Critics give It’s a Wonderful Life a B-Side Breakdown of 78 (C+), from 10 reviews at outlets we track. Scores run 60 to 91.
The verdict on It’s a Wonderful Life
8 of 10 critics liked it, and they mostly agree.
- Highest 91 Entertainment Weekly
- Lowest 60 Spin
- Career #3 of Sparklehorse's 4 albums with a Breakdown
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entertainment Weekly via Wikipediaby David Browne | A- | 91 | 2001 | |
| Under the Radar via Wikipediaby Wendy Lynch | 9/10 | 90 | ||
| Q via Wikipedia | 4/5 | 80 | 2006 | |
| NME via Wikipediaby Kitty Empire | 8/10 | 80 | 2005 | “The first horse turns up in the opening couplet. [I]”A murder of crows”[/I] ushers us out in the album’s hidden track. All around are mouldering remains of human activity: the…” |
| The Guardian via Wikipediaby Maddy Costa, Dave Simpson, Adam Sweeting, Robin Denselow, Betty Clarke and John Aizlewood | 4/5 | 80 | 2001 | “Rufus Wainwright sings handsomely of decadence and desire, while Slam capture the delirium of clubland – plus the rest of this week's CDs” |
| AllMusic via Wikipediaby Heather Phares | 4/5 | 80 | ||
| Pitchfork via Wikipediaby Joe Tangari | 7.7/10 | 77 | 2001 | “Focus can be a difficult thing to maintain in art. Once you've begun creating something, it's easy to …” |
| Los Angeles Times via Wikipediaby Steve Hochman | 3/4 | 75 | 2001 | “* * * Sparklehorse, "It's a Wonderful Life," Capitol. Is the title sarcastic or sincere?” |
| Rolling Stone via Wikipediaby Arion Berger | 3.5/5 | 70 | 2001 | |
| Spin via Wikipediaby Douglas Wolk | 6/10 | 60 | 2001 |
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It’s a Wonderful Life in Sparklehorse's catalog
How these critics usually treat Sparklehorse
- Pitchfork About usual for them1 point below the other critics here. Usually 5 points above on Sparklehorse's other albums (3).
- AllMusic About usual for them2 points above the other critics here. Usually 5 points above on Sparklehorse's other albums (3).
More from Sparklehorse
← Earlier Good Morning Spider (1998)Later → Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (2006)
More Rock from around 2001
Would you spin it again?
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How the Breakdown works
Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59, a B+ is 88) and averaged. Grades follow the B-Side scale: A is 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 75 or higher; the Breakdown shows green at 75 and up, red below. Divisiveness asks a different question: not how many critics liked it, but how close their scores are to each other. Five critics who all give it 50 are Unanimous, even though none of them liked it. The labels run Unanimous, Broad agreement, Some debate, Divided, and Contentious. Replay rate comes from listeners, not critics: yes counts fully, a few tracks counts half, no counts zero. The gist quotes each outlet’s own summary of its review. Published is the date on the review itself, read from the outlet’s page, so you can see whether an album’s reputation came at release or years later. Scores marked est. come from reviews that publish no number. Scores marked via Wikipedia are archive ratings, mostly for older albums, taken from the “Professional ratings” box on the album’s Wikipedia page (published openly through Wikidata); each links to the original review when we can find it online, and to that Wikipedia entry when we can’t. When an outlet reviewed an album twice, years apart (often for a reissue), both scores count, each labeled with its year.
A-Side marks the critics’ top tier. An album earns it automatically, from its numbers alone: a Breakdown of 90 or higher, from at least 5 reviews, with at least 75% approval. Nobody hands it out and nobody can buy it; if new reviews pull an album below the line, it loses the badge.
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