Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003 - Mogwai
Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003 Image
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critics What's this?

User Score
9.4 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 10 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Summary: This disc compiles tracks from all five sessions the band recorded for the BBC's John Peel and Steve Lemacq shows.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. Drowned In Sound
    100
    This is ageless music, and utterly, one hundred per cent essential.
  2. Pitchfork
    80
    Bottom line is that Mogwai are an insanely powerful live band, and these sharp recordings play like a unified set rather than a scraped-together compendium of disparate sessions.
  3. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    An essential Mogwai purchase. [26 Feb 2005, p.66]
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  4. Uncut
    60
    There's nothing here to surprise anyone familiar with Mogwai's chiefly instrumental, epic soundscaping. [Mar 2005, p.120]
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See all 20 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Daniel
    10
    Great Album.
  2. TylerT
    10
    Mogwai makes my brain smile.
  3. DavidC
    10
    An album of tracks recorded live for various Peel Sessions on BBC Radio, Government Commissions (the album name presumably relates to the BBC being a statutorily regulated body) captures the intense beauty of Magwai as a live act, but not their ferocity, you'd have to see the live for that. Having said that, this is a damn good album, especially the epic version of Like Herod which is musical abstract expressionism taken to the extreme - dark and long, paint it black.… Expand
  4. Anandgyan
    8
    Like a snapshot of a live show where the tracks segue nicely into each other, no tiring crescendo keeping coming back, but a smooth valley and a couple of peaks but what comfort and what a rush!… Expand

See all 7 User Reviews

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