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This Gift Image
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 9 Ratings

  • Summary: The third album for the Scottish band was produced by Bernard Butler.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Look beneath the surface sheen, then, and you'll see gratefully receive This Gift as the best, most complete, Sons And Daughters long-player to date.
  2. Think The Cramps crossed with the B52s, with a fair dose of Smog and Cat Power thrown in, and you’ll be in the Sons & Daughters picture
  3. The viscous, darkly choppy, sexily fulsome and ferociously hard-driving blend of post-punk and country noir that distinguished their long-playing debut, "The Repulsion Box" is still evident, but it's matched with a bracing new breadth, dynamic diversity and myriad light/shade variations.
  4. The menace, exhilaration, and sheer catchiness of the band’s earlier songs, however, have been diminished, leaving pop and rock tunes that rely heavily on Adele’s vocals and a chronically agitated tempo to carry them through to the finish line.
  5. 70
    This Gift flags halfway through when an odd excursion into retro-'60s twaddle gums up the works. [Feb 2008, p.97]
  6. 70
    There’s an exhilarating and ruthless intensity here, mingling the grimness of country murder ballads with the simplicity of girl-group pop.
  7. They oscillate wildly, but 'The Nest' reveals partial siring from Phil Spector, in sound if not psyche, while clammy, nervous rockers like the vitriolic kiss-off 'Darling'–-cribbing its recurring riff from the Stones' 'Mother's Little Helper'--veer into outright snark.

See all 22 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. DwamG.
    Apr 5, 2008
    10
    Why are this band not yet global? Music to be frightened by.
  2. JoshK.
    Feb 2, 2008
    9
    Album brings what is so great about Sons and Daughters - a strong, relentless beat with screeching guitars and charged vocals. Album is short Album brings what is so great about Sons and Daughters - a strong, relentless beat with screeching guitars and charged vocals. Album is short but with their style, Sons and Daughters just just long enough. Expand
  3. NickP
    Feb 1, 2008
    7
    I just don't like female rock vocalists. Call it what you will. The music is good though.
  4. GuillaumePop
    Feb 2, 2008
    7
    Good Inspiration from the late 60's, 70's (Shocking Blue, Iggy...) but i'm not sure of its efficiency. Anyway, i love this band!