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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Devils & Dust
by Bruce Springsteen
Brendan O'Brien produced (and plays bass on) the singer's 19th album, which finds Springsteen backed by a variety of guests. Several of the 12 tracks here have previously surfaced in live performances, including two dating back to 1995.
| LABEL: |
Sony |
| RELEASE DATE: |
26 April 2005 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rock |
NOTES: Some versions come with a bonus DVD with live performance footage.
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
Los Angeles Times
The heart of the CD is filled with the compassion and craft that have made Springsteen such an invaluable figure in rock. [24 Apr 2005]
100
E! Online
An acoustic-based, late-night journey focusing on social and political bummers and characters who've been battered by life.
100
Mojo
[An] alarming intimacy is the bedrock of Devils & Dust. [Jun 2005, p.92]
91
Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
For all his overreliance on dramatic drawls, Southwestern locales, and mother love, Springsteen has stories to tell.
91
Entertainment Weekly
Devils is a more mature effort than Joad and Nebraska, for being a little less bleak. [29 Apr 2005, p.144]
90
PopMatters
Ultimately, Devils & Dust does not break new ground. In many ways, it is rather conventional -- a mostly acoustic collection that hearkens back to Bruce's origins as a singer-songwriter -- but it is this conventionality, in its acceptance of older American forms of music, where the disc hits its mark.
90
Drowned In Sound
Inevitably, critics will place Devils & Dust in a trio with Springsteen's other quiet albums Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad, but be aware that there’s significantly more production polish on Devils & Dust, as well as a wider palette of moods.
90
Rolling Stone
Devils and Dust is also as immediate and troubling as this morning's paper.
90
Delusions of Adequacy
Brilliant.
81
cokemachineglow
Like all of his records before it, Devils & Dust sounds at once like everything and nothing Bruce Springsteen has ever released.
80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Ultimately, Devils & Dust feels like his attempt to reestablish himself as a working performer; his new material comes without weighty expectations for grand pronouncements, or the burdens of being a living icon. In that way, it's considerably more successful than his last such attempt, the 1995 album The Ghost Of Tom Joad.
80
New York Magazine
Stands somewhere between Nebraska and Joad in terms of impact and quality.... But this album doesn’t merely find the middle ground between those two earlier releases: Its best songs break new ground for Springsteen.
80
All Music Guide
A record that's far removed in feel from the stark, haunting Nebraska, but on a song-for-song level, it's nearly as strong, since its stories linger in the imagination as long as the ones from that 1982 masterpiece.
80
New Musical Express
Welcome home, The Boss. [30 Apr 2005, p.64]
80
Uncut
While [Tom Joad] was often more like reading a book than listening to a record, this time Springsteen has struck a more natural balance between words and music. [Jun 2005, p.100]
80
Blender
These 12 songs... cleave to the theme of hope-is-all-we-have, while stopping short of an unnecessary, pat moral. [Jun 2005, p.116]
70
Paste Magazine
Devils & Dust is remarkably self-contained and perfectly linear: here is the aftermath of The Rising, when the plains go quiet, the windows shut and we pray, pause, and plot our next move.
70
Playlouder
Alas, it's not as consistently satisfying as 'Born To Run' or 'Born In The USA', and Springsteen's voice, always gravely at the best of times, has taken on an increasingly wizened air that sometimes renders it frustratingly impenetrable.
68
ShakingThrough.net
It's as if, having played the crowd-pleasing rock card, Springsteen feels the need to validate himself as a "serious" artist, but has mistaken a certain affected intimacy of approach for thoughtfulness and dramatic substance.
67
Austin Chronicle
Repeated listens to Devils & Dust reveal some of Springsteen's most pensive, if difficult, work.
60
Dot Music
A curiously unsatisfying odds'n'sods album.
60
The Guardian
The Rising sounded like a formulaic album made out of patriotic duty. Despite its flaws, formulaic is not an adjective that applies to most of Devils and Dust, an album that rarely does what you expect it to.
60
Q Magazine
In time, Devils & Dust will be regarded as an inspired stopgap. [Jun 2005, p.105]
30
Village Voice
It's long and boring and preachy.
The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 83 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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