• Record Label: Matador
  • Release Date: Aug 19, 2003
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 22
  2. Negative: 1 out of 22

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  1. TravisF
    Aug 20, 2003
    10
    More brilliant with each listen
  2. SteveB
    Aug 28, 2003
    10
    great album
  3. bellet
    Mar 13, 2004
    10
    great
  4. AllergicReaction
    Sep 26, 2003
    10
    Fantastic. Just below the stuff from Propeller through Mag Earwig, but still a 10. Great stuff.
  5. BrianM.
    Aug 30, 2003
    8
    Pretty solid album from start to finish. It has a nice sound to it and the production compliments the songs. If you like Isolation Drills or Universal Truths and Cycles, then you'll be in for a treat.
  6. Apr 6, 2018
    8
    Great album, virtually every song on this release is very good. A vast improvement from the last album Universal Truths and Cycles, perfecting a production that will please classic fans and mainstream listeners alike with a pleasing assortment of songs.
  7. [Anonymous]
    Aug 19, 2003
    7
    Sonically this is closest to Isolation Drills; the songwriting reminds me most of frontman Pollard's late-90s solo work. The album has a handful of immediately accessible tracks, but overall it seems fractured and directionless on first listen. Many of the songs cohere & reveal their charms with time and patience. "The Best of Jill Hives" is up with the band's best work.
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 20
  2. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. If Earthquake Glue isn't a masterpiece, it's as close as this band can be expected to get, and is the rare Guided By Voices effort that's imaginative enough for longtime loyalists and tight enough for dabblers at the same time.
  2. The band functions as a unit, informing the songs with a structure and a fully realized design that has sometimes been lacking in past albums.
  3. 100
    Their best album since 1996's brilliant Under the Bushes, Under the Stars.