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If All I Was Was Black Image
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

  • Summary: The 16th full-length studio release for the soul singer was written and produced by Jeff Tweedy.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Nov 17, 2017
    84
    So Black is a heavy record, but there are bright moments sprinkled throughout.
  2. Nov 13, 2017
    80
    Staples is in strong voice throughout, yet on All Over Again, the closing folk blues look back on a lfe lived without regrets, she sings even lower than usual, sounding her age--impossibly wise and dignified. A fitting end to a great record.
  3. Mojo
    Nov 13, 2017
    80
    An album that opens full of tension, riot and discord--before the acoustic gospel of Peaceful Dream leads into strong pleas for universal love and understand and quests for personal redemption. [Dec 2017, p.94]
  4. Nov 17, 2017
    80
    The lyrics sometimes reflect Tweedy's usual tropes as a writer, but Staples gives them a musical and emotional force that sets them apart. Her voice is in splendid shape for a septuagenarian, still supple and able to navigate the twists of the melodies while sailing confidently over the arrangements that fuse indie rock with the feel of '70s soul. ... Quite simply, this is an album America needs.
  5. Q Magazine
    Nov 22, 2017
    80
    Potent stuff. [Jan 2018, p.114]
  6. Nov 17, 2017
    75
    If All I Was Was Black is suffused with contemporary political resonance, married to Staples’ timelessly transcendent gospel-meets-bluesy-folk. That push-pull between sorrowful analysis of the current state of the country and hope for the future is its defining quality, and it works--mostly.
  7. 60
    You may wish the songs were a little tougher (the Wilco frontman might have spread himself too thin writing the entire album), but Tweedy’s words preach without sounding overly preachy. The backing musicians effortlessly find a funky/soulful groove and even at low boil, Mavis Staples remains a force of nature.

See all 18 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. May 9, 2018
    6
    A consistent effort that at its best poses thought-provoking questions on the state of America and at its worst sounds a little too much likeA consistent effort that at its best poses thought-provoking questions on the state of America and at its worst sounds a little too much like other songs on the album. Expand
  2. Nov 29, 2017
    4
    If I Was Always Was Black is one of those movies that make a think: "maybe life make time as effort more reliable, thanks guys." here we areIf I Was Always Was Black is one of those movies that make a think: "maybe life make time as effort more reliable, thanks guys." here we are as one as the ugly was cultured ameriacn would rate this movie just becase slavery was a past claw at black was culture. was black culture man always reeling me out of at past culture mistake was clearly mass culture disguised as black man loyal man good? made me money from day on,e this has made has to help children was shape make massive impact man good freaking luck. Expand