IT Began in Afrika - Reception

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 72/100
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic
Entertainment Weekly B
Pitchfork Media 6.2/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin 9/10
PopMatters 8/10
Slant Magazine
Mixmag
Alternative Press

Initial critical response to Come with Us was generally positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 72, based on 23 reviews.

Andy Puleston of the BBC said that "years ago Tom and Ed assured us 'the brother's gonna work it out'. If you've ever felt that they had yet to make good on this promise then, as far as Come With Us is concerned there was never a truer word spoken.". His review also acknowledged the success of "It Began in Afrika", saying that by "removing shrubs, laying concrete and generally paving the way for this album, "Afrika" conquered Ibiza, Notting Hill Carnival and contrived a craving amongst those with an affinity for a big, bouncy kick drum."

Allmusic said "After forgetting the key on 1999's Surrender amidst handling all of the celebrity guests, they got back to business with Come With Us.", and that "from the vocal sample introducing the opener ("behold...they're coming back"), it's clear Rowlands and Simons know the importance of this fourth album, and it detonates like a bomb blast, as though the duo knew that Come With Us had to be bigger and badder than all the bombastic breaks they'd dropped in the past."

Following the albums' release, the band embarked on two tours in promotion of the album, the Go with Them tour and the North Amerika tour.

Read more about this topic:  It Began In Afrika

Famous quotes containing the word reception:

    “To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
    —Walter Pater (1839–1894)

    “I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
    —Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)