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
70 Anjulie
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
59 Amanda Blank
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
64 Desolation Wilderness
88 Destroyer
63 The Dodos
77 Drive-By Truckers
74 The Duke & The King
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
77 Fruit Bats
83 Fuck Buttons
71 Nelly Furtado
47 Gary Go
68 Ghostface Killah
79 Girls
59 Gloriana
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
83 Japandroids
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
76 Lightning Dust
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
73 Modest Mouse
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
68 Nurses
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
63 Julian Plenti
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
75 Sian Alice Group
70 Simian Mobile Disco
58 Simple Minds
72 Six Organs Of Admittance
69 Slaughterhouse
80 Slayer
61 The Slits
62 Mindy Smith
83 Solillaquists Of Sound
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
68 Throw Me The Statue
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
70 YACHT
75 Yim Yames
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.

A Hundred Miles Off

EMAILPRINTby The Walkmen

The Walkmen reviews
70
8.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 34 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Record Collection

Release Date: 23 May 2006

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Indie, Rock

Summary

The New York band fronted by Hamilton Leithauser self-produced this third 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...

91

Stylus Magazine

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

Read Full Review >
90

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.

Read Full Review >
84

Filter

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

80

All Music Guide

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

Read Full Review >
80

Billboard

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

Read Full Review >
80

Alternative Press

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

80

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.

Read Full Review >
80

The Guardian

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

Read Full Review >
78

Austin Chronicle

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

Read Full Review >
75

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.

Read Full Review >
74

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.

Read Full Review >
70

Rolling Stone

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

Read Full Review >
70

Lost At Sea

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

Read Full Review >
70

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.

Read Full Review >
70

Mojo

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

70

Uncut

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

65

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.

Read Full Review >
60

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.

Read Full Review >
60

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]

60

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.

Read Full Review >
58

Entertainment Weekly

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

Read Full Review >
50

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.

Read Full Review >
50

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.

Read Full Review >
50

Under The Radar

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

40

New Musical Express

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

20

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.

Read Full Review >

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.

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