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We All Want the Same Things
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We All Want the Same Things Image
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

  • Summary: The third full-length solo release for The Hold Steady frontman was produced by Josh Kaufman.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. American Songwriter
    Mar 21, 2017
    90
    Smiles may be hard to come by on We All Want The Same Things, but flat-out songwriting excellence is in plentiful supply.
  2. Paste Magazine
    Mar 21, 2017
    82
    There’s still no substitute for the adrenalizing power of the Hold Steady at its best, but the nuance of Finn’s solo songwriting, and the subtler sense of musical adventurism he has come to embrace on his own work, make these songs essential, too.
  3. Magnet
    Apr 26, 2017
    80
    We All Want The Sam Thing is the best of his three solo albums because it lets the music serves the stories. [No. 141, p.55]
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  4. Pitchfork
    Mar 23, 2017
    78
    While the best moments of his previous two solo albums felt like little more than stripped-back versions of solid Hold Steady songs, We All Want the Same Things is more subtle and strange.
  5. Slant Magazine
    Mar 14, 2017
    70
    We All Want the Same Things is cut from the same cloth as everything Finn's done before as an artist, but it isn't quite fair to call it more of the same. The way an album feels matters, and this one feels comfortable--and self-possessed in a way that his other solo albums aren't.
  6. DIY Magazine
    Mar 24, 2017
    60
    This collection is his most fully-realised to date, with hooks as the glittering vehicle for tales of a blighted American Midwest.
  7. The Independent (UK)
    Mar 22, 2017
    40
    It’s all a bit depressing, and not helped by the plodding music, which sags back into plonking piano quadruplets and dissatisfying, baggy sax, leavened by the occasional squall of guitar.

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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. clinton79
    May 19, 2017
    9
    The first listen through is a little rough and disappointing. For some reason it felt off from his last solo album but then again I said theThe first listen through is a little rough and disappointing. For some reason it felt off from his last solo album but then again I said the same thing about that album compared to "Clear Eyes". After listening through probably 50 times by now, it is by far his best effort. There is so much going on, such a huge leap in writing and musicianship and such diverse songs. His storytelling is still top notch he's just added to it.

    Because of spotify and other streaming music sites it's safe to say people don't buy albums that much any more but this is an album I went out and bought on CD it's that good    … Expand
  2. molecular
    Mar 29, 2017
    8
    This is the singer songwriter side of Craig Finn and he has achieved his best solo album with this one. Try and listen to "God In Chicago"This is the singer songwriter side of Craig Finn and he has achieved his best solo album with this one. Try and listen to "God In Chicago" and not get a lump in your throat.… Expand