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Berkeley to Bakersfield
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Berkeley to Bakersfield Image
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 6 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The 10th full-length studio release for the alternative rock band is a two disc set with the more rock-oriented Berkeley half recorded by the original line-up, while the second disc is the more country-influenced tracks with Johnny Hickman on lead vocals.
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  • Record Label: 429 Records
  • Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, American Trad Rock, Alternative Country-Rock
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. AllMusic
    Dec 15, 2014
    80
    Berkeley to Bakersfield is one of Cracker's most ambitious and satisfying sets in quite some time, as good as anything they've given us since Kerosene Hat in 1993.
  2. Blurt Magazine
    Feb 2, 2015
    80
    Berkeley To Bakersfield is the perfect shotgun rider for any road trip. With the breadth of its variety no other music passengers need be invited along for the ride.
  3. PopMatters
    Dec 15, 2014
    80
    Whilst Berkeley has an obvious theme, there’s a feeling of movement and diversity on the album, and the ideas are put forward in such a way as to make this album relevant to modern life and not just California.... Bakersfield takes on an altogether different style again; we’re headed to the country, and it’s entirely understandable why these songs were grouped and recorded separately.
  4. Uncut
    Jan 7, 2015
    80
    A cutting, driving, defiantly hook-happy set (mostly) focused on survival amid America's income-inequality nightmare. [Feb 2015, p.75]
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  5. Boston Globe
    Dec 15, 2014
    70
    The 73 minutes of music on Cracker’s new double album would fit comfortably on a single disc, but Berkeley to Bakersfield is an intentional act of musical centrifuge that separates the band’s rock and country elements into separate containers.
  6. American Songwriter
    Dec 15, 2014
    70
    While the result can’t be dismissed as a gimmick, the best tracks of both would have made a great single album. Spread out over two shorter ones, the effect is diluted.

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. anthemstatus
    Dec 27, 2014
    7
    Their first release in nearly 5 years, recorded by Drew Vandenberg of 429 Records, the double album falls nothing short of chronicling theTheir first release in nearly 5 years, recorded by Drew Vandenberg of 429 Records, the double album falls nothing short of chronicling the American band’s journey through stardom providing food for thought on the ups and downs of Nor and So California living in general, and rivals their 1992 self-titled release for best in class.… Expand

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