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A Grown-Ass Man Image
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The sixth solo release for Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew finds him playing all of the instruments on 13 tracks that veer from style to style but share a certain lo-fi charm. There are ten originals and three covers, including the unlikely album-closing take on Thin Lizzy's "Cowboy Song."
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 9
  2. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. The ability to make a genuine album -- and not just a collage of songs -- from a wide interest in musical styles is truly what makes this album such a delightful and great surprise.
  2. An intelligent brew of bare-bones Casio drumbeats, static-driven guitar lines and widescreen arrangements.
  3. The Wire
    80
    A very nice slab of pan-generic, lof-fi, yearn-pop. [#231, p.59]
  4. Blender
    70
    McNew adds his own hybrid theory, wittily merging classic and iconoclastic by exploring his influences. [May 2003, p.116]
  5. A remarkably diverse and irresistible collection of songs.
  6. Magnet
    60
    He slouches in with "Sisters" and begins his album-long teetering on the brink of affectation, sounding like a teenager with restratint. [#59, p.89]
  7. [An] album that, like its predecessors, is as accomplished as it is stunted, waddling wadlessly towards its intentional exile on Cute Island.

See all 9 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. [Anonymous]
    Mar 19, 2004
    10
    great album. i dont understand the bad reviews