Metascore
62

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 19
  2. Negative: 2 out of 19
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  1. Mojo
    Jan 19, 2012
    80
    Ersatz G.B. offers no easy explanations, but instead twists and excites the listener's brain with unexpected phantom bewilderments. [Dec 2011, p.100]
  2. Dec 5, 2011
    80
    Studio record No. 29, Ersatz G.B., delivers a heavy, ornery style of discontent. It's one of their best.
  3. Dec 2, 2011
    80
    With so many distinctive elements to their music – the ever-present Mark E. Smith, on whom most of the band's writing falls, that frenetic post-punk energy, and the garbled, often subversive, offensive, or disgusting lyrics – it becomes difficult to write about one album without placing it in the context of the others.
  4. Nov 23, 2011
    80
    The [line-up] present on Ersatz G.B. were also present for 2008's Imperial Wax Solvent and 2010's Your Future, Our Clutter, records that showed enough touches of class, craft and ingenuity to reassure The Fall's notoriously hardcore following that the future was surprisingly rosy.
  5. Nov 18, 2011
    80
    Ersatz GB still trumps most records released this year as, one suspects, The Fall always will.
  6. 80
    There's really only one salient truth about "Ersatz GB" – that The Fall, even at nearly 30 albums old, still stand alone and aloft.
  7. The Wire
    Dec 6, 2011
    70
    Some might find the group's repetitive grooves too smooth a match for all Smith's spewing. But his bark infects everything around it. [Nov 2011, p.58]
  8. Dec 5, 2011
    70
    Although the consistency of last year's Your Future... is not reached, there are some fine moments.
  9. Dec 2, 2011
    70
    Ersatz G.B. is a lesser Fall album, not as good as Your Future Our Clutter or The Real New Fall LP, and certainly not on a par with earlier landmarks like Slates and Hex Induction Hour.... Even so... there's enough fire and venom here to excuse occasional soft spots.
  10. Nov 16, 2011
    70
    It's not up there with their very best, but it's actually not that far off.
  11. Ersatz GB is a fine addition to an excellent recent salvo.
  12. Nov 10, 2011
    70
    There's still not enough testosterone on display for it to count as one of their very best, but it's not half bad.
  13. Q Magazine
    Dec 22, 2011
    60
    There are moments of genuine wonder. [Jan 2012, p.120]
  14. Dec 6, 2011
    60
    Contains a set of willingly - and often tedious - half-finished songs, forming a clumsy collage (cover art reference) that is actually more coherent and better enjoyed when contextualized within the band's 34-year trajectory.
  15. Uncut
    Nov 23, 2011
    40
    Shadowed by a might past, in Ersatz GB, this is a strictly prefabricated Fall. [Dec 2011, p.82]
  16. Nov 14, 2011
    40
    The mess can be tense and charmed, or just dull. Ersatz G. B. is too often dull.
  17. Nov 10, 2011
    40
    Everyone already knows what to expect and, largely, they'd be right.
  18. Nov 17, 2011
    30
    The problem with The Fall in 2011 is straightforward, really. The band isn't very good. Or, to put it another way, they are very slick and versatile rock musicians, but they have absolutely no sound of their own.
  19. Dec 1, 2011
    22
    Ersatz G.B.'s abrasiveness, inscrutability, and tedium are increasingly tough to take with repeated close listening... a shabby, grueling album.
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Dec 22, 2011
    10
    Mistah Smith - he be dirty. He be up river in a bad place. He be a tropic genius up a tree. With the monkeys. With the shade.

    P.S. I
    Mistah Smith - he be dirty. He be up river in a bad place. He be a tropic genius up a tree. With the monkeys. With the shade.

    P.S. I share the bewilderment on the mixed reviews. This is a amazing stuff - but perhaps a little scary for some.
    Full Review »
  2. Nov 26, 2011
    10
    I am bewildered at the mixed reviews. This is without a doubt one of the strongest of the 29 studio albums they have released. (I have ownedI am bewildered at the mixed reviews. This is without a doubt one of the strongest of the 29 studio albums they have released. (I have owned all.) They have been on an extraordinary roll (with a few exceptions) for the last 10 years. Since early the last decade, they brilliantly returned to their post punk roots after flirting (with mixed results) with various forms of techno pop since the late 80s. Full Review »