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
Best of the Decade

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

75 Alberta Cross
70 The Album Leaf
69 Alkaline Trio
66 Animal Collective
84 Animal Collective
50 Athlete
82 Beach House
81 The Besnard Lakes
65 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
64 Dan Black
75 Mary J. Blige
75 Blockhead
79 Blood Red Shoes
70 David Bowie
64 The Brian Jonestown Massacre
72 Broken Bells
65 V.V. Brown
72 The Brunettes
71 Basia Bulat
78 Carolina Chocolate Drops
79 Johnny Cash
79 Chew Lips
82 Chicago Underground Duo
79 The Chieftains Featuring Ry Cooder
76 Citay
66 Clem Snide
77 Clipd Beaks
78 Clogs
66 Cold War Kids
75 Easton Corbin
80 Crazy Heart
70 Jamie Cullum
66 Fyfe Dangerfield
72 Delphic
64 Dinowalrus
78 Drive-By Truckers
59 Editors
71 Eels
70 Efterklang
81 Eluvium
82 Erland And The Carnival
57 Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now
63 Excepter
78 Field Music
76 First Aid Kit
68 Josephine Foster
82 Four Tet
71 Nils Frahm
74 Freeway & Jake One
75 Frightened Rabbit
82 Fucked Up
64 Peter Gabriel
79 Charlotte Gainsbourg
80 Galactic
67 The Gilded Palace Of Sin
73 Ernest Gonzales
59 Good Shoes
79 Gorillaz
70 Adam Green
79 Patty Griffin
76 Groove Armada
67 H.I.M.
43 Hadouken!
73 Harvey Milk
68 Juliana Hatfield
66 Jimi Hendrix
88 High On Fire
80 Hot Chip
66 The Hot Rats
88 Ray Wylie Hubbard
54 Hurricane Chris
76 Jaga Jazzist
76 Jaheim
70 jj
79 Freedy Johnston
54 Nick Jonas And The Administration
57 Ke$ha
66 Alicia Keys
74 The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
63 Lady Antebellum
65 Dawn Landes
82 Lawrence Arabia
74 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
82 Liars
72 Lightspeed Champion
37 Lil Wayne
82 Lindstrom & Christabelle
68 Little Boots
75 Local Natives
75 Los Campesinos!
67 Lostprophets
65 Ludacris
73 Magnetic Fields
74 Massive Attack
58 Katherine McPhee
66 Daniel Merriweather
76 Pat Metheny
72 Midlake
64 Holly Miranda
79 Allison Moorer
83 Motion City Soundtrack
53 Mudvayne
65 Mumford & Sons
55 Never Shout Never
85 Joanna Newsom
81 Scout Niblett
74 Nneka
75 Oh No Ono
70 OK Go
71 Omarion
77 Owen Pallett
84 Pantha du Prince
77 Past Lives
84 Pavement
78 Phantogram
65 Pit Er Pat
86 Polar Bear
64 Priestess
67 Quasi
77 Corinne Bailey Rae
71 The Red Krayola With Art & Language
81 Fionn Regan
77 Retribution Gospel Choir
57 Martin Rev
64 Rjd2
65 Rogue Wave
82 Jack Rose
76 The Ruby Suns
78 Sade
77 Gil Scott-Heron
77 Shearwater
69 Blake Shelton
84 Shining
68 Shout Out Louds
80 Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
73 The Soft Pack
80 Spoon
63 Ringo Starr
68 Story Of The Year
71 The Strange Boys
77 Strong Arm Steady
79 Surfer Blood
60 Tape Deck Mountain
82 These New Puritans
71 Robin Thicke
76 Tindersticks
81 Titus Andronicus
72 Toro Y Moi
63 Josh Turner
81 Vampire Weekend
79 Laura Veirs
79 Butch Walker And The Black Widows
63 The Watson Twins
69 We Are Wolves
66 Kanye West
64 Wetdog
51 The Whigs
67 White Hills
79 The White Stripes
72 The Whitefield Brothers
68 Wu-Tang Clan
75 Xiu Xiu
78 Yeasayer
73 You Say Party! We Say Die!
63 Young Money
61 Rob Zombie

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Songs And Other Things

EMAILPRINTby Tom Verlaine

Tom Verlaine reviews
68
8.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 1 vote
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Thrill Jockey

Release Date: 25 April 2006

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Indie, Rock

Summary

'Songs' (one of two April 2006 releases) is the former Television frontman's first vocal release in sixteen years. Television's Fred Smith guests.

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...

80

All Music Guide

Typically cryptic and loaded with tasty guitar, Songs and Other Things is an excellent return for Tom Verlaine.

Read Full Review >
80

Tiny Mix Tapes

Tom Verlaine has delivered yet another beautiful creation to us.

Read Full Review >
80

Uncut

The best tracks... are almost as good as Television's monumental Marquee Moon. [May 2006, p.100]

80

PopMatters

The most impressive thing about Songs and Other Things is that Verlaine’s singing has actually gotten stronger with time.

Read Full Review >
70

Under The Radar

Songs is the stronger effort, tight and focused where ['Around'] is sketchy. [#13, p.89]

70

The Wire

At first Songs And Other Things sounds simple to the point of throwaway, but gradually gives up its secrets after a number of plays. [#266, p.67]

70

Mojo

Business as usual. [May 2006, p.104]

66

Pitchfork

Songs' best moments occur when Verlaine complicates the pop formula with serious tension.

Read Full Review >
60

musicOMH.com

The dynamic has more in common with Verlaine's best (known) work, even if the drama isn't as fully realised.

Read Full Review >
60

Billboard

Those looking for "Marquee Moon"-style guitar heroics will be disappointed.

Read Full Review >
60

New Musical Express

It doesn't seem the product of so revered an artist. [29 Apr 2006, p.37]

60

Q Magazine

Mixes his distinctive whinny toothlessly low. [May 2006, p.131]

60

The Guardian

Most of the 14 songs work as moments or hooks rather than as complete creations, suggesting the Verlaine coffee commercial may yet be upon us.

Read Full Review >
50

Prefix Magazine

Songs and Other Things' mid-tempo pop feels tossed-off, like Verlaine couldn't have been bothered to do more between walking the dog and a few dart games.

Read Full Review >
40

Delusions of Adequacy

Whilst Songs and Other Things may still attract loyal aficionados of Verlaine’s idiosyncratic solo work, it’s certainly unlikely to win over any sceptics.

Read Full Review >
33

Stylus Magazine

Fans of Verlaine's Television-era storytelling will be disappointed to hear him so simultaneously unchanged and unforthcoming.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes

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

CHARLES M gave it an8:
A. C.D. that repays repeated listening, some times irritating, occasionally sloppy but never boring. A welcome return from near oblivion for one of musics few originals. And nice to hear Tom looking for new sounds, moving forward, away from Marquee Moon, and Foxhole and Words from the Front and Call Mr Lee and into the more thoughtful, paced territory of a man in late middle age. I sure hope that he lives up to his promise to continue recording now that he has picked up on his career and that he makes some money out of it this time around

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | March Madness | TV | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use