What We Saw from the Cheap Seats - Regina Spektor
Metascore
73 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
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  1. Sputnikmusic
    May 24, 2012
    100
    Her best effort yet.
  2. The A.V. Club
    May 29, 2012
    91
    There's not a weak track on the record, and there's something arresting in each song.
  3. Magnet
    Jun 19, 2012
    90
    The songs on WWSFTC all hint at loss, limitation and aging, with Spektor's poetic sensibility and passionate singing giving the LP a wrenching sense of vulnerability. [No.88 p.59]
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  4. Expert Witness (MSN Music)
    Jul 24, 2012
    83
    Many of these songs are merely bemused, and when she revises "I'm just a soul whose intentions are good," all she achieves is a different singalong from the one you expected.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 51 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. nickireland7
    5
    Don't get me wrong: I absolutely love Regina Spektor. She is an amazing artist who I found one day and who I have been obsessed with ever since. I delved deeper into her older albums and found simply amazing music, pure and not clouded with unnecessary bells and whistles.

    I love the songs on this album, but they all seem like filler songs. Not to mention 3 or 4 of these songs have already been on youtube for years, they're just redone with special sound effects. I had been looking forward to this album for years and it just fell short. The lyrics do seem much more shallow than they were in Far, Soviet Kitsch, and ESPECIALLY Begin to Hope. Some of them just didn't seem like Spektor at all! How isn't original at all, something I would never expect from my favorite musician. I hope she makes another album, but I also hope it's more spektor-tastic! I still have so much ReSpekt for her though :) She's still amazing! The album just sadly fell short :(    … Full Review »
  2. Rickid
    9
    Really interesting new album. A bit darker than last album. Great melodies, quirky voice that is totally infectious. Hard not to like her after hearing several tracks. A real story teller.… Full Review »
  3. MartianLeaks
    9
    Regina Spektor is one of those artists hardly anyone likes at first. Like liquor. She's a lyrically puzzling, piano thumping storytelling with vocal arrangements as dramatic as a theater major... but also much like liquor, once you really get into the music, it becomes an uncontrollable addiction. What We Saw From the Cheap Seats is like a delicious fruity drink with deadly amounts of mixed vodkas and gins. It will knock you on your ass when you're done with it. It's definitely Spektor's most down-to-Earth, calm album yet, with productions quality at an all-time high, but her identity as a humbly strange anti-folk legend remains.

    Spektor seems to be more aware of herself and her talents on this album, using more accents ("Oh Marcello"), beat boxing ("All The Rowboats") and hand-and-feet instrumentation ("Small Town Moon") than seen on any of her previous albums. She even steps out from behind the piano to play the trumpet in "The Party," with only her mouth and no trumpet of course.

    Before the album is even halfway over she gives us one of her most beautifully depressing ballads in years with "Firewood," which rivals Begin to Hope track "Samson" both musically and vocally. A couple tracks later and again she ups the ante with "How," a song about heartbreak so jarring that it could make even Duffy or Adele seem as cheerful as Ke$ha. Still, Spektor isn't all about depressing hidden meanings and quirky, cutesy air instruments. She has, over the years, been uncovering a more pop side of herself that seems to shine on each album like "Folding Chair" from Far or "Better" from Begin to Hope. This album offers up "The Party" which compares a swain to a lively parade that leaves you messily frazzled and smiling. "Ballad of a Politician" is the most nostalgic record, reminiscent of tracks like "Chemo Limo" that chronicle corruption, a favorite topic of mine. It's hard to put Spektor is to one category or another. Her music bounces from between different genres and themes. She's an explorer. An acquired taste, yes, but she definitely knows exactly who she is and what she wants her music to sound like. Now that she has a bigger budget and production team behind her, moreso than her first 5 albums, she can bring that huge imagination out of her head and into our ears.    … Full Review »
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