Rehearsing My Choir
by The Fiery Furnaces
Metascore
63

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 25
  3. Negative: 5 out of 25
  1. Pitchfork
    40
    As a think piece, Rehearsing My Choir is enormously engaging, but as a pop record, it's exhausting and fruitless.
  2. ShakingThrough.net
    56
    Rehearsing My Choir is too self-consciously hip to be a twilight reflection on things past and is filled with personal asides only blood relatives can relate to.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    50
    There might be a compelling story in there, but when the Furnaces' songs come in to elaborate on her tales... it's all but impossible to figure out what's going on. [6 Nov 2005]
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  5. Blender
    60
    Not for all--or even most--tastes, the result is abrasive and weirdly haunting. [Nov 2005, p.135]
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  6. Entertainment Weekly
    42
    [The Grandmother's] spoken-word soliloquies only deepen Choir's too-clever-for-its-own-good impenetrability. [28 Oct 2005, p.89]
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  7. Stylus Magazine
    42
    Admittedly, though it’s clunky and overwrought, the real problem isn’t that the story is tedious or that Olga’s voice is awful--it’s actually weirdly thrilling--it’s that the album simply doesn’t feel as well executed as the premise promises.
  8. Billboard
    50
    Think of a visit to Nana's house reimagined as alt-Broadway musical theater. [29 Oct 2005]
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Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Most Discussed Album of 2005

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 131 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 105 out of 131
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 131
  3. Negative: 22 out of 131
  1. Paul
    Apr 26, 2006
    7
    A unique album, worked out better than i expected it to be but overall their least best record.
  2. GlennD
    Jan 11, 2006
    5
    It's all great fun, especially very funny on first listen, but musically it can be pretty trying. It just doesn't leave a lasting It's all great fun, especially very funny on first listen, but musically it can be pretty trying. It just doesn't leave a lasting impression.… Full Review »
  3. SpencerM
    Dec 11, 2005
    10
    Critics hated it for not being a pop record; a record they wanted. But it's not supposed to be, you idiots! Who would ever do a pop Critics hated it for not being a pop record; a record they wanted. But it's not supposed to be, you idiots! Who would ever do a pop record with their 83 year-old grandmother?? Nobody has, and nither have the Furnaces. This album is more of a radio show, a theatrically-whimsy and changing-as-is-life collection of sounds that tell the story of Olga Sarantos, the Furnaces' grandma. It's brilliant and if you don't like it not because you don't like Furnaces' style, but because it's too "out there" or "too far", then you're missing out.… Full Review »
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