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Stylus Magazine

It’s the band’s throatiest, most pressing and urgent release to date.

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Drawer B

This is not an easy record to absorb. The band’s rough-hewn production is tinny and sonically chaotic, but underneath the surface noise lurks one of the finest records of the year.

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Filter

The band has seized upon that sloshy saunter that we love and turned it into an elaborate dance. [#20, p.94]

All Music Guide

An album that's more like the Walkmen's concerts than the meticulously crafted sound of their other albums.

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Billboard

A set of rousing, sharply focused, late-night pleas and barroom romps that take the group well beyond its garage roots.

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Alternative Press

A Hundred Miles Off is nearly 100-percent on. [Jul 2006, p.204]

NOW Magazine

The songs are still full of lush guitars and dense, clattering percussion, but offer the added bonus of being more grandiose and emotional.

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The Guardian

Despite all the palpable influences, the Walkmen have made this album their own.

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Austin Chronicle

The Walkmen haven't changed much since B&A... but they've honed their nervy talent chiseling lines of post-punk history.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

The Walkmen careen through 12 songs that frequently devolve into sound-swallowing echo and boozy bellow, until the whole album becomes one long, moody abstraction.

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ShakingThrough.net

The concentrated unity of form and content that elevated sterling sophomore effort Bows & Arrows has been replaced by a footloose approach to songwriting and style that fails to mesh.

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Rolling Stone

Reveal[s] an unexpectedly lilting and rootsy side to its sound and a growing facility for evocative storytelling lyrics.

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Lost At Sea

Overall, A Hundred Miles Off is less intense than one may expect; there is no "The Rat" on this record.

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Delusions of Adequacy

While this most recent release does not equal the shimmering weight of Bows and Arrows, it has more than enough potency to stand on its own.

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Mojo

Give it time and you'll be rewarded. [Oct 2006, p.102]

Uncut

Although A Hundred Miles Off doesn't always score a bullseye, its vibrancy and colour win through. [Oct 2006, p.133]

Pitchfork

Despite occasional flashes of inspiration, much of the record blends together into a whole that is somehow much less than the sum of its parts; the ingredients are colorful, but the end result is disappointingly dull.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

The battle between the cream and the shit ends in a perpetual give and take, but it's the positives of A Hundred Miles Off we will remember in the long run.

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Q Magazine

This is an album steeped in classicism while still creating its own world. It just lacks the killer song. [Oct 2006, p.127]

Dot Music

As a result of [Leithauser's] strangulated mewls and caterwauls, "A Hundred Miles Off" is at times very difficult to listen to indeed.

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Entertainment Weekly

The CD's austere instrumentation brings out the worst in Leithauser, whose once-endearing tunelessness becomes a whining deterrent.

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PopMatters

When the Walkmen are on, they can be as compelling as ever, but they’ve just spent too much time creating television-drama background music and not enough energy stretching themselves.

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Prefix Magazine

A Hundred Miles Off needs a single or a hook to balance its trebly extremes, and Leithauser's good-ol'-boy tenor has lost some of its edge, tripping too easily into the whiny nether regions.

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Under The Radar

Throughout A Hundred Miles Off the songs are almost blistering, almost gut-wrenching, but almost is never enough. [#14]

New Musical Express

A hundred miles off, and they might as well be a thousand. [16 Sep 2006, p.37]

Playlouder

So while Hamilton Leithauser believes he's made a record comparable to the legendary 'The Basement Tapes', it seems almost churlish to point out that you'd be far better off digging out a copy of 'The Basement Tapes' and listening to it, than going out and purchasing 'A Hundred Miles Off' and listening to it once.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes

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

Jan V. gave it a5:
It's okay and would be passable without some of the standout tracks on the previous efforts. NOTHING on this album can touch the genius of My Old Man or New Year's Eve... I would say "nice try", but with what they've done before I don't think this is worthy. The best thing I can say is it's better than Pussy Cats.

Caroline gave it a5:
A huge disappointment. This album is messy, rambling, and lacks the characteristic charm of The Walkmen.

matt r. gave it a9:
Like a lot of others have said, the album gets better after repeated listens. The criticism really is surprising, given that it holds up well in comparison to the previous albums.

Max T gave it a10:
A vast improvment from Bows + Arrows. B+A was a little too polished, but A Hundred Miles Off has the raw energy of their live shows. Quite possibly their best album to date.

mike s. gave it a6:
Surprisingly solid, unique prodution and good raw sound to the album as a whole. The problem with the walkmen, is that people keep waiting for them to "evolve" and they still have not stepped up their game and they keep writing stuff that sounds sort of like the strokes. That type of music is going out of style not quite popular anymore, it was fresh when we heard it on their debut album, but they need to switch up genres, otherwise they continue to be an above average band with potential not fully tapped into.

tommo c gave it a10:
With repeated listens my disapointment has turned to joy.

Frippe S gave it a9:
Yep, their best yet, lots of really, really good songs, people giving this album a bad grade are really not into this kind of music att all, and shouldn´t try to be. Walkmen delivers.

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A Hundred Miles Off

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