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Everything Was Beautiful
by
Everything Was Beautiful Image
Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 24 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 12 Ratings

  • Summary: The ninth full-length studio release for J Spaceman's space rock band Spiritualized was recorded at 11 different studios.
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  • Record Label: Fat Possum Records
  • Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Post-Rock, Noise Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, Space Rock, Ambient Pop, Shoegaze, Slowcore
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Under The Radar
    Apr 29, 2022
    90
    There is immensely evident craftsmanship that runs through the album, and a newly revitalized soul that, for all its beauty, And Nothing Hurt missed. If it turns out that Everything Was Beautiful is the last Spiritualized project we ever get, it is an unexpected gift that lives up to the best of Jason Pierce’s storied career.
  2. The Line of Best Fit
    Apr 21, 2022
    90
    Everything Was Beautiful shows Spiritualized accessing yet another artistic plateau, forging an exemplary hybridization of unshakeable songs and sublimely assembled music.
  3. Paste Magazine
    Apr 20, 2022
    85
    Everything Was Beautiful marks another career-best in Spiritualized’s euphoric discography.
  4. Glide Magazine
    Mar 8, 2022
    80
    Everything Was Beautiful pulls heavily from throughout the Spiritualized catalog, whether it be the Ladies and Gentlemen-era “Best Thing You Ever Had”, the soft, sentimentality of Pierce’s mid-career work on “Crazy” or the lush balance of And Nothing. All those influences, and their tonal similarities to his last album, never distract or take away from the conceptual success of Everything Was Beautiful.
  5. The Telegraph (UK)
    Apr 22, 2022
    80
    You don’t need to be in an altered state to become overwhelmed by his mastery of controlled cacophony. It is a pleasure to report that everything is still beautiful in Pierce’s strange sonic world.
  6. Beats Per Minute
    Apr 27, 2022
    78
    Nothing here quite reaches the fizzy highs of something like “Come Together” or “Hey Jane”, and he can’t quite recapture the slow, sad, and syrupy balladry of past tracks like “Broken Heart”. But he can still kick up quite a storm when he wants to, and though perhaps a bit too streamlined for some fans, this is another fine album in Pierce’s and Spiritualized’s repertoire.
  7. Rolling Stone
    Mar 10, 2022
    60
    Most of Spiritualized's ninth LP comes off intricate, elastic, and soulful. [Mar 2022, p.71]
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See all 24 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Muzmarinator
    Apr 27, 2022
    9
    While it might not be up there with his classics like Ladies and Gentlemen or Lazer Guided Melodies Jason Pearce has moulded an epic littleWhile it might not be up there with his classics like Ladies and Gentlemen or Lazer Guided Melodies Jason Pearce has moulded an epic little journey together with this latest offering which is his best in some time. There is a nice sonic ark to the album and keeping it a little more lean means it’s not padded out with second rate material. The production is also improved over the previous few, and we have a return to the symphonic moments he is so good at. That said, I do miss some of the minute intricate details that have sown his best albums together. This still feels like a group of songs, where his best albums feel like a singular piece of art.… Expand
  2. Angel_Sigh
    Apr 23, 2022
    6
    It really wouldn't take much for Jason to get seriously good reviews, clearly. If an album as(relative to his past work) uninspired as thisIt really wouldn't take much for Jason to get seriously good reviews, clearly. If an album as(relative to his past work) uninspired as this can get an average of 83 then imagine how crazy critics would go if he offered up a genuine indian summer of an album.
    Instead, we get a seven track album. Of those tracks two have been floating around online in live form for years, namely D Song and A Song, and are, respectively, pretty good and turgid. Another was made for a NASA compilation album, the album high-point Always Together With You(which to be fair has had a glorious multi-voice chorus added to its original slightly meandering, indecisive form). Two more have been available on Spotify for something like two months; Crazy, which is another of the dreadful, stripped-back country-soul ballads that Jason inexplicably thinks are his forte, and the second best track on the album, the excellent Lockdown Song.

    Which, for a fan, leaves just two tracks that haven't been heard.

    I have long since stopped hoping, never mind expecting, Spiritualized to reach the heights of their nineties output. This band has been the single most important musical inspiration of my life, I love them and rank a clutch of their songs as the greatest things ever recorded by humans. But at this point there is nothing melodically surprising, none of the church-like, pin-drop beauty of earlier songs, music that felt like it was made of the most delicate materials in the universe. There is none of the roiling, dark, focused rock and roll of electricity or Cop shoot cop, or the daring chaos of no god only religion. It's all so incredibly tame and pleasant. And some of it is very pleasant. But Spiritualized were never just pleasant.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

80
#80 Best Album of 2022

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