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Amazon.com

Shock Value is a far-reaching and ambitious disc; a masterpiece, even, in its own way.

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Observer Music Monthly

It's an undeniably impressive range of talent and, for the most part, Shock Value pulls off every trick it tries.

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RapReviews.com

What may be the most shocking about "Shock Value" is how Timbaland continually manages to stay one step ahead of the competition.

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Entertainment Weekly

Timbaland's good stuff — ''Oh Timbaland,'' ''Bounce'' (with Timberlake, Dre and Elliott), and half a dozen others — is really good: music that moves the hips and stirs the head.

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Los Angeles Times

Timbaland's laser-focused sense of what pop should sound like has changed not only hip-hop but vast areas of pop, and it's solidified here in daring beats and masterful arrangements. Yet the narrative pull that justifies the album format falls short.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

It's nice that Timbaland is intent on challenging himself and his fans, but his daring misfire is the rare major-label hip-hop album that's arguably too adventurous for its own good.

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Rolling Stone

Shock Value doesn't feel as random and indistinct as many albums by producers using all-star lineups do. [19 Apr 2007, p.62]

Prefix Magazine

Shock Value isn't a perfect album, but it does possess various charms.

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Boston Globe

Solid if unspectacular.

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Slant Magazine

Shock Value recycles many of the same beats, melodies, and other sonic ideas that were used (better and most recently, with help from co-producer Danja) on Timberlake's album.

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PopMatters

A few tracks on Shock Value are exactly what you’d expect and hope for from someone with Timbaland’s recent track record, a few are straight-up awful, and most get your head nodding well enough as long as you’re prepared to turn off your brain.

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Stylus Magazine

Shock Value has a disturbing amount of chemistry-set mishaps.

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All Music Guide

[It] would be more accurately titled Timbaland Presents Slight Confusion or Timbaland Presents an Uneven Mess.

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New Musical Express

The beats here are as staggering as ever, but of an indulgent 19 tracks, none sound like they were good enough to give to anybody else.

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Hartford Courant

The real shock of the disc is the hit-or-miss results.

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NOW Magazine

Most of Shock Value confirms that Timbaland is most valuable when he's in the background.

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The Guardian

For all the trademark sonic trickery - honking rave synthesizers, fidgety beats, odd samples, vocal effects - there's a lack of decent songs.

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Vibe

On Shock, Timbaland has pushed himself--he's clearly striving for some of the charisma his best collaborators ooze. [May 2007, p.113]

Uncut

It's strangely joyless. [Jun 2007, p.115]

Playlouder

Timbaland has revealed himself to be a crass, stupid, venal prick who is pretty much talentless outside of production for other people.

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Dot Music

This lumpen, bloated, boring album is as much of a let-down as any of Timbaland's other "solo" works.

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Drowned In Sound

He is annoying, simple as; his repeated ego-stroking irritates like a mosquito bite on an already sunburned forearm – it only adds to the pain.

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Hot Press

This isn’t the place for Timbaland to try any new tricks and what starts off as something quite thrilling rapidly loses its impact over the course of the album’s 19 long tracks.

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cokemachineglow

A long collection of awful ideas and recycled ideas in the absence of an Idea.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes

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

Dan H. gave it a9:
I liked it quite a lot.

Dino M gave it a6:
Definitely not great, even with big singles behind it. Definitely better than a "NOW 69" album. If you boy compilation cds like NOW and all other types, this would be great for you. It's good pop from good artists. Just slightly better than the usual mainstream dribble.

Carin J. gave it an8:
My suggestion is that you first listen to track #18 'Hello'; make up your mind thereafter. There are three or four more songs that are really good but it's a very mixed bag.

Brittaney J gave it a10:
this is a wicked album

Scorpiochic gave it a10:
a great album. i've listened to it at least twice a day for two weeks straight. while elton number isn't all that, overall i love it. i hope he does it again-soon.

jon w gave it a10:
amazing.

Sagal S gave it a3:
Disappointment... There's a slight difference between being ahead of the current times and what Timbo has presented here.

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Timbaland Presents Shock Value

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