User Score
Universal acclaim- based on 373 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 309 out of 373
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Mixed: 16 out of 373
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Negative: 48 out of 373
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annaNov 29, 2006there is something completely inspiring about this album, from the lyrics to the classical musical arrangements newsom proves she is a novel force to be reckoned with in the music world. if you are a fan of music you have a moral obligation to listen to this entire album.
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AaronADec 15, 2006One of the best albums I've ever heard.
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DylanMDec 22, 2006
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KateMNov 29, 2008
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Dec 11, 2010Magical. Flawless. One of the best albums I've ever heard, it's like a very well told tale, and Joanna is very creative, and not boring at all. Even though no one mentions it, "Cosmia" is beautiful, and, for me, the best track. "Sawdust & Diamonds" is also just as pretty. No single back track in this album.
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Dec 24, 2010
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Jul 27, 2011Joanna Newsom is more than a musician, she is an artist. Perfectly blending her musical talent into the realm of her imagination. Each song is a journey unto itself.
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Jan 18, 2012Newsom screeching voice, her masterful harp playing and the graceful orchestration all come together in a whirlwind of beauty that at the end of the album you are completely overwhelmed. It is very unlikely that youâ
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Nov 17, 2016This album is a truly masterpiece, it may seem like the songs are long (because they are), but with the lyrics sheet on your hand, you won't get bored.
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Jan 29, 2018My all time favourite. Five enchanting stories each each accompanied by beautiful instrumentation. Could not recommend enough!
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Sep 7, 2018
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Feb 9, 2021This is one beautiful tapestry . It feels whole and like an enveloping experience. I enjoyed every minute.
Favourites:emily,sawdust &diamonds,cosima,monkey&bear -
Oct 9, 2021I didn't realise this was a love or hate record till I saw these reviews. If you don't get it that's fine just you know.... shut up.
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madslDec 4, 2006this is a serious contender for Album of the Year! Newsom reveals herself as a singular talent on this marvellous recording. A minor quibble is the fact that occasionally Van Dyke Parks´ arrangements seem removed from the vision of Joanna!
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exodus.Nov 18, 2006After Claire T: "Simply beautiful."
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StephFeb 7, 2007Heaven..this music is so beautiful, it conjures up the fantastical and archaic. Newsom's music transcends the ordinary.
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MagillaGorillaNov 15, 2006Like Bjork's little sister weened on broken American dreams and visions of Angels. Thoughtful, mysterious, and curious. Most enjoyable in every way. What is up with Rolling Stone? 2 stars/"hard to stomach" typical Boomer mentality. hey, d'ja hear the new Bob Seger?
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ToddWNov 20, 2006
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JaredB.Nov 29, 2006i've never seen so many people angry because someone *likes* something before. this record isn't for everyone, but a surprising number of people find a lot to love about this difficult, but ultimately rewarding album. even if you never warm to it, please try not to be as closed-minded as the poster below me. sheesh.
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LizTDec 11, 2006It takes some acclimatising to, but I tend to find that the best albums do... fab, involving and I have a feeling there's more to come the more I listen to it...
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UnjadedDec 5, 2006
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MihaiVDec 6, 2006I don't get people that insult others just becouse they have different tastes. It's all subjective anyway. What's wrong with beeing different? What's wrong wanting something more then pop? I like this album a lot. I also like Radiohead. Must be a real pretencios snob.
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IvyBDec 6, 2006
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JoshDec 7, 2006
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andrewcJan 24, 2007it was a great album, beautifully built i thought. Bit too fanicical for me to take it seriously though
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GraceCJan 5, 2007
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brittacApr 15, 2007
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leirisNov 13, 2006A truly wonderful and unique album. Van Dyke Parks influence is apparent and works extremely well with Newsom
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AntonioBNov 15, 2006Rolling stone dropped the ball. Solid arrangements as the songs meander with a purpose and let her voice shine.
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KacyKNov 23, 2006I previewed this on iTunes and didn't like it. In particular, Joanna's vocals. A couple of days later, I purchased it and after 2 or 3 listens, I'm fairly smitten with it. I now find her vocals charming and sincere. Beautiful harp and arrangements. Wonderfully escapist.
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TopCatDec 31, 2006Haunting - keeps me coming back
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ajaypMar 29, 2007out of this world, new, refreshing, magical, beautiful and truly lovely to hear.
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AudreyNov 15, 2006This is an amazing piece of art, something that I have come to enjoy more with every listen.
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EvanSNov 17, 2006Rolling Stone can kiss my puckered pool hole for all I care. I don't want nuts...oh, wait. Um, this is the album of the year.
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Nov 27, 2011Showing her power as an singer and harpist, Joanna Newsom deliver us the best folk album ever. With strange lyrics, that sounds like talks, we catch ourselves flying around listening to beatiful songs like 'Emily' and 'Sawdust & Diamonds' - the best of this album. Super!
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KamilDec 3, 2006First, hard to listen, but then it gets better and better. Imagination and ambition of joanna is impressive. Definitive album from freak-folk scene.
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PerspicaciousCriticNov 13, 2006Y[e]s!
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BillGJan 22, 2007
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MisaelMJan 22, 2007
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JonLNov 15, 2006
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JyotirmayaDDec 2, 2006
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AdamHDec 6, 2006Very good cd. reminds me of an epic poem with wonderful lyrics. she assumes an air of confidence that makes her great.
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TomBNov 13, 2006It's like the best thing that I'll only ever listen to once.
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RickHNov 15, 2006Though only five songs, they will continue to reveal themselves to me for years. Every pass over this album has been so different.
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johncNov 21, 2006This is not my normal indulgence, but a couple of these songs are perfect. Give the girl a chance. Does it get a tad pretentious, sure. But ambition is important and she has a singular approach that can only humble you.
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felipe.Dec 21, 2006some time ago i thought that her voice was REALLY terrible. but then,i think she won me up with these 10-minute songs,great job. :}
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Jan 8, 2019
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umbertopNov 13, 2006beautiful but not so beautiful
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RichardKDec 15, 2006Not my cup of tea but I can see there's something original going on. Some parts sounded like an old Walt Disney cartoon.
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JacksonGDec 2, 2006
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ReubenFDec 18, 2006
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PaulLFeb 10, 2007If you're expecting the catchiness and charm of the Milk-Eyed Mender, you'll be disappointed. Where her last album was a nice combination of hooks and quirks, this one's all quirks. It's certainly not annoying, but it isn't a joy to listen to.
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NeilSNov 30, 2006
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othosDec 2, 2006Not my cup of tea, but kudos to Ms. Newsom for trying something different. She sounds like the love child of Scott Walker and Kate Bush. While I would not purchase this CD, I can't summarily dismiss it, a la Ken H, Sturn B and especially Brian D, about whom the phrase "Rolling Stone is a good publication and I trust...their critics" tells you all you need to know about his taste.
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HannahGJan 15, 2007
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JohnDNov 24, 2006I can understand that this album is very good, and that Newsom is a terrific lyricist. My problem is that I just can't get into it.
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DwightGoodenDec 12, 2006It's just...not...THAT...good. I've listened to plenty of albums that are more pretentious but also more engaging and listenable than this. I liked "Cosmia" and was pretty bored with everything else. Oh yeah, and her voice sounds like E.T.'s sister.
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ericfNov 13, 2006I don't fault her for being ambitious, I just honestly don't think it's that effective. I think her looks, and "schtick" is what sells it to people, down to the album art. I'm just amazed so many people fall for it. To my ears, this album is bloated and overwrought with prentention, yet it appears this is what the critics want these days.
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RickRNov 17, 2006Pretty good music making, if not for the dreadful vocals. Like someone said, it'll be on every Critics "MUST HAVE" lists but it probably will be ignored by the public. I mean, it's alright really, that voice is quite ridiculous.
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paulsNov 19, 2006NOW and Rolling Stone are dead on: "She plucks and sings in her little-girl-lost warble never seems entirely integrated with the hovering orchestral parts ... Hard to stomach"
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JamiePNov 21, 2006
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IanMar 22, 2009Joanna Newsom, as well as other artists from the recent 'New Weird America' movement, are not so unique as they are a reemergence of pretentious white person 70's folk. Boo.
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GrutNov 15, 2006Her first album was amazing, this one is just crap. Must be the influence of her new buddy Devendra Banhart. Can someone tell this guy not to talk to other artists ?
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KevinKDec 27, 2006
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EusebioP.Sep 7, 2009
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JPubliusNov 14, 2006The harp's nice. Newsom's voice sounds like the midget from Poltergeist Lyrics make as much sense as a Yes album. This will be on every critics top 10 list, and nobody will listen to it for more than five minutes.
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sturnbNov 28, 2006I don't get this. First Sulfjan Stevens, The Decembrists now this...Maybe there is some intellectual payoff at the end of this pretentious self fellating journey but who cares? What happened to having pop songs? This ain't Tolstoy so why pretend it is?
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ChrisJan 12, 2007Remember the creepy kid from The Grudge? Yeah, she sounds like him.
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SteveJan 15, 2007This is 50 minutes of noise without a single memorable melody, with the added bonus of a voice I
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JamsieJMar 28, 2007I listened to this cd in the shop. I tried to like it but the vocals reminded me of a feline squirming after someone had stood on its tail by accident. Would have been nice if the songs weren't so drawn-out and the vocals weren't so preposterous/off-putting.
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MattD.Nov 13, 2006Less grating than The Milk-Eyed Mender, but it's without personality. Sounds like a bad soundtrack to a fantasy movie. If you want something different, try Nellie McKay or Loreena McKennitt.
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happysadNov 28, 2006Another neo-folk (or whatever you call it) record pretty much completely devoided of any soul or passion...or memorable tunes for that matter, having a gimmicky voice is just not enough I'm afraid. String arrangements are nice though...
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grubDec 6, 2006one of the worst sounding, most indigestible CDs I've heard. yet the songs are amazing. what happened?
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JoSMay 29, 2007
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DavidM.Feb 25, 2008I'll never understand why these sprawling idiosyncratic croonings constitute a great work--and that's coming from a fan of Tori Amos and Kate Bush!!
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michaelsDec 18, 2006
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JonoSNov 27, 2006Sometimes she just sings without really singing a melody. Other times, she has a melody but it's a totally unremarkable one. The arrangements would be nice if it weren't for the fact that the vocals are supposed to integrate into them. Not only do the arrangements lack coherence, but so do the different moments of the songs.
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nightchapelkNov 15, 2006awful. 50+ minutes long and she is singing for 48 of those minutes. I would love to hear the version sans vocals.
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TedB.Nov 27, 2006Newsom should have stuck to voice work in commercials and cartoons rather than thinking she could sing.
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andrewDec 15, 2006
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LeoFNov 22, 2006very boring.... next, please!
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NeilDec 26, 2006This could be some of the most overated music I have ever had the priviladge of listening to. Listen to the new TV on the Radio album, or Future/sex Lovesounds by Justin Timberlake.
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DanitaMJan 14, 2007
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ColbyS.Jul 2, 2007High aspirations here? Yes. Musical talent? To some degree. But for the love of God, listening to this woman ramble on like a Vietnamese child tripping out on LSD is too grating to listen to for an average song length of four minutes, let alone twenty-five. The reviewers just liked this because it was different and may have made them sound cultured for a few days. That's my only guess.
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doesitmatterJan 19, 2007Annoying.
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KenHNov 24, 2006This is by far the most overrated album of the year. Just awful
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jaybDec 3, 2006Snooze fest. Too much hype on nothing. You can guarantee it'll get four to five stars from most meatheads...
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JeffRNov 15, 2006Like Bjork doing 10 minute "epic" Yoko Ono covers with a harp. Overly ambitious and frankly, kind of annoying. Clearly lots of people love it, but I just don't get it.
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BiffLNov 21, 2006Like fingernails on a chalkboard. Maybe there's a nice melody in there somewhere. Maybe if Squeaky paused her rambling lyrics for a second or two we could hear it. Pretentious crap.
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BrianDNov 29, 2006You pretentious people like to think you're cool because you know of things that others don't. In reality your taste sucks and so does this album. Rolling Stone is a good publication and I trust for the most part their critics and right they are that this album is hard to stomach. Things are not beautiful because they're ugly, or different sounding. Get over yourselves.
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MinMinNov 16, 2006Poor. Over-hyped and unlistenable by virtue of her voice.
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JacobB.Mar 10, 2010I'm speechless. Just terrible. I heard someone compare her to Dylan and laughed in their face.
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HGDec 7, 2006If Joanna Newsom went mute tomorrow the world would be a better place. Her voice is painful to listen to: it is better suited for singing in the shower. I like folk music. I like harps. Joanna Newsom's voice distracts me past any point of reason and deters me from even trying to listen to any talent she has for playing the harp or writing lyrics.
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AamieDec 8, 2006Like others have said, her voice is like nails on a chalkboard... How can anyone listen to this? Seriously? Do any of you rating it 10 really like it or do you just want to appear to be 'arty' or something?
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tpMar 8, 2007i am disappointed i had to give a rating of at least 0, i would have given it -1. her voice irritates me to NO END. i wonder why she is even allowed to record an album??!!??!!?????
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pix1011Aug 31, 2007I just can't get through this album... I've managed to listen to half of each of the tracks, but just don't get it! It's rough stuff!!! Maybe I should start listening to the Top 40 charts or something 'cos I just don't get some of the stuff getting all this hype these days!?
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AaronSNov 15, 2006I don't know whay everyone else is hearing, but this is the single worst release in 2006. Newsom's vocals are beyond bad and the album itself is very overproduced. Awful.
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JennaJamesonDec 1, 2006
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KyleVJan 25, 2007i think i can sing better : and thats saying some thing
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JamesBJan 25, 2007will some one kill this crazy person
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Awards & Rankings
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It’s to her great credit that Newsom (literally) plucks artistic triumph from the jaws of cloying whimsy.
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It may well be the most off-putting album released this year. After playing it, there seems every chance it is the also the most astonishing.
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Newsom has managed to lessen the twee factor of her last record... in the process crafting an album as bewitching as it is odd.