Live A Little
by Pernice Brothers
  • Record Label: Ashmont
  • Release Date: Oct 3, 2006
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    Live a Little... finds Pernice throwing off the shackles of overenunciation and fussy production.
  2. Mojo
    90
    If only all pop music could be this smart and soulful. [Dec 2006, p.106]
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  3. AllMusic
    80
    Live a Little sounds more open and roomy than the past few Pernice Brothers efforts.
  5. Under The Radar
    80
    The Pernice Brothers continue their string of classic pop albums with their fifth full-length, Live A Little, expanding on their already pristine pop sound. [#15]
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  6. Magnet
    80
    His best since 2001's The World Won't End. [#73, p.104]
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  7. PopMatters
    80
    Pernice can be as lyrically dense as Elvis Costello, and he nears Imperial Bedroom heights of dizzy grandiosity with this latest collection of ringers.
  8. Uncut
    80
    [It] revisits the chamber pop of their 1998 debut... equalling it in beauty and surpassing it in punch. [Nov 2006, p.123]
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  9. Spin
    80
    Startling turns of phrase are just another of this stunning album's grim charms. [Nov 2006, p.103]
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  10. The A.V. Club
    75
    It's only a slightly subtler version of the winning formula that produced critical favorites like Yours, Mine & Ours, but it's just as impossible not to like.
  11. Amazon.com
    70
    Pernice's unblemished voice is the key instrument.
  12. Delusions of Adequacy
    70
    No alarms, no surprises.
  13. Prefix Magazine
    70
    Thankfully, on Live a Little, he... sticks to what he does best: creating lovely, literate pop-rock.
  14. Paste Magazine
    70
    Sad, sweet and mature as ever, the Pernice Brothers keep twisting their emotional kaleidoscope to great effect.
  15. Rolling Stone
    70
    Another lovely little package.
  16. Pitchfork
    64
    Listening to Joe endlessly bombard the listener with rejiggered cliches and breathless streams of imagery and other examples of his lyrical craft, it sounds less like skillful, effortless writing and more like showy, over-considered craftwork.
  17. musicOMH.com
    60
    If there were any criticism to be leveled at this album, it's that it is a little bland around the edges.
  18. Blender
    60
    The only emotion here is the hothouse loneliness of an overintellectualized mind. [Nov 2006, p.154]
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  19. Q Magazine
    60
    The results, while never quite suggesting imminent breakthrough, are sometimes elegiac. [Nov 2006, p.147]
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 10 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 1 out of 10
  1. Dave
    Dec 1, 2006
    10
    Great CD, definitely in my top 10 for the year. Can't wait to see them live next week!!
  2. RolfC
    Nov 13, 2006
    9
    As time marches on, and the vast listening throngs continue to favor rhythm over melody, there is very little current music that I even As time marches on, and the vast listening throngs continue to favor rhythm over melody, there is very little current music that I even consider listenable. But the Pernice Brothers is now tops in giving great aural pleasure. After all, "The World Won't End" remains the best album of the new millennium. Some brave artists can still shine: the Lolas, Chixdiggit!, Fountains of Wayne, Spinning Jennies/Well Wishers, Starflyer 59, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Ricchini. But the Pernice Brothers tops them all, and this album builds on their reputation. It makes me yearn for yet one more Shoes album - which I know will never come. Sigh.… Full Review »
  3. davidg
    Oct 21, 2006
    10
    another great record. listen a few times and you'll see.
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