The Golden Age
by American Music Club
  • Record Label: Merge
  • Release Date: Feb 19, 2008
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. The A.V. Club
    91
    Eitzel's trademark gloom still dominates, but his ability to bend glacial chords around pure poetry remains vital. In fact, it's stronger than ever.
  2. Drowned In Sound
    90
    While the quality and beauty of The Golden Age can stand confidently beside those two classics ["Everclear & "Mercury"], it stands alone as another distinct chapter in the life of this band, precious to those who know them.
  3. Alternative Press
    90
    The album doesn't have the reunion hype that helped make American Music Club's "Love Songs For Patriots" such an event. What it does have is songwriting. [Mar 2008, p.140]
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  5. Amazon.com
    80
    AMC’s second second-life album (recorded with L.A. musicians on bass and drums) is as gorgeous and disorderly as any in its nine-album catalog.
  6. musicOMH.com
    80
    The Golden Age is a bewitching and thoroughly addictive record that proves that even when they push themselves out of their comfort zone, American Music Club can still come up with a classic.
  7. Observer Music Monthly
    80
    The good news is that the ninth album from these inveterate melancholics is a burnished pleasure.
  8. Uncut
    80
    The Golden Age is the real thing. [Feb 2008, p.72]
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  9. Dusted Magazine
    80
    The new record is less political than its predecessor, but seems to share the same, more expansive perspective.
  10. Village Voice
    80
    Wisely, The Golden Age is less mediated, its variety achieved through smartly arranged curveballs like the Calexican waltz 'I Know That's Not Really You.'
  11. Hartford Courant
    80
    American Music Club return with a quieter but no less excellent addition to a catalog that stretches back to 1985.
  12. Filter
    80
    At times, it sounds downright lively, even as Eitzel paints a lyrically bleak outlook and focuses on character creation over self-examination. [Winter 2008, p.92]
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  13. AllMusic
    80
    The Golden Age may simply be the Eitzel and Vudi show, but that's more than enough to make this a rich and rewarding set of songs whose gentle surfaces belie their troubling strength.
  14. NOW Magazine
    80
    Musically, it’s quiet and reserved, making for a subtle but satisfying listen.
  15. Pitchfork
    77
    American Music Club's central values--humility, self-effacement through musical understatement, sentimental candor-- may be currently out of fashion, but The Golden Age proves that, handled with care, they never truly go out of style.
  16. Tiny Mix Tapes
    70
    While the band have shed much of their aggressive musical past, they are able to bring an edge to a wealth of genres that otherwise struggle with balancing a new audience with an older, AOR-accessible set.
  17. PopMatters
    70
    Yeah, Eitzel and company still overindulge in navel-gazing and slow-trudge tempos, but they overcome it on The Golden Age with a confident and mature subtlety throughout.
  18. Spin
    70
    The Golden Age is their most placid disc since 1989's "United Kingdom."

Awards & Rankings

77
#77 Best Album of 2008

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
  1. JackC.
    Apr 17, 2008
    8
    "The Golden Age" is good solid record worth hearing. There are some strikingly good songs on here, such as "the decibels and little pills," "The Golden Age" is good solid record worth hearing. There are some strikingly good songs on here, such as "the decibels and little pills," "all my love," "sleeping beauty," and "the stars." All of it is pretty solid really. The only real gripe I have and why I'm only giving it an 8 is just because things start to feel a little monotonous over the course of the 13 tracks.… Full Review »
  2. Mages
    Apr 10, 2008
    9
    I can't stop listening to it.
  3. DejanSt.
    Apr 8, 2008
    8
    Much more than I expected. A return to form. Beautiful.
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