Yonder Is The Clock
by The Felice Brothers
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. AllMusic
    80
    Yonder Is the Clock is the band's most nuanced effort to date, an effortless piece of Catskills folk and narrative know-how that shows just how far a band can grow in one year's time.
  2. Austin Chronicle
    78
    The trembling 'All When We Were Young' is less convincing, and 'Memphis Flu' falls apart in drunken frenzy before it even starts, but across 13 songs, Yonder Is the Clock proves timeless.
  3. Boston Globe
    80
    The band does not so much make this record as keep it from flying apart. The intoxicating sound is matched with incisive word play, with the Felices using quirky laments and dark, urban poetry to bridge hillbilly and hipster.
  5. Delusions of Adequacy
    80
    They’ve placed everything that’s superb about them and have delivered it ten-fold with Yonder is the Clock.
  6. Drowned In Sound
    80
    As it stands, it’s an emphatically rich and addictive work. It does sound a whole lot like Dylan, yes. But it’s a whole lot of excellent itself, thanks very much.
  7. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    The fourth album from these purveyors of Band-evoking Americana is as folksy and honed as a tale by Mark Twain, from whom the Felices borrowed the title.
  8. Mojo
    80
    From rowdy juke-joint jams to sunblushed cornfield ballads, these songs born of tough times. The latter provides the album's stand-out moments. [Jul 2009, p.100]
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  9. Paste Magazine
    79
    It’s all danger and gangsters and loving the ladies when there’s a spare minute. Meanwhile, amidst the hootin’ and hollerin’, the soul will be sated, and saved.
  10. PopMatters
    50
    A record so concerned with repeating the strengths of an album past that it forgets to chart its own path.
  11. Spin
    70
    Playing songs about cops on the take and dying in Penn Station with a hurtling forward motion that prevents the music from sounding (entirely) like a book report. Killer accordion solos, too.
  12. The A.V. Club
    100
    These are all-American songs of devastation and alienation; they’re also loads of fun and damn hilarious much of the time.
  13. The New York Times
    80
    On Yonder Is the Clock, the Felice Brothers loosen up, making room for absurdity as well as the travails they sing about.
  14. Uncut
    100
    As a State of the Union address, this bold and often brilliant record is less inclined towards optimism than, say, Springsteen’s admirable "Working On A Dream."
  15. Under The Radar
    70
    They have maintained their passion at its most rollicking, but the huanting 'Cooperstown' shows the band at the peak of their powers. [Spring 2009, p.78]
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Awards & Rankings

21
#21 Best Album of 2009

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 12 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 1 out of 12
  1. VaughnA
    May 27, 2009
    6
    I'm underwhelmed. I had enormous hopes for this record because of how much I loved their last self-titled one. But frankly I'm I'm underwhelmed. I had enormous hopes for this record because of how much I loved their last self-titled one. But frankly I'm bored by it. And "Penn Station", the strongest song on the record just makes me want to clear my throat every time I hear it. Work a little harder on the songs next time brothers.… Full Review »
  2. FrankD.
    Apr 23, 2009
    7
    I´t good, but not perfect. Just good!
  3. jimm
    Apr 21, 2009
    10
    The Boy From Lawrence County could be made into a feature film. Ian Felice is the finest songwriter of his generation.
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