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9.0
46873
9.0 |
Slant Magazine
The world Cale has created here is conflicted and weird, but it's also fascinating. It's a place where beauty is only a memory, where distortion and grotesquerie are ubiquitous, but where there's still much to admire
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9.0
47208
9.0 |
Loud And Quiet
An album that has simultaneous clouts of pop-smattered genius and dark, ominous wonder
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8.0
47030
8.0 |
Under The Radar
It may be dispiriting for new bands influenced by his old band The Velvet Underground to hear, but in 2012 there are few artists in Britain as relevant as John Cale
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8.0
46892
8.0 |
Mojo
As good as anything Cale's delivered in years. Print edition only
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8.0
46894
8.0 |
Q
Cale exceeds even his old friend Eno in his enduring hunger for the new. Print edition only
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8.0
46820
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Cale doesn’t sound at all lost or foundering, as he has been accused of on many of his more recent records; this is a mood piece of epic proportions
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8.0
46823
8.0 |
The Guardian
The Welshman's rich baritone has rarely sounded as commanding, and his songwriting is sharp
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8.0
46838
8.0 |
Independent on Sunday
An album which manages to be sonically inventive, dense and complex and melodically accessible
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8.0
46842
8.0 |
The Observer
Nookie Wood finds him in rude creative health; a gruff, Pan-like affirmation of continuing musical restlessness
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8.0
47315
8.0 |
PopMatters
Achieves a balance between uncompromising, avant-garde sound experimentation and pure melodic beauty that is among the most seamless and convincing you will hear all year
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7.9
47318
7.9 |
Paste Magazine
Cale is on par with an elite group of shape-shifting, eternally relevant artists such as Cave, Neil Young and Tom Waits—intrepid visionaries never content to rest on past creative successes
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7.5
46939
7.5 |
A.V. Club
It’s always a thrill to hear Cale pick up pop music and give it a hug, as he does with awkward, abstract glee on Nookie Wood—even if he breaks a few of its bones in the process
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7.3
47601
7.3 |
PlayGround
Pop, punk or classical: the man knows how to construct a tune
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7.0
47285
7.0 |
The Quietus
What Cale has done here is not only intriguing in its own right, it also manages to beat artists half the maker's age and younger at their own game and also has more to say
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7.0
46968
7.0 |
BBC
A mischievous release from a man accustomed to unconventional records
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7.0
46849
7.0 |
DIY
A visceral, thrilling ride, capable of soundtracking any seedy disco on the outskirts of Nookie Wood
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7.0
46862
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
An enjoyable offering from a genuine treasure
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6.0
46821
6.0 |
The Irish Times
Just as there’s a classic rock sound, Shifty Adventures sports a classic synth-rock sound, the primary colours of electro, if you will
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6.0
46822
6.0 |
The Independent
His songs may reference antiquities like Ernest Hemingway, but the drum programmes, autotuned vocals and synth sequences are more modern than the usual country-rock favoured by septuagenarian troubadours
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6.0
46890
6.0 |
Uncut
Nice title, but there's no hanky panky. Print edition only
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6.0
46899
6.0 |
NME
For five songs, it’s the best album ever, rattling along on post-punk guitar flourishes and Cale’s auto-tuned vocal
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6.0
47163
6.0 |
Pitchfork
Shifty Adventures feels more like a collection of gadgets than songs
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6.0
47265
6.0 |
All Music
His first full-length outing since Black Acetate, continues in that same vein, mining the oddball, genre-be-damned approach that dominated his immediate post-Velvets output
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6.0
48199
6.0 |
Tone Deaf
A consistent record, one that neither hits towering highs nor plunges to embarrassing lows. It’s a record that’s always interesting without ever being compelling
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5.0
47367
5.0 |
No Ripcord
Too often the way of the beat ends up a distraction rather than a fully incorporated addition to good songwriting. Cale has shown his ability to do this effectively in recent years. This time the beats got the best of him
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5.0
46996
5.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
You don’t become a legend of experimentalism without a collection of failed experiments
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