- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Using only guitars and drums, the Pharmacists whip up a powerful mix of wild abandon and subtlety that is a perfect backing for Leo's vocal dexterity and clanging guitar heroics.
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Alternative PressArguably the best record of Leo's career. [Feb 2005, p.84]
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Leo manages to weave his messages into some of the tightest, most energetic rock you're likely to hear this year.
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BlenderMuch of [Sheets] sounds like a pop-punk update on Springsteen. [Nov 2004, p.137]
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It's the first truly inessential album he's made.
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Entertainment WeeklyPractically every song is a near-perfect amalgam of straight-up melodies and pogoing beats. [5 Nov 2004, p.80]
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FilterHas everything we've come to expect from Leo: it's clever, earnest, wry and literate, all delivered with his trademark falsetto flourishes. [#13, p.100]
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An album that sounds vital and immediate.
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The songs on his latest, often about political ambivalence and soul-searching alienation, are still catchy as V.D. But they lack the fiery complexity of past efforts.
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New Musical Express (NME)Firecracker mod-punk and allegorical political cut-and-thrust. [5 Mar 2005, p.51]
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Leo’s vision has crystallized. The songs are shorter and tighter than anything he’s seared onto tape, and his complex melodic phrasing arrives pitch perfect.
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The most Chisel-sounding record he's released as a solo artist, returning to stripped-down arrangements and, on "The Angel's Share" and "Little Dawn", his fascination with repetition.
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If Shake the Sheets lacks the subtle, nuanced excursions of its predecessor, it's redeemed by an urgent, unrelenting focus.
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Easily Leo's best album since The Tyranny of Distance.
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A strong contender for album of the year, Shaking the Sheets is a masterpiece of fucked-up mod pop: political but not preachy, insistent yet never twitchy, respectful but never blatant.
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Leo proves himself emotionally enervating throughout, so it’s really a shame that Shake the Sheets isn’t half so sonically invigorating.
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Leo exploits rock dynamics with the timing of a veteran stand-up comic. He bounces vocals across half-riffs, drops the drums in and out, and invariably holds back a little for the big finish.
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Crackles with sparkling guitar work and [is] simply a great, fun, rock n' roll album.
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Leo's singing (showing a few traces of a soul side) has never been more confident or convincing.
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Under The RadarLeo has proven himself a songwriter of intricacy and experiment, but what he's created with Shake the Sheets are not just songs. They are mantras. [#8, p.110]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 17 out of 19
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Mixed: 0 out of 19
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Negative: 2 out of 19
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MichaelSOct 14, 20069.6 I cannot wait for his next one.
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KingofthecosmosNov 27, 2005
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LelandROct 12, 2005Great album, some amazing stuff on here