Goodnight Oslo
by Robyn Hitchcock
  • Record Label: Yep Roc
  • Release Date: Feb 17, 2009
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. The A.V. Club
    100
    The vitality that fuels Goodnight Oslo makes it feel like Hitchcock is saying hello for the first time.
  2. musicOMH.com
    80
    The highlight, however, comes at the very end. The dense and deeply hypnotic title track Goodnight Oslo could well end up on the list of class A drugs the next time the government gets round to discussing such matters.
  3. PopMatters
    80
    Goodnight Oslo is Hitchcock’s most tightly arranged album of the decade.
  5. AllMusic
    80
    Goodnight Oslo is good enough and engaged enough that you can hardly believe Robyn Hitchcock has been making records like this since 1979.
  6. Dusted Magazine
    70
    Goodnight Oslo is more like the seemingly “normal” yet slightly “off” one-night-stand, the one you don’t think about much the next week but wonder about 10 years later. Don’t expect it to enthrall on contact, but it might settle gently into the subconscious.
  7. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    It’s unlikely to gain any new converts to the cause, but you get the impression Hitchcock stopped caring about that sort of thing long ago.
  8. Rolling Stone
    70
    His dark, absurdist wit is intact.
  9. Spin
    70
    Hitchcock's second album with the Venus 3, who include R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, is less dazzling than 2006's "Ole! Tarantula," yet still pretty compelling.
  10. Under The Radar
    70
    The set is well-crafted yet loose, a testament to the chemistry Hitchcock has undoubtedly found with his new band. [Spring 2009, p.72]
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  11. Paste Magazine
    68
    Goodnight Oslo is no exception, a release whose five best songs compare favorably to any in his catalog and whose other five make your finger itchy for the “skip” button.
  12. Pitchfork
    65
    One gets the feeling that with a little more ruthlessness about what makes the final cut, Goodnight Oslo could offer more hits than misses. As it is, it falls just a little short.
  13. Mojo
    60
    Goodnight Oslo could be a ghost story, a slice of stoner paranoia or a song about steam trains, but shows something sleek and ominous still looming in the fog of Hitchcock's imagination. [Mar 2009, p.107]
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  14. NOW Magazine
    60
    The 10-song album ricochets between great – the grammatically playful What You Is, the countryish Hurry For The Sky – and just okay.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 12 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 12
  3. Negative: 1 out of 12
  1. drunkenstepdadrez
    Mar 1, 2009
    10
    See the show - then you tell me.
  2. JimS
    Mar 1, 2009
    8
    This is a CD of wonderful moments, enough to keep it in heavy rotation for awhile, but it does not hang together as well as Hitchcock's This is a CD of wonderful moments, enough to keep it in heavy rotation for awhile, but it does not hang together as well as Hitchcock's best. The lyrics are sometimes inscrutable, but they retain the Hitchcock charm, and why would one expect otherwise? What catches my ear most are delicious passages in which Peter Buck's guitar and Hitchcock's meld into a wonderful sort of lovely. "I'm Falling" is pure jangle without a hint of precious; "16 Years" is co-credited to Buck, and it sounds like the best of mid-career R.E.M., and the title track harks to the best of Hitchcock's psychodelia. This CD does not scale the heights of "I Often Dream of Trains," "Eye," or "Moss Elixir," but it stands as a welcome addition to the HItchcock catalog.… Full Review »
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