Life And Times
by Bob Mould
  • Record Label: Anti
  • Release Date: Apr 7, 2009
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9

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  1. EE
    Apr 8, 2009
    9
    As a complete album with an arc of songs, it is Mould's most consistently solid record this decade. It doesn't necessarily have the front loaded highs of Body of Song, and is not as eclectic as District Line. Overall though, it may be better than both of those previous albums (certainly stronger than DL). The title track, the Breach, Argos, Spiraling Down, and most of all Wasted As a complete album with an arc of songs, it is Mould's most consistently solid record this decade. It doesn't necessarily have the front loaded highs of Body of Song, and is not as eclectic as District Line. Overall though, it may be better than both of those previous albums (certainly stronger than DL). The title track, the Breach, Argos, Spiraling Down, and most of all Wasted World are the highlights. WW is one of the best songs he's written and produced in years, and within it, he finally unleashes the sort of unhinged guitar solo he hasn't played since Beaster's "Tilted", 16 years ago! Argos is fun - SugarDu meets Pansy Division. The only eh songs are City Lights and Lifetime, the rest are fine tunes. He's been touting the record as Workbook revisited, but it really is not that; maybe just in spirit and in how he went about writing the songs. But they don't sound at all like Workbook. The album is streamlined, subtle, sturdy and compelling. Dog and Pony has stronger songs at times, Body had more hooks and sugarguitars, and FUEL had more melodic drive and velocity, but as a cohesive statement, Life and Times just might be the best Bob Mould release since Beaster.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. AllMusic
    80
    As immediate as Life and Times isn't nearly as diamond-hard as "Copper Blue," which is a great part of its appeal: it flows naturally, the music never pushes, it settles, comfortable in its own skin.
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  2. Hartford Courant
    80
    He's alternately reflective, rueful and accusatory, and he combines all three on 'I'm Sorry Baby, But You Can't Stand in My Light Any More.'
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  3. New Musical Express (NME)
    60
    Life And Times is unchallenging pap. But it's furnished with the odd line of lyrical craftiness and melodies that, on the whole, manage to keep the stabilisers on his career because (as always) they make the seemingly untenable emotions of their writer sound tolerable.
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