User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 234 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 15 out of 234

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  1. voodoocookie
    Jul 12, 2007
    3
    Wow, there are so many positive comments on here and a whole lot of hype. I am definitely on the other side of the fence being one of those who just totally doesn't get it! I've noticed comments all along the lines of - magical, trippy, psychedelic, feeling of "sitting on the beach on a perfect summer day, with cool breeze blowing in my face". This album just gave me feelings of Wow, there are so many positive comments on here and a whole lot of hype. I am definitely on the other side of the fence being one of those who just totally doesn't get it! I've noticed comments all along the lines of - magical, trippy, psychedelic, feeling of "sitting on the beach on a perfect summer day, with cool breeze blowing in my face". This album just gave me feelings of a very bad comedown after a messy night out and the repetition makes me feel like I'm trapped in a time warp on a bad trip that I can't get out of! I understand this is probably not for everyone but I am usually quite open with my music. I will try to give it another listen but not sure if it might drive me to insanity first... maybe someone here can try to convince me otherwise... I give this album a 2 for effort in the experimental department + 1 for the ability to generate all this hype! Expand
  2. Jo
    May 6, 2008
    3
    Boring...nothing fresh about it, I don't get the hype.
  3. RuK.
    Nov 2, 2007
    3
    How can you morons even compare this to Pet Sounds? 3/10 for a mostly terrible album. So many people fall for hype nowadays.
  4. EB
    Apr 4, 2007
    0
    Boring.
  5. DanielJ.
    Apr 8, 2008
    2
    This is just too abstract and weird for me. Why this album is in the toplist is for me a true mystery.
  6. JI
    Apr 17, 2007
    3
    sorry, it's just not that good. yes, it has harmonies, but it has little else going on. comparisons to brian wilson should be taken with a grain of salt. the vocal sound is similar but these are basically 2-part chants. there's a lot of hype in play here.
  7. musicfan
    May 9, 2007
    1
    All of the nice adjectives used to describe this album are true,...but only for about 45 seconds to maybe a minute or so when you realize its a warm fuzzy nogstalic GIMMIC that's just noodling along not going anywhere, boring the hell out of you and you've still got 8 minutes left of the same copped beach boy-esque sample looping over and over. I loved pet sounds, but this album All of the nice adjectives used to describe this album are true,...but only for about 45 seconds to maybe a minute or so when you realize its a warm fuzzy nogstalic GIMMIC that's just noodling along not going anywhere, boring the hell out of you and you've still got 8 minutes left of the same copped beach boy-esque sample looping over and over. I loved pet sounds, but this album ain't no pet sounds. Lennox created some nice sounds, but there's nothing here that deserves to be called an album, its completely devoid of content. Its a souless simulacrum. Its like paying the price of a steak dinner only to be able to smell chemical steak essense untill you're sick of the smell, without actually getting to touch, see, chew, or be satisfied by eating the real thing. Now I suppose chemical Steak esense could be kinda interesting to experience once, but only as a gimmic and certainly not worth the price of a real steak dinner. A sucker every minute I suppose. Collapse
  8. YourMom
    Jun 26, 2007
    0
    tiz shit
  9. NeilC
    Sep 5, 2007
    1
    It's impossible that so many people could really be so swayed by hype that they'd claim to love truly love a piece of work that is so dreary isn't it? No it's not. It happens all the time. If I had to give £1 to every person who will still be rating this as "the best album ever" in say 3 years I wouldn't be risking much at all. Buy it and be prepared to be It's impossible that so many people could really be so swayed by hype that they'd claim to love truly love a piece of work that is so dreary isn't it? No it's not. It happens all the time. If I had to give £1 to every person who will still be rating this as "the best album ever" in say 3 years I wouldn't be risking much at all. Buy it and be prepared to be disappointed but obviously tell everyone you think it's great so they will respect you as a muso. Expand
  10. k.
    May 6, 2007
    2
    Every track reminds me of the taste in my mouth after waking from the dream of being at a large banquet eating savory foods; the taste is cotton-like saliva cakes.
  11. JakeJ.
    Sep 17, 2008
    2
    This album succeeds in recreating, and, in a sense, updating the the Beach Boys sound. Of course, with the Beach Boys, you'd get actual songs as well, and those are what is missing here. What remains to be impressive is the sheer amount of hype that is being generated around this release. In five years, no one will remember it.
  12. HexumN
    Apr 15, 2007
    0
    This one must be for music snobs only. This is seriously the single most worst album I have ever heard and will probably ever hear in my life. How it managed such great reviews is well beyond me. Painfully awful. Absolute garbage. I'm sorry to sound so negative as I'm usually very open to music, but wow, this is just horrible. Wow.
  13. SeanA
    May 7, 2007
    1
    Speaking of not "hearing it" and heads in "nether regions", I'd like to know what Todd thinks this shares with Arcade Fire. Reverb? It has a lot of that and it gets to be irritating after 2 tracks. It has as a few nice moments but not enough to warrant all the 9s and 10s. This is an OPINION so don't let it upset you if you think the album is going to outlast the year.
  14. CameronS
    Apr 23, 2007
    0
    I cannot stand this at all. Preview the album and see how awful it is. This is just horrible.
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 31
  2. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Uncut
    80
    Magical. [Apr 2007, p.114]
  2. His careful attention to detail and masterful use of vocal harmonies are unparalleled in modern indie rock.
  3. Paste Magazine
    80
    It's as lucid a marriage of the eneffably strange and crayon-bright catchy as 2007 is likely to see. [Apr 2007, p.58]