This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Boxer is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band the National, released on May 22, 2007, on Beggars Banquet Records. Following its release, the album debuted at number 68 on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling about 9,500 copies in its first week. A documentary film, titled A Skin, A Night, was released the following year. Focusing on the recording process of Boxer, the film was directed by independent filmmaker Vincent Moon, and released in conjunction with a collection of B-sides, demos and live recordings, titled The Virginia EP, on May 20, 2008. Boxer received widespread acclaim from music critics. In the year-end issue of Paste the album was named the best record of 2007. "Mistaken for Strangers" was number 92 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Best Songs of 2007". Popular internet publication Pitchfork ranked the album number 17 in their annual end-of-the-year "Top 50 Albums of 2007" list, as well as on Stylus Magazine's "Top 50 Albums of 2007" list at number 5. Stylus also ranked "Fake Empire" at number 7 on their "Top 50 Songs of 2007" list. Boxer also garnered the top position on WOXY.com's "97 Best of 2007". Boxer has made numerous "albums of the decade" lists including Pitchfork, Aquarium Drunkard, and Paste. In 2019, the album was ranked 68th on The Guardian's 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.
My favorite The National album. Great indie rock with fantastic songs (Slow Show, Gospel, Mistaken For Strangers, Brainy). I really like the witty and decadent lyrics.
Good good
Good stuff, surprised it's not on the original list. 4 stars.
Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Brainy, Squalor Victoria, Ada, Fake empire, Gospel
Fourth studio album? His voice is very commanding. He's got presence, that's for sure. Got a lot of U2 in the first song. The drums starting and stopping. Squalor Victoria sounds like something... Can't place my ears on it yet.
I love the voice of the singer. Although most song sound very alike, I enjoyed this album
A great album by the national. So many of their stuff sounds similar but their sound is very much their own so it’s hard to say which album is truly best. This one has a significantly more raw feeling to it compared to high violet but not as much as alligator. The national really just makes music for the semi successful educated people stuck in the routine despair of life. And sometimes that’s exactly what is needed. 7.9/10
The National have swirled around my musical consciousness for a while now but I keep forgetting how amazing they are. I need to set an reminder on my phone to listen to The National at least once a month.
I've started to become weary of the user recommended albums and have stopped listening to them, in the main. This, however, piqued my interest as something I wanted to hear. It was as expected and didn't disappoint. A great, brooding indie rock album. Rating: 4 Playlist track: Fake Empire Date listened: 23/01/25
This was lovely, should have made the original list. Elegant, evocative and highly listenable. Fave Songs: Apartment Story, Slow Show, Guest Room, Mistaken for Strangers, Fake Empire
The National is one of those bands - I never find the music objectionable, all very competent. It's got that Gen-X male roots-adjacent alternative vocal thing which gets old for me and I find works better in a lower-fi, see e.g. Smog. Just fine.
Right between a 3 and a 4. More interesting than I had assumed
Still haven’t clicked for me
I've heard of The National, but I don't think I've ever had the pleasure. I didn't hate this but I feel like if you want "sincere slow music by a deep voiced guy" then Eddie Vedder is just right there.
Tired of hearing this band and their most recent LP on indie radio lately – while this LP contains my favorite song of theirs (“Mistaken For Strangers”), it’s still filled mostly with the droll, wandering tracks that the band continually chooses to make instead of the inspired indie rock they’re clearly capable of. Not sure how much Berninger is involved in the instrumental songwriting, but his tendency to mostly talk the lyrics he seems to think are so inspired definitely weighs down most of the band’s compositions.
Their drummer is great, so much so that he lifts up the songs because otherwise they would be on the ground. The vocalist has his style and it is understandable, but I think the musicians are more powerful than this relaxed rhythmic style that does not fit well enough in all the tracks.
These guys already had an album in the original list. It's not awful, but what a waste of a choice. 2/5.
Indie rock, folk rock, post-punk revival. Rollo. Un 2.