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A singer's record.
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Mountain Goats have just added a further chapter in an ongoing saga of (micro) relationships examined against a backdrop of (macro) global concern, We Shall All Be Healed being the most explicit yet.
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This is a revelatory album for the Mountain Goats and the listeners; both Darnielle and the audience find new strength in his open vulnerability.
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Fragmented and disturbing, yet thoroughly refreshing.
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We Shall All Be Healed emphatically proves that Darnielle can create compelling, dynamic music beyond the comfortable confines of his living room couch.
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Alternative PressFull of hopelessness and destructive defiance. [Mar 2004, p.94]
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UncutDespite--or perhaps because of--its viscous air of paranoia, this record is unputdownable. [Mar 2004, p.100]
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Darnielle's willingness to throw himself so completely into collaboration is what makes this effort such a triumph.
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Perfectly arranged and one of the best of 2004, it's an ideal starting point for newcomers.
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Q MagazineDarnielle's striking way with a phrase makes songs about Milky Ways for breakfast and smelly flats into things of quiet wonder. [Mar 2004, p.107]
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BlenderThey've adopted a crisp, unfussy style that assures the audibility of Darnielle's artful words. [Mar 2004, p.124]
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An odd, fascinating journey through the mind of a man who channels messages from horror movies, occult events, and other bewilderments, and turns them into songs.
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An underdeveloped and frail album.
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His gift for pissed-off poetry and left-field details remains intact.
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We Shall All Be Healed is complacent, formulaic for a trailblazer, lapped by Destroyer, optimistic-but-joyless in that it is pessimistic-but-punchy, and gooped with the silly putty of vagueness and cliché.
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The slight cracks that shone on Tallahassee are more visible, and unless you're a newbie to Mountain Goats lore, there probably won't be a whole lot new for you here.
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Like Darnielle’s shrill tone that many have come to love and now mourn, We Shall All Be Healed is sometimes on the mark, but often left of center. Its moments of clarity, although surely there, don't come around enough to keep it near the stereo.
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While Vanderslice's consummate production creates several indelible pieces of music, the stark repetition of John Darnielle's songs seems all the more apparent on his full-band numbers.
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MojoDarnielle is a lyrical genius, for sure, but... you're left wishing for a song, just one song, that doesn't sound like a man strumming or plucking that damned folky guitar. [Mar 2004, p.96]
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Lyrically, things are mainly annoying, although there are a few bits of amusing storytelling, and some interesting couplets.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 14
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Mixed: 0 out of 14
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Negative: 1 out of 14
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ArielOct 7, 2006
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Two-LaneBlacktopJul 4, 2004
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NickgMay 22, 2004It's going to be hard to top this one. For the next one he's better off going sideways.