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Entertainment Weekly

Unabashedly hook-filled, the album will leave you aching to see this group live. [25 Jan 2008, p.70]

PopMatters

The album sounds like something complete, that survived the changes that were necessary to make it.

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Billboard

Taking pages out of some very strong playbooks (think Superchunk, Guided by Voices, early Wilco), the Whigs find a way to revive honest-to-goodness pop rock for a new generation.

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The New York Times

The Whigs are from Athens, Ga., and like Kings of Leon and My Morning Jacket, they give what they’ve learned from indie-rock a distinctly Southern stamp: a drawl in the vocals, twang and resonance in the guitars, a sense of continuity with the past..

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Austin Chronicle

A noisy fun house bouncing around Nirvana, the Replacements, and Guided by Voices, the Whigs' sophomore slam is just as likely to push you up against a wall as whisper pillow talk.

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The Phoenix

The 11 songs here clock in at a tidy 37 minutes--plenty of time to flavor the straight-ahead rock jolts with spaced-out country-rock ballads and pop-flavored rave-up replete with a horn section.

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Magnet

The Whigs occassionally hit on moments of poignancy, but most of their time is spent reinventing the classic-rock wheel in a rather self-aware fashion. [Winter 2008, p.114]

Hot Press

American slacker act back on track.

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Alternative Press

The problem with this kind of timeless rock 'n' roll is that every city in the U.S. has a band who have mnore or less mastered it. [Feb 2008, p.119]

Spin

It swaggers like prime Replacements, though with far better polish. [Jan 2008, p.103]

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Prefix Magazine

Mission Control is a collection of catchy, raucous tunes. There’s little innovation here, but that’s not what these guys are about.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

With drums drained of nuance and guitars always overpowering, the basic song structures sound formulaic. The few songs with radical differences stand out as models of power-pop craft:

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Rolling Stone

Here the lyrics continue presentable insofar as they're audible. But what they, the riffs or the Whigs mean, no one knows.

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Q Magazine

The punchy power-pop of Mission Control owes more to the Foo Fighters. [July 2008, p.113]

Uncut

If you wish The Hold Steady didn't look so clean, this is the band for you. [Aug 2008, p.113]

NOW Magazine

The Whigs are at their best when they embrace their more overt pop sensibilities over the wall-of-guitars thing, but it sounds like they need to expand their record collections.

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All Music Guide

They have enough clatter and commotion to keep Mission Control moving at a brisk pace, but they could use some extra oomph.

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Blender

This successor improves, sonically (recording in a studio with a producer will do that) and in its energy and sharp writing.

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Under The Radar

For people who enjoy overly polished, sub-par bar bands. [Winter 2008, p.89]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

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

K K gave it a9:
Not as consistently good as their debut album ("Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip"), but still impressively edgy for a sophomore output. Drum line still leads the band forward, with Parker's impressively fluid screams providing flamboyance.

J. H. gave it a1:
hey great name for your band even though the AFGHAN WHIGS used it 20 years ago. Yeah let me start a band called Zeppelin (no Led) and see how that works out or how about Pumpkins (no Smashing).

Daniel C. gave it a10:
This one is no doubt a breath of fresh air given the current state of rock. I urge you to go pick this one up today. The Whigs are also an awesome live band. Recommended tracks: "Like a Vibration," "Hot Bed," "Right Hand on My Heart," "Already Young," and "I Got Ideas."

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Mission Control

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