User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
- Summary: Ted Leo, formerly of Chisel, returns with his fourth album of punk-influenced singer-songwriter indie-folk rock.
- Record Label: Lookout
- Genre(s): Indie, Rock
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 15 out of 17
-
Mixed: 2 out of 17
-
Negative: 0 out of 17
-
Hearts Of Oak is one of those albums on which each song has the power to get you thinking, and the hooks to resonate inside your head long after it's through playing.
-
Alternative PressOn Hearts, riffs exist in cutting words and soulful guitar lines, not glittery axe solos; and every intricately timed punch to the throat is mastery. [Feb 2003, p.64]
-
If he's not this generation's most raggedly refined songwriting presence, then he's certainly in the top ten percent of his class -- a bona fide show-stopping tunesmith on a par with giants Elliott Smith, Ron Sexsmith and Richard Davies.
-
Eschewing pretentious unpretentiousness for unguarded passion, strict 77-82 influences for the classic rock stop on the FM dial, calculated instrumental inadequacy for guitar solos that are less technical flaunting (looking at you, Malkmus) than skillful, noisy exorcisms, Ted Leo makes a sound filled with so much authentic abandon, the British mags probably can't handle it.
-
In the vein of Kevin Rowland or Elvis Costello, Ted Leo writes lyrical rock songs that sprawl out and rarely depend on a chorus.
-
MojoThese songs of faith and endurance work because the singer/guitarist and his band play according to their album's title--with hearts of oak, which refers not to flesh turned stiff, but to spirits that are stout, strong, tall. [Apr 2003, p.112]
-
The impact is inconsistent but stronger.
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 7 out of 7
-
Mixed: 0 out of 7
-
Negative: 0 out of 7
-
MoiraDFeb 24, 2006
-
-
SteveG.Dec 14, 2003My favorite album of 2003. A truly amazing set of songs.
-
-
JeffSMay 23, 2003stunning, articulate and chocked with mighty hooks...like Mark E Smith with a soulful falsetto. Can't miss, guaranteed to have you humming
-
-
StephanieDMar 25, 2004I love Ted Leo
-
-
MarkRMay 10, 2003Several songs that simply refuse to leave my head
-
-
BenH.Aug 25, 2005A great ablum, a number of profound lyrics on it. But it isn't one of Ted Leo/RX most tuneful albums.
-
-
DaneDMar 29, 2005
-