Despite spawning a number of massive singles, Timbaland’s Shock Value album hasn’t been a critical success. We’ve trawled the web for quality reviews of the album and that many music writers were left cold by the quality of the album.

Should Timbaland stay strictly backstage? Read on and find out.

The Good

• “If you’re looking for introspective, intelligent rhymes, political statements, or social commentary, you won’t find any of that here. Let’s get it straight: the beats are the real stars of this album. You won’t find any memorable lyrics or in-depth storytelling here but if all you want to do is shake your ass, then Timbaland is one of the best in the biz.” [Ed Lau, EdEdition]
• “Actually, the only thing shocking here is the bending & mending of musical genres, & the outcome seems it will be very valuable in the future, giving him constant spins on all types of radio stations.” [Ges Miyashiro]
• “The self-confident “Shock Value” is hardly the big shocker it pretends to be but the record does hold plenty of exciting surprises that make this a very accomplished and entertaining effort.” [Arjan Writes]

The Bad

• “While solo Timbaland’s always been a mixed bag, Timbaland Presents Shock Value is more mediocre than it has any right to be, filled with overreaching pretense and phoned-in vacancy– either trying too hard, or not hard enough.” [Nate Patrin, Pitchfork Media]
• “this lumpen, bloated, boring album is as much of a let-down as any of Timbaland’s other “solo” works… how turgid, tuneless and unmemorable an album they’ve all had a hand in making” [Angus Baatey, Yahoo!]
• ““We on another level,” is the repeated refrain of ‘Hello’, one of the two bonus tracks; sadly, judging by the quality of Shock Value, it seems Timbaland’s content to let loose of a few rungs and wallow amongst the mediocre for a while. Another level, yes; the next level, fuck no.” [Mike Diver, Drowned In Sound]
• “As good as it is, the album’s full of annoyances: every track is introduced with omnipresent hip-hop phrases like “yeah baby” and “go ahead child”, and too many verses have that clicky noise in them, that sounds like you’re pulling your tongue against the top of your mouth.” [Kirsty Krampf, Fake DIY]
• “These craven bids for record company business are compounded by guff, over-filling 19 tracks. Mosley’s head-to-head with Elton John’s piano is more of a skit than a song. His run-in with MIA is a letdown.” [The Observer]
• “He’s really grasping at straws here, trying to be provocative with The Hives, One Republic, singing “don’t it sound good to you?” off key while the singer Elton John plays the piano on “2 Man Show,” and he even tries to make a Fallout Boy track that sounds like anything other than their usual whiny fare (and fails).” [Angelica LeMinh, Shotgun Reviews]

…And The Rest

• “Shock Value isn’t a perfect album, but it does possess various charms. Timbaland is still one of the most prolific producers ever, and more than a decade after his debut, he continues not only to dominate but also to innovate popular music.” [Norman Mayers, Prefix]
• “Shock Value would be less of a hot-and-cold affair with a couple more songs in the vein of Give It to Me.” [Andy Kellman, All Music Guide]

If you’ve written a review of Shock Value, let us know in the comments and we’ll add your link.