Wavelength (album) - Reception

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
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adriandenning.co.uk
Allmusic
Robert Christgau B+
Scott Floman B+
Rolling Stone (not rated)

Lester Bangs reviewed the album for Rolling Stone in 1978 and commented: "Wavelength is a very nice record. I'm sure all the people at Warner Bros. are pleased with it. Ditto the DJs... Still, though, it do confound how such a monumental talent can mire himself in such twaddle, fine as some of it may be."

Melody Maker reviewed the album as evidence of Morrison's "drift into the American Dream."

Stephen Thomas Erlewine with Allmusic rated the album four stars and wrote that "Wavelength essentially picks up where A Period of Transition left off, offering a focused, full-bodied alternative to that record's warmly fuzzy lack of direction."

Robert Christgau referred to it as a "good album" and called attention to side two, which he felt was "an evocative reinterpretation of Van's America fixation, but side one is nothing more (and nothing less) than class programming."

Time magazine critics wrote: "During a career that has lasted well over a decade, Van Morrison has made two, maybe three albums that rank high among the finest of all rock 'n' roll. Wavelength is good enough to stand close by Morrison's best work, a record of sinuous, sensuous magic. The man just can't be beat."

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