Just Us Kids
by James McMurtry
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11

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  1. PaulC
    May 13, 2008
    7
    The songs themselves are excellent, in particular "Cheney's Toy," but I can't help but wish someone else was performing them.
  2. LarryW
    May 10, 2008
    10
    Another superb cd by one of the great songwriters of our generation. The music is more diverse and expanded, and the lyrics as biting, poignant and intelligent as ever. It ranks up there with his best.
  3. EricO.
    May 12, 2008
    7
    Let's get this out of the way right now; James McMurtry is a better writer than his dad. Consider as evidence "Song For A Deckhand's Daughter", "Outskirts" (both from "Too Long In The Wasteland") or "Levelland". He's a genius at crafting four-minute narratives that hold more water than most full-length novels, and yet a strange thing happens when he attempts to get Let's get this out of the way right now; James McMurtry is a better writer than his dad. Consider as evidence "Song For A Deckhand's Daughter", "Outskirts" (both from "Too Long In The Wasteland") or "Levelland". He's a genius at crafting four-minute narratives that hold more water than most full-length novels, and yet a strange thing happens when he attempts to get political: the humanity and humor of his best work go AWOL. We already have a Steve Earle, and he does this kind of thing far better than James. I love McMurtry's work, I've been with him since "Wasteland", but he should leave the pontificating to others and get back to what he does best, i.e. acute observations without the grandstanding.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

46
#46 Best Album of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. AllMusic
    80
    Just Us Kids is an album very much of its time that also speaks to the larger ideas of life in America in an uncertain age, and it's brave, smart, and pithy music that captures James McMurtry at the top of his game.
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  2. Austin Chronicle
    89
    In such stories, McMurtry locates again and again an element of humanity that saves his angriest screeds from easy pigeonholing.
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  3. Blender
    70
    Muscularly arranged with bongolated beats, psychedelic swamp guitars, boogie-woogie pine top and snowballing chorus hooks, Just Us Kids approximates a certain literate strain of early-'80s album rock.
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