The Awakening
by Melissa Etheridge
  • Record Label: Island
  • Release Date: Sep 25, 2007
User Score
6.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6

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  1. MattD.
    Oct 26, 2007
    7
    Somewhat disappointing musically, but it has many very poignant and powerful lyrics. Some of the political stuff here might sway the more hardened conservatives. If you like the rocky Melissa, listen to it first, but others should find it a fine addition to her catalog.
  2. CoreyS
    Oct 23, 2007
    10
    It's pretty clear to me that the reviewers just don't get this album. Calling this 'an hour's worth of blues-and folk-flavored ballads' is like calling Iron Maiden a boy band. This is quite simply Melissa's masterpiece. This is her Nebraska. This is her Pet Sounds. This is her Abbey Road. It has the potential hit singles in Message To Myself, California, It's pretty clear to me that the reviewers just don't get this album. Calling this 'an hour's worth of blues-and folk-flavored ballads' is like calling Iron Maiden a boy band. This is quite simply Melissa's masterpiece. This is her Nebraska. This is her Pet Sounds. This is her Abbey Road. It has the potential hit singles in Message To Myself, California, Threesome and What Happens Tomorrow. It also has some great non radio-friendly songs such as Map Of The Stars, The Kingdom Of Heaven and the Universe Listened that make this a very cohesive album (a concept that is all but completely lost in today's music) that details Melissa's journey. It also features quite possibly the best love song that she has ever written in I Think I've Loved You Before. The Awakening is a classic!… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. AllMusic
    70
    It's interesting that while so many of these songs are peppered with faux-mystical approaches to spirituality, the album is also confessional and looks hard at itself, even if at times it seems cloying, self-indulgent, and preachy.
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  2. Entertainment Weekly
    67
    Her ninth LP's title sounds like a promise to expand on that MO, yet the first few tracks find Etheridge wasting her weather-beaten voice on bland lyrics and arrangements. Thankfully, she redeems the disc with a closing clutch of passionate antiwar declarations that let her play her firebrand persona to the hilt.
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  3. Los Angeles Times
    40
    Toning down the sonic drama creates an appealing intimacy, but an hour's worth of blues- and folk-flavored ballads becomes monotonous.
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