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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
An r’n'b album with few equals in terms of narrational ambition, Trilogy doesn’t just expose or subvert the womanising male archetype of modern r’n'b, it destroys it, by rendering it quaintly one-dimensional.
11y
100
However wasted an opportunity it is as an introduction to The Weeknd, Trilogy is still a staggering, near-perfect portrait of hedonism’s inherent depravity and bareness.
11y
95
Tesfaye’s songwriting is pure gold: simple at the core but teased out by The Weekend’s production team into something entirely new and exciting, sometimes sensual but always interesting.
10y
90
Slinky sounds, sultry elegance, slow pianos, echoes, raw and aggressive, all of this is found on Trilogy. This is a versatile album and hard to get bored of.
90
It's an exhausting journey, dark and disturbing with little respite, but in the end when those last chords fade away and you're left with the echoes ringing in your ears, it's a journey that's worth taking.
11y
85
This is some of the the best music of the young decade; judging by its already pervasive influence, it's safe to say Trilogy (or at least House of Balloons) will be one of those records that will be viewed as a turning point when we look at the 2010s as a whole.
11y
85
Trilogy takes one of the more singular bodies of work of the new decade and gives it a very modern bout of premature re-evaluation, image curating and real-time mythologizing
10y
83
Each trippy disc holds up remarkably well, though we wouldn’t recommend listening to all three while operating machinery.
80
Trilogy reminds you how striking and singular Tesfaye’s work is, as he infuses songs with melancholic, wistful, muted moods and captures the listlessness and ennui that often lurks behind the hedonism.
80
The production sounded great to start with, and the new material is unexceptional, but if you didn't pick up the mixtapes when they were going free, and can handle 160 minutes of beautifully crafted nihilism, this is an essential buy.
80
Trilogy does remove some of the Weeknd's mystique – lyrical formulae become apparent, and examples of engaging melody recede as the collection advances. Whatever its limits, however, Trilogy remains a striking piece of work.
80
The mixtapes remain practically untouched, giving any new The Weeknd fans a genuine look into what allowed an unknown artist to transform himself into someone who breathed new life into R&B.
10y
80
If we are to consider this compilation as a single document, then it’s a document of this limited, albeit mesmerizing, facet of the Weeknd’s persona.
11y
80
As a comprehensive document of a specific moment in time, Trilogy is untouchable.
11y
70
If only it had that kind of focus. The disparate releases are as oil and water as ever, with a new song on each disc that doesn’t fit at all
11y
70
Throughout 2011, they showed impressive ambition with their music, subtly hinting at themes and lyrics that coalesced into what can be seen as a three album long narrative of torment, sadness and really good drugs.
60
Now that he's with a label, he'll hopefully get some kind of filter that enables him to fulfill the promise heard in these 160 minutes of one-dimensional, occasionally exhilarating overindulgence ... His potential is as obvious as his lyrics are toxic.
11y
50
The Trilogy collects three of the Toronto singer’s 2011 mixtapes, but some editing might have better introduced him to the world outside Tumblr.
While it may be a bit of a slog to get through as a whole as each mixtape gets increasingly more hedonistic and self-indulgent, in this compilation's peaks Abel was able to strike gold on the first try with his sound that so many alt R&B artists for the later part of the 2010s would try to imitate but never successfully duplicate.
House of Balloons: 81.8/100
Favorites: The Morning, What You Need, House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls
Least Favorites: Twenty Eight, The Party & The After ... read more
The majority of the songs I liked on every single mixtape, but there are certain songs I just cannot like. It is a very good project to say the least.
Truly beautiful vocals from the weekend and some amazing tracks here that I'm constantly playing on repeat, with the exception of a few tracks this is an incredibly constant album and the quality never drops, highly recommend it if you've yet to hear it, for rnb fans its definitely a must-listen. (IMHO)
gonna say the same thing I did for the ghost pop tape remaster here
i prefer the sounds of the original mixtapes than these remastered versions
ESPECIALLY the songs from Echoes of Silence
this is probably a hot take but if the added songs (twenty eight, valerie, till dawn) were on the original mixtapes they wouldve ruined them for me
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Track List
House of Balloons
- High for This
- What You Need
- House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls
- The Morning
- Wicked Games
- The Party & the After Party
- Coming Down
- Loft Music
- The Knowing
- Twenty Eight
Thursday
- Lonely Star
- Life of the Party
- Thursday
- The Zone (feat. Drake)
- The Birds, Pt. 1
- The Birds, Pt. 2
- Gone
- Rolling Stone
- Heaven or Las Vegas
- Valerie
Echoes of Silence
- D.D.
- Montreal
- Outside
- XO / The Host
- Initiation
- Same Old Song (feat. Juicy J)
- The Fall
- Next
- Echoes of Silence
- Till Dawn (Here Comes the Sun)
Year End Lists
| #18 | / | Clash |
| #31 | / | Obscure Sound |
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4mo
pitchfork actually killed it on that review they were absolutely spot on about this project, deffo should be hailed as one of the defining projects of our generation for R&B
8mo
so can i listen to each mixtape individually and then the 3 new tracks on here and rate this, or should i just eventually listen to this whole compilation?
Added on: October 2, 2012