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Mad for Sadness Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: This live recording features 10 tracks, mainly consisting of material from the band's first two albums.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Malcolm Middleton's moody musical constructions -- sometimes punchy, sometimes hallucinatory and somnolent -- positively glisten in the live setting, and serve due notice that the most important trait of the band is its sound.
  2. This 1998 set, recorded in its entirety with minimal interaction with the audience, melds the finer points of their best work into a potent display.... this succinct live recording stands as their most direct and effective release to date.
  3. By far their most effective release.
  4. There is just enough of a changeup in the sounds of the songs (from a variety of releases) that makes the disc worth having if you enjoy the group.
  5. A surprisingly strong representation of the group's slow, sad appeal.
  6. Imagine Charles Bukowski or Irvine Welsh reading poetry with musical accompaniment provided by Joy Division, and you've got the general idea.
  7. Alternative Press
    60
    You may be surprised to learn that the roadside corpse does more than twitch; it gets up and positively rumbas in places ("Girls of Summer"), while "New Birds" heaves with the same fidgety agitation that occasionally made Joy Division seem special. [#147, p.83]

See all 8 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. SteveW.
    Dec 11, 2007
    10
    The best live album ever made from one of the best bands of the last 10 years.