Sound & Color

Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
Critic Score
Based on 35 reviews
2015 Ratings: #109 / 1021
Year End Rank: #26
User Score
Based on 780 ratings
2015 Rank: #107
Liked by 66 people
April 21, 2015 / Release Date
LP / Format
ATO, Rough Trade / Label
Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

91
Entertainment Weekly

The songs here are far more intricately constructed than anything on the band’s debut, and the musicianship is disciplined almost to a fault; a little unbridled rocking out would actually have injected some needed verve into Color’s quieter second half.

90
PopMatters

If the Shakes’ debut Boys and Girls proved difficult to categorize, then Sound and Color ups that ante even higher, adding doses of psychedelia, punk, and lengthy jamscapes to the band’s already heady musical cocktail.

90
Exclaim!
It's a deliberately weird record, but authentically weird; it's chaotic yet cohesive, full of sound, colour and unshakable vision.
84
Paste

Sound & Color is a daring and deliberate record, and its greatest success stems from the band’s complete defiance with its choices.

81
Pitchfork
This is stadium soul with one eye peeking toward another galaxy while hands and feet and throats desperately try to suss out life here on Earth.
80
NOW Magazine

Sound & Color avoids the sophomore slump by packing a sense of purpose into its 12 sleek yet gritty soul tracks.

80
The Needle Drop
Alabama Shakes drop a sophomore record that's an improvement on all fronts.
80
Billboard

Among rock music of its kind, it's one of the most ­muscular collections in some time, yet it accomplishes this by hardly even flexing.

80
FasterLouder
This is an album that proves that there is far more to this band than meets the eye.
80
Slant Magazine

Remarkably, for all its genre-hopping and instrumental experimentation, Sound & Color is still sonically cohesive, the product of a band that no longer aspires to just imitate their influences, but to build on them, to draw from diverse sources to create a familiar yet identifiably unique rock n' soul sound.

80
American Songwriter

After the wild success of Alabama Shakes’ debut album, it took a lot of courage to veer into the territory they explore in Sound & Color, a deeply layered collage of tempos and textures – and a seemingly hard left-turn from their previous work.

80
DIY
Notes may be reached, riffs rinsed, stop-start moments choreographed, but nothing’s being reached for, on appearance, at least – it’s all so brilliantly effortless.
80
The 405
One second it will be contemporary soul ('Guess Who') and the next a Jack Daniels fuelled garage-rock riot ('The Greatest'), all without becoming a discordant collection of ideas.
80
NME
The cumulative effect is to make the band about more than just Howard’s (still-remarkable) set of pipes.
80
AllMusic

On their 2015 follow-up, Sound & Color, they free themselves from the vestiges of the past, let loose, and push themselves further in either direction. This could've resulted in a disjointed record pulling itself in two opposing directions, but the mess of Sound & Color is invigorating.

80
musicOMH

True to its title, Sound & Color finds a much wider range of textures and contexts for Brittany Howard’s expressive belter of a voice, with impressive variations in pace, delivery and style.

75
The Line of Best Fit

While Boys & Girls seemed to crawl out of its creators fully formed, Sound & Color feels like it might require a longer gestation period. It is both brilliant and uneven.

75
Pretty Much Amazing

The biggest thing that Sound & Color seems to have going for it is how agreeable it all seems. Alabama Shakes don’t rock the boat necessarily, but by refining the formula, they’ve proven they can succeed with a model that has become all too easy to fail with in recent years.

75
Consequence of Sound

The tinted and tightly paced sophomore effort Sound & Color is an alluring musical rainbow that sets Alabama Shakes apart from niche throwbacks.

70
Rolling Stone
This is a weirder, woozier, fiercer and sexier record than their debut in nearly every way.
70
SPIN
Rather than resting on the laurels of our expectations, Alabama Shakes manage to make roots-rock a surprise again.
70
Drowned in Sound
While the debt is still to the Sixties and Seventies sounds of Muscle Shoals, of Otis and Aretha, and a big slab of late-era Beatles, the quartet work hard to make this a sonically interesting journey.
67
A.V. Club

Sound & Color drops some of that urgency in favor of a hefty dose of experimentation, and while the results are intriguing, the record can’t help but meander a bit.

65
Under the Radar

While it lacks the instant-gratification of Boys and Girls, Sound & Color is nevertheless a prime example of how an old genre can still enthral.

60
The Guardian

Given that a certain conservatism was the attraction of their debut, it takes guts to mess around with the formula. Not all their experiments work, but it’s hard not to be infected by the excitement when they do.

Jenkies
80

I was never a fan of this project, but instant gratification isn't always the homie y'all. Years later and several re-listens later, I am now seeing the appeal and it couldn't be easier to see why. Sound & Color is a genre blend of so many things that should be given much more credit than it gets.

Yeah not sure why tf Taylor Swift beat this for AOTY at the 2016 Grammys.... I mean I know why. Sound & Color was going against 1989 which is considered to be one of Taylor's biggest projects ... read more

YessYessYessYes
95

Alabama Shake’s Sophomore Record Is Easily One Of The Most Enigmatic Record The 2010’s Had To Offer.

Everything Down From The Very Heavy & Fun, But Intense Wall Of Sound From The Amazing Instrumentation To Brittany Howard’s Amazingly Passionate Vocals That Grip Onto You & Never Want To Let Go!

This Record Makes Me Feel Like Rock Isn’t Just Dead Yet.

Alabama Shakes, Thank You For Bringing Hope Within A Dying Genre.

ka1
93

Nostalgia does something to you

Jenkies
80

I was never a fan of this project, but instant gratification isn't always the homie y'all. Years later and several re-listens later, I am now seeing the appeal and it couldn't be easier to see why. Sound & Color is a genre blend of so many things that should be given much more credit than it gets.

Yeah not sure why tf Taylor Swift beat this for AOTY at the 2016 Grammys.... I mean I know why. Sound & Color was going against 1989 which is considered to be one of Taylor's biggest projects ... read more

LilDickyFan444
52

Half of it pretty bland, but when the album is at its highest, it's pretty freaking high.

zethos
40

I really can't get over the lead singers grating voice and singing style. The instrumentals aren't too engaging in the first place, but the vocals sound like nails on a chalk board. I was not engaged at all with this album, I may be tweaking however as I am in the trenches rn but as of this moment I am not a fan.

Purchasing Sound & Color from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?
Become a Donor
Donor badge, no ads + more benefits.
Advertisement

Track List

1Sound & Color
3:03
87
2Don't Wanna Fight
3:52
90
3Dunes
4:17
78
4Future People
3:21
83
5Gimme All Your Love
4:03
90
6This Feeling
4:28
82
7Guess Who
3:15
78
8The Greatest
3:49
76
9Shoegaze
2:59
74
10Miss You
3:47
77
11Gemini
6:35
78
12Over My Head
3:53
79
Total Length: 47 minutes
Comments (1)
Sign in to comment
1y


Added on: February 10, 2015