All Born Screaming

Would have gone for another album of hers, though this one turned out to be good as well!

St. Vincent is one I’ve wanted to get into but I’m just not really a fan of this album.

Much of this is very listenable and danceable. The most critical note I have is that the cover is, in fact, not a horse.

Strong enjoy. Liked a song here and there before, but this is a great, coherent, dark, interesting album. Will listen to more!

Not the first time I've listened to this; it's a pretty great album. Immediately after listening to this, I listened to the Spanish language version of it, which I think is a good sign of a five-star

Quite a lot 'rockier' than I expected- dramatic andintense but really interesting and varied.

This is a reasonable album. I can't say that I particularly like it, but it sure does exist, and I can appreciate that it has been put together very well. Maybe I'll come back to it - but having listened to it last night I found myself needing to listen to it again today, because I had almost no memory of what it was. So it goes.

I was meh but also hmm. The super cool bubble like beat was interesting and it felt like each song was giving a different vibe... I liked the big variety. The vocals were kind of ruining it, but the last song was fun. This is a toss up for my rating but I think I'm gonna give it the benefit of the doubt and rate up.

My immediate reaction upon seeing this submission - this is absolutely far-too-recent a release [2 years ago] to belong in any select list, no matter how good it might be. I always feel like I want to like St Vincent more than I actually do. She puts together really cool and intriguing sounds and does again here but I'm not sure I like the songs all that much, which is most of the point for me at least. I don't really dislike anything but aside from that wicked bass sound in Broken Man I don't find myself needing to "hear that again" from any of the tunes. TL;DR: It's often cool to listen to but I find I don't have a desire to listen to St. Vincent, knowwhatImean? 5/10 3 stars IMO: Belonged in the book? No.

Not bad

After an underwhelming and oddly-paced *Daddy's Home* (2021), St. Vincent returned intent on delivering the goods again. Sonically glossier than she's ever been, and yet unafraid to tackle some uncomfortable truths and existential misgivings lyrics-wise (as the title of this record suggests), the singer-songwriter / guitarist / producer doesn't fluke this time around. The upsetting yells in "Reckless", the industrial funk of "Broken Man", the oh-so-typical sinuous grooves of "Flea", and the infectious chorus of "Sweetest Fruit" prove that Annie Clark still knows her proverbial shit. She even takes the time to goof around on the gospel-tinged eighties reggae of "So Many Planets", without totally losing the thread somehow. Before inviting Cate Le Bon -- another genius woman producer in her own right -- in the closer and title-track, doubling down on those eighties artsy-fartsy tones sort of coming out of nowhere. That sudden cut in the middle of the long track, giving way to ominous guitar noises and haunted, mystical pleas repeating "all born screaming" over a techno beat, are sealing the whole deal, though. A very inspired conclusion. I wouldn't exactly say that *everything* is up to that very artful level in the LP, and conversely, neither would I claim that each track is an instantly catchy banger. But *All Born Screaming* remains a cool album. Very good songs overall, excellent production values, stellar musicianship, great perfomances... Yet I also consider that we're not exactly up to the imperial levels of *Strange Mercy* (2011), *St. Vincent* (2014) or *Masseduction* (2017). We're close, sure, but we're not there. We were all "born screaming", but some "screams" in an artist's discography are always more memorable than others... 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and production values + 3.5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 117 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 119 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 269 (including this one) ---- Émile, *quatre* nouveaux messages pour toi au dessus, du *Solid State Survivor* de Yellow Magic Orchestra au *Atrocity Exhibition* de Danny Brown

St. Vincent has always been one of those interesting and singular artists that I just haven't really dove into. I know this is not what many would consider to be the most obvious album to put on this list. This was what I was expecting, interesting art-pop. Maybe not has rocking as I expected, but pretty great for sure.

This add made me realize that there's somehow no St. Vincent on the official or user 1001, which feels like a sizable oversight. Clark has defined a tongue-in-cheek yet biting idiosyncratic sound for herself that's instantly recognizable. This LP is no exception, and I enjoyed the added tinges of darkness and aggressive guitar compared to past efforts. The album seems to struggle, though, with tracks clawing for unnecessary runtime, wandering back over choruses or extended outros that don't really add much and feel lost rather than focused. I personally would have gone for MASSEDUCTION or S/T for the most representative St. Vincent album, but this was still a welcome and enjoyable listen. Feels like 2010s era indie artists have gone largely unrepresented here, great to see some recent user adds addressing that gap.

Perhaps with a few more listens I would find my in, but the first listen didn’t give me enough of a hook to get me to do that.

Don’t like it as much as her other two I’ve heard but still good

Yes! A+

Has anyone considered asking St. Vincent to do a James Bond theme? "Violent Times" sounded ready to go for said purpose. This album gave me vibes of Garbage, maybe with a bit more cinematic darkness mixed in. I really love it!

Didn't love it 2.5 (3)

The first of the 13 new albums added to the 2026 edition of the book (minus the two already rated as User albums). It's a pretty good start. A modern alt-rock record. Varied and distinctive with plenty to say. I'll never listen again, but I like it. Rating: 3.5/5 Playlist track: All Born Screaming Date listened: 16/10/26

Takes itself very seriously, but not especially memorable. From a long line of oddball female artists, but without the touch of genius that Kate Bush, Björk, or Tori Amos would have brought.

In the same boat as the current top review - heard of St. Vincent before but haven't listened to her, thought it would be artsier. Don't usually fuck with modern synth-heavy dance music, but this was pretty good. Enjoyed the slight industrial tinge.

As good as it was 2 years ago

Ok. But unremarkable.

I saw St. Vincent twice on the All Born Screaming tour and I really connected with this album. Her live performances are just so, present? Like she commands the stage and I loved every second of it.l It's surprising St. Vincent isn't on the original list since she is fantastic and deserves to be listened to. Now would I have gone with this album? Probably not. Masseducation I would have. Now, the new edition of the book is coming out and it's confirmed that this album will be in the next edition so props to the submitter for nailing it. I honestly wasn't expecting it but hey, I won't complain. My personal rating: 5/5 My rating relative to the list: 5/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes, but not this one. EDIT: This album was added to the newest edition. Happy to have some St. Vincent but still my view hasn't changed as it should have been a different one.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Hell is near, Big time nothing, All born screaming

All Born Screaming is one of the many great art rock albums by St. Vincent. Not my preferred choice from her records (that would be Masseduction), but a great choice anyway. "Broken Man" and "Flea" are my favorite tracks.

St. Vincent is badass to somebody and I am glad for them

Kind of the realm as Florence + The Machines but not as good as that

This is my first St Vincent album (though I was aware of her prior) and I'm a little bit surprised, I expected this to be a bit artsier, but this is actually quite danceable, and seems to take a lot of inspiration from 80s new wave rock music. There's an undercurrent of industrial and dance on these tracks, personally I prefer it when the songs are heavier and rockier, but there's good pop hooks here which pulls all the genres together quite nicely. She performs quite a lot of stuff on the album, so she's clearly very talented. I'm surprised Dimery wasn't all over her earlier, a talented multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter that peforms primarily rock music? He loves that! Should it be in the list: A moot point since it's going to be included in the 2026 edition of the book. I think St. Vincent deserves something but I don't know if this should be the one, it reads like the creator righting past wrongs. Top 3 songs: Broken Man, Flea, Violent Times

Was familiar with this album when it came out, I don’t think it’s her best, but there is definitely room on the list for St. Vincent

A name I've heard a lot but not listened to before. I thought this was very good. Forceful music supporting a strong, confident vocalist. The level of talent attracted as collaborators obviously helps a lot.

A solid 3/5, I’d give this one another go and see if that initial rating improves.

All Born Screaming is a decent listen, creative and sullen but with some power running underneath it. Definitely too new to be on here but I liked more of it than not, gets it a 3/5, The Power's Out my favourite track.

Not very memorable

I've heard some St. Vincent songs here and there but never listened to an album start to finish. I'm glad I did, because this is very good. 4 stars.

5/10. Expected more screaming from the title, but I guess that just goes to show something or another. Anyhow, thought this was kinda dull on a surface level, but I'm sure there's more there that I'd come to appreciate on a close listen

This was a good pick for the new edition. Something I'd heard of and had been getting some praise but that's also outside of the super popular sphere of music. Some of these songs have a Bowie-ish quality to them and the overall spooky vibes were appropriate for getting this album in October. I'll probably come back to this every once in a while. 8/10.