Good Souls Better Angels
by Lucinda Williams
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
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  1. Q Magazine
    Apr 21, 2020
    100
    It's the voice that carries it all: rawer and more rousing by the minute. [Jun 2020, p.108]
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  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Apr 21, 2020
    91
    Most fully realized work in more than 20 years. [May 2020, p.101]
  3. PopMatters
    Apr 27, 2020
    90
    Better Souls Good Angels was written and recorded well before the pandemic. But the album, with its darkness tinged with glimmers of hope, its rage touched with tenderness, is very much one for our terrible time.
  5. American Songwriter
    Apr 21, 2020
    90
    One of the most searing, potent and passionate albums you’ll hear this year.
  6. The Line of Best Fit
    Apr 24, 2020
    85
    As a songwriter and a storyteller, she’s simply never recorded anything quite like it. After so long in the game, it’s miraculous to hear her take such a fresh approach to her sound.
  7. Record Collector
    May 29, 2020
    80
    What continues to both disarm and comfort about Williams as she glides into her late 60s on the crest of an extraordinary career now entering its fourth decade, is how adept she remains at shifting mood, tone, emotion and musical palette at the drop of a plectrum
  8. musicOMH.com
    May 8, 2020
    80
    There are moments on Good Souls Better Angels that recall mid-’90s Neil Young in its focused fury and righteous anger – some may be put off by the rather grim tone, but if you’re seeking a soundtrack for the end of the world, you’ll find none better than this.
  9. Rolling Stone
    May 5, 2020
    80
    Her best LP since 1998's landmark Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. [May 2020, p.89]
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  10. Pitchfork
    Apr 28, 2020
    80
    While her recent records have used their sprawl to navigate a wide array of styles and moods, she now finds a range that pulls her into focus. It is roots music, bursting from the ground, changing form in the light of day.
  11. Paste Magazine
    Apr 24, 2020
    80
    Good Souls Better Angels is proof that even legends like Lucinda don’t just leave their best work behind them one day: They keep writing and making as long as they can, challenging people to listen to their newest music with the notion that it could be some of their best.
  12. Classic Rock Magazine
    Apr 24, 2020
    80
    Williams’ anger is reflected in the music, which tempers her primal electric blues and country with garagey punk and heaving rock. Yet there’s also empathy, hope and an unyielding sense of humanity at work here.
  13. The Telegraph (UK)
    Apr 24, 2020
    80
    The guitar playing throughout is fantastic, rhythm and lead entwining around Williams’s beautiful, ruined voice, rising to a fury on tough rockers. ... It is an angry record but one that can make you shake your fist into the void and feel that, at least, no matter how bad things might look, you are not alone.
  14. Exclaim
    Apr 23, 2020
    80
    There's so much more to Good Souls than that aforementioned fiery fare. She and her band make "Bad News Blues" more than live up to its title, both in tone and lyrics. ... Many of those tracks suit the despair, rage and hope of the moment, while also speaking to enough big truths to be timeless.
  15. Glide Magazine
    Apr 21, 2020
    80
    There are songs where she’s smoothed out the edges somewhat. That, with the raw instrumentation framing it, makes this one of her stronger vocal outings.
  16. Mojo
    Apr 21, 2020
    80
    There are straight-ahead, stripped down, old-style blues rockers. ... Also there just the blues - slow beauties that seem to be about depression and being lost, that feel more personal than political. [Jun 2020, p.88]
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  17. Uncut
    Apr 21, 2020
    80
    She writes about toxic masculinity and abusive relationships with racing candour, and she sings with a fresh, unnerving snarl that weaponises her signature twang. [May 2020, p.35]
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  18. The A.V. Club
    Apr 27, 2020
    75
    If there’s a downside to the electricity in Williams’ veins on Good Souls Better Angels, it’s that the gentler material doesn’t have quite the same impact.
  19. AllMusic
    Apr 27, 2020
    60
    As fine as that is, it comes from someone who is capable of better work, and though this is still recommended to fans, it's ultimately a good album from someone who has been consistently great in the past.
  20. The Independent (UK)
    Apr 23, 2020
    60
    There are moments when it all starts to feel a little bit too doom-laden. But Williams saves not only the best, but the most hopeful, until last. ... An impressive but relentless album.

Awards & Rankings

73
#73 Best Album of 2020

User Reviews

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User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Lajaleaa
    Jun 18, 2020
    7
    ( 75/100 )

    Lucinda es de las chicas que han crecido rasguñando la guitarra con el gusto que se puede tener en una vida enojada y triste. Su    ( 75/100 )

    Lucinda es de las chicas que han crecido rasguñando la guitarra con el gusto que se puede tener en una vida enojada y triste. Su Rock, Country y Folk ha sido una consciente experiencia femenina sobre su país, sus lecciones y los hombres de su vida. En este álbum, Lucinda explora un lado pesado y arrebatado de la edad, la soledad, la familia, el tiempo, las angustiosas incertidumbres y las pesadas certezas de la vida en medio de la adultés. Su voz, aunque envejecida, todavía poderosa, acompaña a su guitarra con toda la intención de rockear y embriagar a todos los vaqueros tristes y enojados con un Country-Rock añejo y agrio. Este Rock no es anda nuevo, y a veces es cansado o monótono, pero la sensibilidad y la intención honran la experiencia en la vida de la forma más clásica, se aprecian.
    -
    Lucinda is one of the girls that has grown up scratching the guitar with the pleasure of an angry and sad life. Her Rock, Country, and Folk has been a constant feminine experience about her country, the men and lessons of her life. In this album, Lucinda explores a heavy and outburst side of age, solitude, family, time, the anguish of uncertainty, and the heaviness of the certainties of life in adulthood. Her voice, even if old, still powerful, joins the guitar with all of the intention to rock and drunk all sad and angry cowboys with a stale and sour Country-Rock. This rock is nothing new and sometimes is tiring and monotonous, but the sensibility and the intention of honoring the experience in life in the most classical way, are appreciated.    … Full Review »
  2. DallasTex
    May 1, 2020
    9
    There has been a lot of attention to the lyrics on this album, but its the BAND that kicks it. This album totally rocks, and, yes, there areThere has been a lot of attention to the lyrics on this album, but its the BAND that kicks it. This album totally rocks, and, yes, there are definitely punk overtones on some of the tracks.… Full Review »
  3. bjmul67
    Apr 27, 2020
    10
    This is a fine example of an extraordinary songwriter finally FULLY gelling with an extraordinary backing band. It is wondrous dirty blues,This is a fine example of an extraordinary songwriter finally FULLY gelling with an extraordinary backing band. It is wondrous dirty blues, gothic south stories told through the lens of one who understands pain and joy more than most, with a groove that is haunting at times, infectious at others. Buick 6 is a perfect compliment to one of music's best.… Full Review »
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