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Jun 7, 2012The recently rebooted pop legends' most engaged, least cripplingly nostalgic album since 1977's Love You.
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MojoJul 19, 2012Though no Pet Sound, this album, at its best so wistfully reliving out golden yesterdays, ranks up there with Today! [Aug 2012, p.92]
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Jul 19, 2012The album as a whole isn't flawless, yet by sounding utterly enchanting during its climax it leaves a listener feeling genuinely touched. From a such legendary band, you could ask for nothing more.
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Jun 5, 2012Though uneven, the group's 29th studio work (including 2011's "The Smile Sessions") contains a number of elegant, shockingly beautiful moments that not only do justice to and expand on the sound of Southern California in the 1960s but serve as a bittersweet and at times heartbreakingly brilliant coda to five decades in music.
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The WireAug 2, 2012They most definitely lack a soloist. Yet the way in which these sunkissed survivors pull together is touching. [Jun 2012, p.42]
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Jun 5, 2012If we're honest, the first half of the album, title track aside, is slightly cringeworthy, both in terms of music and the production. But the whole record is redeemed, beautifully, by the last three tracks.
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Jun 5, 2012While That's Why God Made The Radio may not be in the same league as SMiLE or Pet Sounds, it's an immensely satisfying and interesting outing.
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Jun 4, 2012Vocal harmonies abound, burnished to modern studio precision.
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Jun 4, 2012As a whole, That's Why God Made the Radio is not a top-tier Beach Boys album. But it's neither a reach nor hyperbole to say this final suite is among the strongest, most affecting music Wilson has ever recorded.
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Jun 4, 2012These may not be the songs that will ever light up their live sets, but together they form what is easily the best Beach Boys record in 35 years -- and a surprisingly cohesive, reflective, listenable one at that.
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Jul 19, 2012If only all legacy-burnishing attempts could be this effective.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 22
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Mixed: 6 out of 22
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Negative: 1 out of 22
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Jun 5, 2012
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Jul 6, 2012
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Jul 1, 2012