- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Entertainment WeeklyUnabashedly hook-filled, the album will leave you aching to see this group live. [25 Jan 2008, p.70]
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Taking pages out of some very strong playbooks (think Superchunk, Guided by Voices, early Wilco), the Whigs find a way to revive honest-to-goodness pop rock for a new generation.
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The album sounds like something complete, that survived the changes that were necessary to make it.
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The Whigs are from Athens, Ga., and like Kings of Leon and My Morning Jacket, they give what they’ve learned from indie-rock a distinctly Southern stamp: a drawl in the vocals, twang and resonance in the guitars, a sense of continuity with the past..
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A noisy fun house bouncing around Nirvana, the Replacements, and Guided by Voices, the Whigs' sophomore slam is just as likely to push you up against a wall as whisper pillow talk.
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The 11 songs here clock in at a tidy 37 minutes--plenty of time to flavor the straight-ahead rock jolts with spaced-out country-rock ballads and pop-flavored rave-up replete with a horn section.
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Mission Control is a collection of catchy, raucous tunes. There’s little innovation here, but that’s not what these guys are about.
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Alternative PressThe problem with this kind of timeless rock 'n' roll is that every city in the U.S. has a band who have mnore or less mastered it. [Feb 2008, p.119]
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It swaggers like prime Replacements, though with far better polish. [Jan 2008, p.103]
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MagnetThe Whigs occassionally hit on moments of poignancy, but most of their time is spent reinventing the classic-rock wheel in a rather self-aware fashion. [Winter 2008, p.114]
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American slacker act back on track.
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With drums drained of nuance and guitars always overpowering, the basic song structures sound formulaic. The few songs with radical differences stand out as models of power-pop craft:
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Here the lyrics continue presentable insofar as they're audible. But what they, the riffs or the Whigs mean, no one knows.
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This successor improves, sonically (recording in a studio with a producer will do that) and in its energy and sharp writing.
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The Whigs are at their best when they embrace their more overt pop sensibilities over the wall-of-guitars thing, but it sounds like they need to expand their record collections.
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They have enough clatter and commotion to keep Mission Control moving at a brisk pace, but they could use some extra oomph.
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Q MagazineThe punchy power-pop of Mission Control owes more to the Foo Fighters. [July 2008, p.113]
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UncutIf you wish The Hold Steady didn't look so clean, this is the band for you. [Aug 2008, p.113]
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Under The RadarFor people who enjoy overly polished, sub-par bar bands. [Winter 2008, p.89]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 9 out of 10
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Mixed: 0 out of 10
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Negative: 1 out of 10
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KKJan 30, 2008
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J.H.Jan 29, 2008
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DanielC.Jan 28, 2008