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Classic Rock MagazineJun 21, 2013It's an undeniably intriguing and often inspired collection, shining with genuine heart and humanity. [May 2013, p.86]
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MagnetApr 16, 2013For the most part, he succeeds. [No. 97, p.60]
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Kerrang!Apr 12, 2013The highs far outweigh the lows. [9 Mar 2013, p. 50]
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Mar 19, 2013Real to Reel would have benefited from more diversity.
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Mar 14, 2013Some tracks (the Rick Springfield-augmented The Man That Never Was) sound like Foos-by-numbers. However, Grohl and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic have coaxed a jewel from Paul McCartney: the raging, White Album-ish Cut Me Some Slack must be the rawest thing he's recorded in over 40 years.
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Mar 13, 2013It’s too bad that many of the other collaborations here feel as generic and laborious as a ProTools tutorial.
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Mar 13, 2013The result plays out surprisingly cohesive, sounding like a new Foo Fighters LP with special guests, or a nonmetal version of Grohl's Probot.
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Mar 12, 2013Sometimes the songs seem like works in progress--"Heaven and All" is just Grohl and two members of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club riding a screaming glam-punk riff, while "Cut Me Some Slack," by Paul McCartney and the surviving members of Nirvana, isn't much more than a Macca grunge-guitar blowout. But the sound of real rock created in real time is part of the appeal.
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Mar 12, 2013The album ends up as a tribute to each of the individual singers rather than Sound City itself.
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Mar 12, 2013On the whole, this is an interesting experiment in the creative process, as well as the values of musicianship and friendship.
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Mar 12, 2013Real to Reel is otherwise lacking in the kind of tension that's required to produce an album that's more than the sum of its talented parts.
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Mar 12, 2013Perhaps due to understandably lower expectations, Sound City has a better batting average when Grohl is collaborating with a lesser tier of legend--or with no legend at all.
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Mar 12, 2013Sound City: Real to Reel sounds exactly like what it is: a bunch of old rockers jamming in a studio. Often, this is quite enjoyable, as they're all excellent musicians playing through a top-notch board, but the songs do have a tendency to drift away from the point, sounding like exceedingly well-executed first drafts.
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Mar 12, 2013Sound City: Real to Reel has its highlights, but the bad songs are hard to justify. Some collaborators don’t mesh with others, and all of them suffer from embarrassing lyrics.
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Mar 12, 2013While Sound City Studios was unforgettable, this glorified jam session is not. It’s uneven and top-heavy.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 20
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Mixed: 5 out of 20
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Negative: 0 out of 20
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Mar 15, 2013
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Apr 15, 2013
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Mar 17, 2013