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Nov 8, 2011While it required only slight modifications to his approach--brighter tones and simpler arrangements, allowing room for singers and MCs--it's still surprising that much of The Vision sounds like an effort to assimilate into commercial airwaves.
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Nov 2, 2011This is a charmingly youthful and exuberant album, featuring a fine selection of vocalists.
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Nov 2, 2011It has bassline crunch, and a very distinctive space-age exterior; so why does The Vision sound like it's playing catch up?
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Nov 8, 2011It's the uninspired and homogenous manner in which Joker goes about ironing out nearly everything that made his tunes memorable to begin with that makes The Vision one of the most disappointing debuts of the year.
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Nov 7, 2011The Vision stands far above many of the other products of its genre, and hints at the ability of McClean to eventually gain massive crossover appeal and subvert the trappings and constrictions of his genre.
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Nov 4, 2011While it's hard to critique The Vision for its scattershot successes, as a whole the album is just too erratic to have any sort of lasting impact on formerly ardent fans or casual admirers.
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Nov 2, 2011It's a conservative, often misguided assault on mainstream dance music.
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Nov 14, 2011The Vision, the latest from bass music sensation Joker, strikes a wondrous balance of doom and poppiness.
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MagnetNov 21, 2011Joker unwittingly set the bar high for his debut full-length. Unsurprisingly, it falls short. [#82, p.56]
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Feb 10, 2012It's not 100 per cent coherent, but especially if you get the bonus instrumental disc you'll find proof of an important talent spreading his wings.
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Nov 3, 2011Unfortunately, subtlety gets lost in the process, and only about half the guest vocalist are actually effective.
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Nov 4, 2011The Vision seems to be exactly what Joker wants: UK pop R&B of the vainest and most vacuous possible variety.
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Nov 17, 2011There's another classic Joker EP in here. It's just a shame we couldn't get our first classic Joker album.
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Nov 14, 2011The Vision shows that thus far Joker works better pushing out erratic singles than within the format of a full-length.
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Q MagazineDec 15, 2011His debut combines melodic dubstep with a dose of Timbaland-style R&B. [Dec. 2001 p. 127]
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Nov 8, 2011It's an unadventurous but pleasant effort from a talented artist who used to make everyone else look boring.
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Nov 4, 2011The Vision will reward your temporary suspension of good taste with a solid hour of instantly gratifying party jams.
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Nov 2, 2011He trades in his 8-bit bloops and Sean Paul remixes to reach for R&B ringtone ubiquity on this solo debut album, warming over Timbo's jittery electro on "On My Mind," but faring better when lashing a live wire across vicious first single "The Vision," and whetting the stabbing synths of "Tron" and "Slaughter House."
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Nov 2, 2011The Vision is a true mixed bag that while offering up a few outstanding gems, disappoints more than it probably should and reveals its maker as far less of a visionary as we all assumed him to be.
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Nov 2, 2011While Joker's taste seems to be as well-tooled as his way with a hook (Teddy Riley, Timbaland and Derrick May are all referenced here), he never uses his allusions to great effect. The best tracks keep the strains separate.
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The WireDec 6, 2011Sadly it feels like the gestation period has robbed Joker's music of some of its immediacy. [Nov 2011, p.72]
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Nov 8, 2011There isn't enough unforced spontaneity or meaningful pop-craft on The Vision to sustain a full-length album, and a smorgasbord of tasty synths isn't enough to inspire vision.
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UncutNov 23, 2011The Vision unveils a colorful, sensualist take on the dubstep sound, flexing basslines set into relief by twinkling R&B melodies and a host of guest vocalists. [Dec 2011, p.87]