Forty Licks - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Forty Licks has received mostly positive review from music critics, but not all. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that Forty Licks was similar to ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits because both were influenced by The Beatles' 1, but that Forty Licks had a better concept than ELV1S. Although Rob Brunner's review of the album for Entertainment Weekly was favorable, he felt that the album was not needed because most of the band's fans already own all of the notable songs on the album. Darryl Sterdan of Jam! CANOE also felt that most fans already owned most of the songs on the album and that "Losing My Touch" was the only good previously unreleased song on the collection. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone felt that there were several songs missing from the album, but that the compilation was exciting and the four new songs were much better than their other recent work. Stylus Magazine's Colin McElligatt felt that the band needed an "all-inclusive" collection, but the collection will not please everyone.