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8.5
100806
8.5 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Whilst The Thrill of it All isn’t a complete departure from the artist we all know and love, it is clear that Smith is in a new phase of his career and is encompassing what it means to be a ‘soul’ singer
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8.0
100932
8.0 |
Q
It's emphatically not the sound of a young man riding high on life after shifting 12 million albums. Print edition only
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8.0
100607
8.0 |
Rolling Stone
"Him" elevates a set of brilliantly-sung songs into a potent concept album that universalizes heartbreak from a distinctly LGBTQ point of view
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8.0
100609
8.0 |
NME
Like Adele’s ‘25’, this is an undeniably accomplished album that will, deservedly, shift a helluva lot of copies
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8.0
100611
8.0 |
Evening Standard
Having survived the world-tilting effect of selling millions of copies of his debut album, Sam Smith returns to the fray leaner and energised
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7.5
100612
7.5 |
Consequence Of Sound
Soars highest when he stretches outside his comfort zone
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7.0
100606
7.0 |
Slant Magazine
He's deepened his craft without exactly broadening it, which makes The Thrill of It All feel more like a fine-tuning than a bold new adventure
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6.0
100610
6.0 |
The Guardian
There’s a certain power to The Thrill of It All, but it could have been a much more potent album if they’d laid off the polish just a little
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5.8
100678
5.8 |
Pitchfork
His spectacular voice doles out feelings in terms everyone can understand
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5.5
100608
5.5 |
Spectrum Culture
This album’s 10 tracks are effective for long drives in the rain lamenting the broken shards of one’s life, sure, but in growth terms, it’s a disappointment
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5.0
100709
5.0 |
A.V. Club
To date, the only real distinction of Smith’s music is his voice—and though he’s a talented singer, even that’s dulled by songs this predictably vanilla
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4.0
100613
4.0 |
The Irish Times
The thrills are few and Sam Smith is as guilty as hell
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4.0
100662
4.0 |
The FT
One bids The Thrill of It All goodbye more gladly than Smith’s vocal talents deserve
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4.0
100663
4.0 |
The Observer
There is little drama here, just plenty of shorthand (sad pianos), a total absence of risk and, perhaps worst of all, no evidence of the deranged hedonism that catapulted Smith into a funk
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4.0
100667
4.0 |
The Arts Desk
He feels somewhere between the insidious smoothness of Mick Hucknall and the bork-bork-bork honking of Heather Small
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3.0
100817
3.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Nobody expected Smith to reinvent the wheel on his second album, but anything is better than limping along on a flat tyre
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