]

40

Spin

Overreaches. [Jul 2006, p.88]

40

Billboard

Snow Patrol suddenly sounds like a cross between Goo Goo Dolls and Train.

Read Full Review >
40

PopMatters

Eyes Open is far from a horrible album. It’s easy to listen to, it’s melodic, and it’s well-read. But you’re a strong (or naïve) listener if you can get past the calculation, the number-crunching, the crassness with which Lightbody has taken aim at the MySpace demographic.

Read Full Review >
40

NOW Magazine

Unfortunately, singer Gary Lightbody can't resist playing it safe. He slides comfortably back into the stadium-size ballads and mushy MOR formulas that scored on their million-seller, Final Straw.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 56 User Votes

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

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
This has got to be one of my favorite albums of all time. It's true that the beats might sound similar but its the lyrics that really make it stand out. Also Lightbody's voice is truly mesmerizing.

Tim K gave it a10:
This album is wonderful. It has some of the most beautiful songs ever written, yet it's far from soppy. Great music in its prime.

Thomas Z. gave it a10:
Wow, this album is the most I could've hoped for. I had only heard Chasing Cars, which was great, prior to buying the CD, I was completely blown out of the water by Set the Fire to the Third Bar. I must've listened to that song 100 times in the last two days. It's so beautiful, insightful, and not to mention, great eerie accompanying vocals by Martha Wainwright. With the exception of maybe How to Be Dead on Final Straw, most of these songs take the band up a notch from their last album.

KG gave it a6:
meh it was a ok thought it was quite boring with some songs sounding the same

Jason W. gave it a10:
I Love It

Kristina T gave it a10:
Terrific. Outstanding. I LOVE this album. The best track has to be You're All I have. Amazing.... Love all of it, every single moment!

bruce b gave it a10:
this has to be the BEST and most awesome album ever made (and i don't just mean by snow patrol!) Buy it you wont regret it ever....

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

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