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- Critic score
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- By date
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Nov 5, 2012Overall, Young Hunger is the sound of an artist spreading himself too thin.
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Nov 1, 2012Some moments aren't the best--his duet with Jack Goldstein, "My Girl," stumbles a bit at the start--but such killers as "Fell 4 U" with Glasser and "Fathering/Mothering" with Anne Lise Frokedal showcase both his ear for vocal counterparts and his immediate, beautiful arrangements.
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Nov 15, 2012For the most part this album, while as slickly produced as the classic pop it references, only faintly smoulders without igniting.
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Nov 1, 2012His heavy use of synthesizers might pin him to an era, but his tenor is timeless.
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Nov 1, 2012With Young Hunger, Manuel has carved out an album that hardly gives you a chance to wipe the smile off your face--or pull yourself from the dance floor.
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Nov 19, 2012It's easy to see from this record just why Hugo Manuel is in such demand and his debut, as Chad Valley will provide a significant springboard to ever more exciting climbs.
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Nov 16, 2012Like Within and Without, it's no overhaul, but Young Hunger has a much more immediate presence, more direct in both a melodic and emotional sense and generally with a lot more 'oomph'.
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Nov 5, 2012Young Hunger proves that Valley can shine even on the most crowded of dance floors.
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Nov 26, 2012The production is highly polished and everything appears to be utterly disposable.
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Nov 19, 2012Disappointingly, given his previous sterling output, this is a pretty boneless pastiche of the genre.
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Nov 1, 2012The many guests on Young Hunger prevent the album from getting too bogged down in schmaltz, adding color and texture to the record.
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Nov 7, 2012Young Hunger is a solidly crafted album that manages to give hints at what Chad Valley does best while musically supporting a bunch of his buddies.
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Q MagazineNov 21, 2012Compared with the clever appropriations of others who share his historical interests Manual veers close to pastiche. [Dec 2012, p.101]
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Nov 16, 2012Surrounding himself with talent that far surpasses his own doesn't hide the weakness of many of these tracks.
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Nov 21, 2012It is gloss and fluff masquerading as euphoric heartbreak. It makes Savage Garden sound like Leonard Cohen.
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Nov 1, 2012Even if Manuel's a better producer and pop visionary than he is a singer, Young Hunger is still a delightfully shameless, anthemic embrace of young love, keyboard wizardry, the '80s, and the '90s.