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The Universe and Me Image
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The sixth full-length studio release for the Guided By Voices member features some songs originally intended for a future GBV album.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Mar 7, 2017
    80
    The guitars are crisp and full and fuzzy and the drums are lined up, or not and it works. One problem with modern production is its reliance on mathematical perfection, and Tobin proves that genuineness is stronger than perceived perfection.
  2. Magnet
    Mar 7, 2017
    80
    The Universe And Me feels like Sprout’s sonic scrapbook and philosophical star chart folded into a single stellar statement. [No.139, p.60]
  3. Mar 7, 2017
    80
    The Universe and Me offers more evidence that, as time goes by, Guided By Voices’ other songwriter may be aging more gracefully.
  4. 80
    While it’s unlikely to have the same influence as his earlier work in Guided by Voices, this is an album that is likely to get repeated spins on the turntable. It also is a solid reminder, that Tobin Sprout is every bit the songwriter and musician that his former GBV cohort Rob Pollard is.
  5. Mar 7, 2017
    70
    Sprout either can't or won't produce songs at the same pace as Robert Pollard, but what he does bring us is consistently pleasurable, and The Universe and Me is a lovely reminder of how many good things he brought to GbV--and how much he still has to offer on his own.
  6. Mar 7, 2017
    67
    Some minor touch-ups would have gone a long way. Had Sprout tightened a few loose screws here and there, it would have told us more about who he is now.