Crack-Up
by Fleet Foxes
  • Record Label: Nonesuch
  • Release Date: Jun 16, 2017
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
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  1. musicOMH.com
    Jun 22, 2017
    60
    Crack-Up is, in its way, just as exhausting a listening experience as Pure Comedy.
  2. The Guardian
    Jun 15, 2017
    60
    At its most straightforward, Crack-Up features a digressive, segmented, prog-rock-style take on the sound of the band’s first two albums, with mixed results.
  3. Mojo
    Jun 5, 2017
    60
    If Crack-Up falls short of perfection, it inspires hope that transcendence is waiting around the corner. [Jul 2017, p.84]
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  5. The A.V. Club
    Jun 16, 2017
    58
    The band has always prided itself on ornateness, and in that sense, Crack-Up is its richest release to date. But more often than not, all that fussiness robs it of any impact.

Awards & Rankings

60
#60 Most Discussed Album of 2017
90
#90 Most Shared Album of 2017

User Reviews

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User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 148 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 126 out of 148
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 148
  3. Negative: 12 out of 148
  1. HugoPavi
    Jun 16, 2017
    10
    Takes everything that was great about self-titled and Helplessness Blues and elevates it to the next level. This is Fleet Foxes' magnum opusTakes everything that was great about self-titled and Helplessness Blues and elevates it to the next level. This is Fleet Foxes' magnum opus and in my humble opinion, the front-runner for AOTY at the moment. Some of the most beautiful, melodic, and ambitious music you'll hear this year (or any year for that matter).… Full Review »
  2. jpowell28
    Jun 19, 2017
    10
    "Crack-Up" is everything I hoped for and more. The songs all flow beautifully into each other, and the instrumentation is more complex and"Crack-Up" is everything I hoped for and more. The songs all flow beautifully into each other, and the instrumentation is more complex and dynamic than on both of their previous releases. Robin Pecknold's amazing voice has been missed these last 6 years and it is fine form here - the harmonies that make Fleet Foxes who they are are here in full force. It is a true headphone album, and needs to be listened to that way in order to take in every intricacy - I hear new things every time I listen to it. It also needs to be listened to all the way through at least once. I can listen to highlights such as "Fool's Errand" and "Mearcstapa" on their own but as a whole, this album is at its finest. A masterpiece and the best album of 2017 so far.… Full Review »
  3. Paulo_Jorge
    Jun 16, 2017
    9
    Again, guys like The A.V Club, Mojo and Slant Magazine proves how good they can f*ck up sometimes, neither they gave Crack-Up the ammount ofAgain, guys like The A.V Club, Mojo and Slant Magazine proves how good they can f*ck up sometimes, neither they gave Crack-Up the ammount of listens it needed neither they get Fleet Foxes at all.

    Water moving and storm crashing sounds build a great background to sustain the album`s context, as it being about radical turns in life, how everything suddenly changes as unexpected as a storm, those are also congruent to Fleet Foxes ideology, unfortunately they`re the few parts on the album that resembles the close approach to nature that Fleet Foxes captivated in their previous work, but I do see this as a pro, as if Crack-Up represents a more direct and realistic turn for Fleet Foxes, abandoning their nature based metaphors to something more feet to the ground.

    Crack-Up is not only an unexpected turn for Fleet Foxes context-wise, but instrumentally as well, featuring their most experimental and adventurous songs, despite the awkward transition in the end of the astonishing I Should See Nemphis, all of the efforts to bring a bolder and different sound to the table pans out as Crack-Up being Fleet Foxes most diverse sounding experience, with an even more ambitious instruments diversity, the album is fulled with moments of pure beauty.

    In tracks like Cassius - and Fool`s Errand Crack-Up proves to be the exact antagonist of Helplessness Blues, changing all the romance to Pecknold`s affliction from believing in his dreams and waiting for a sign, as this being a fool`s errand, as well as comparisons between Cassius, the Roman traitor, and the police officers that betrayed the idea of them being the ones who`s suppose to maintain our safety, on 05-06-2016, in the song Cassius -.

    Sometimes as straight forward as the glorious three parts opener, sometimes as metaphorical as I Should See Memphis, Crack-Up maintains the characteristics of being an instrumentally bold, masterly crafted and produced album, from the opener to the closer, the self-entitled track, a thoughtful metaphorical track that sums up all the album`s reflections, but not giving it a solution, simply leaving all of Pecknold`s thoughts, which I see as Fleet Foxes statement of change, of pure evolution. Not a perfect piece tho, it isn`t as lyrically powerfull as their previous two albums, but it doesn`t lights off Crack-Up`s amazing accomplishments.    … Full Review »
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