Jimmy Lee
by Raphael Saadiq
  • Record Label: Columbia
  • Release Date: Aug 23, 2019
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
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  1. Chicago Tribune
    Aug 26, 2019
    100
    His subject matter is explicit and personal, the album a song cycle brimming with ghosts – four siblings who died tragically young. ... He narrators in these songs are more like a collection of lost voices, including that of Saadiq himself.
  2. PopMatters
    Sep 3, 2019
    90
    Saadiq puts his artistic skills to use in full, reaching new emotional and technical heights while delving into heartbreaking lows. Jimmy Lee shows why, even though he so often stays behind the scenes these days, his is one of the most compelling voices in modern-day soul music.
  3. AllMusic
    Aug 30, 2019
    90
    The brothers and sisters in arms, longtime partners (Thomas McElroy, Taura Stinson) and new associates (Brook D'Leau, Daniel Crawford) alike, play in service to the vision of one eminent artist, helping him convert grief to artistic brilliance.
  5. Variety
    Aug 26, 2019
    90
    He did it to make a point, and to make an impact. And as personal as the album may be at times, it’s also an uplifting and universal take for anyone who’s experienced life with a troubled loved one.
  6. Q Magazine
    Aug 27, 2019
    80
    A dark album for darker times--at 53, Saadiq is still ahead of the curve. [Oct 2019, p.110]
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  7. Paste Magazine
    Aug 26, 2019
    80
    Saadiq has clearly turned a corner into an unpredictable headspace. His new edge, combined with his prodigious production and instrumental chops, bodes well as far as what might come next. And there’s a certain thrill in not knowing how much more outlandish his next move might be.
  8. The Observer (UK)
    Aug 26, 2019
    80
    It feels like he’s aiming for a 21st-century version of classic albums such as Sign ‘O’ the Times and What’s Going On and, on astonishing, soul-scraping laments This World Is Drunk and Kings Fall, he almost gets there.
  9. Pitchfork
    Sep 19, 2019
    78
    On Jimmy Lee, Saadiq shout-sings, whispers, and croons with new abandon. It feels like a refutation of his old reserve, and it also represents a welcome stretch from Saadiq before he takes his sound all the way back to his beginnings.

Awards & Rankings

5
#5 Best Album of 2019

User Reviews

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User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 51 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 51
  3. Negative: 17 out of 51
  1. seang9899
    Aug 26, 2019
    10
    Quite simply, the best album since "Black Messiah" and "Blackstar" dropped in late '15/early '16
  2. a_sebastian
    Aug 27, 2019
    10
    Feels good to label an album with 10. To be honest I'm a fan, otherwise i would do a9, simply because the 2 first tracks are just,Feels good to label an album with 10. To be honest I'm a fan, otherwise i would do a9, simply because the 2 first tracks are just, unlistenable.
    As for the rest, beauty. In and out of context.    … Full Review »
  3. ernestogomez18
    Sep 10, 2019
    10
    One of the best albums I have ever heard. Don't know why people didn't like it much.
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