• Record Label: Spin Art
  • Release Date: Oct 12, 2004
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Spin
    91
    There isn't a tune on No Cities Left, the Dears' gorgeous second album, that's not pitched at a minor state of emergency. [Jan 2005, p.99]
  2. Mojo
    90
    A drizzly doomsday masterpiece. [Nov 2004, p.108]
  3. Sad music has never sounded so uplifting.
  4. This is an album on which EVERYTHING ace you can think of in indie happens.
  5. Filter
    86
    An astoundingly complex, deeply evocative pop record. [#13, p.98]
  6. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Sound[s] like Marvin Gaye fronting The Smiths while the London Philharmonic Orchestra has a stab at the Burt Bacharach songbook. [9 Oct 2004, p.55]
  7. At its best sounds like a suicidal combination of Blur and the Divine Comedy.
  8. An album that shimmers in unexpected places, is never predictable, and should set the Dears up to be major contenders in 2005.
  9. Uncut
    80
    This is seriously literate stuff, and all the better for it. [Nov 2004, p.120]
  10. There’s a bit too much flab on No Cities Left for it to be the truly great album it aspires to be.
  11. A curious amalgamation of styles that is ultimately quirky and compelling.
  12. No Cities Left is a very good album, just not quite the timeless classic some would lead you to believe.
  13. Q Magazine
    70
    Can be summed up succinctly: Damon Albarn sings The Smiths. [Nov 2004, p.130]
  14. The Dears, by and large, make tracks that would slide without much distinction onto any number of mid-90s albums, neither gumming up the works nor sounding particularly special.
  15. It is true, this album does have songs and nearly all of them suffer the same fate: a few great ideas ruined by the need for everything to be so overblown and melodramatic.

Awards & Rankings

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 23 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 23
  2. Negative: 1 out of 23
  1. Mar 29, 2011
    10
    This is what got me into the expansive and constantly-impressive realm of Canadian indie rock, and I can't think of anything better to startThis is what got me into the expansive and constantly-impressive realm of Canadian indie rock, and I can't think of anything better to start such an intrepid appreciation. Gold Star Murray Lightburn. Full Review »
  2. DennyC
    Oct 19, 2006
    8
    Lost in the plot & we can have it God damn brilliants songs
  3. TomJ
    Jun 29, 2006
    10
    amazing