- Critic score
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A singer's record.
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Mountain Goats have just added a further chapter in an ongoing saga of (micro) relationships examined against a backdrop of (macro) global concern, We Shall All Be Healed being the most explicit yet.
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This is a revelatory album for the Mountain Goats and the listeners; both Darnielle and the audience find new strength in his open vulnerability.
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Fragmented and disturbing, yet thoroughly refreshing.
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We Shall All Be Healed emphatically proves that Darnielle can create compelling, dynamic music beyond the comfortable confines of his living room couch.
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Alternative PressFull of hopelessness and destructive defiance. [Mar 2004, p.94]
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UncutDespite--or perhaps because of--its viscous air of paranoia, this record is unputdownable. [Mar 2004, p.100]
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Darnielle's willingness to throw himself so completely into collaboration is what makes this effort such a triumph.
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Perfectly arranged and one of the best of 2004, it's an ideal starting point for newcomers.
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Q MagazineDarnielle's striking way with a phrase makes songs about Milky Ways for breakfast and smelly flats into things of quiet wonder. [Mar 2004, p.107]
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BlenderThey've adopted a crisp, unfussy style that assures the audibility of Darnielle's artful words. [Mar 2004, p.124]
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An odd, fascinating journey through the mind of a man who channels messages from horror movies, occult events, and other bewilderments, and turns them into songs.
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An underdeveloped and frail album.
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His gift for pissed-off poetry and left-field details remains intact.
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We Shall All Be Healed is complacent, formulaic for a trailblazer, lapped by Destroyer, optimistic-but-joyless in that it is pessimistic-but-punchy, and gooped with the silly putty of vagueness and cliché.
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The slight cracks that shone on Tallahassee are more visible, and unless you're a newbie to Mountain Goats lore, there probably won't be a whole lot new for you here.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 14
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Mixed: 0 out of 14
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Negative: 1 out of 14
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ArielOct 7, 2006
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Two-LaneBlacktopJul 4, 2004
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NickgMay 22, 2004It's going to be hard to top this one. For the next one he's better off going sideways.