Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B
Drowned in Sound	8/10
FILTER	86%
The Guardian
MSN Music	A–
NME	7/10
Pitchfork Media	5.2/10
Q
Rolling Stone

Between the Times and the Tides is the ninth studio album by the American alternative rock musician Lee Ranaldo, released on March 20, 2012 on Matador Records. His first release on Matador Records and since Sonic Youth's indefinite hiatus, the album features a more straightforward songwriting approach to his prior material and includes guest musicians such as Nels Cline, John Medeski and Leah Singer. The album was originally intended to be a minimalist acoustic album but its sound was developed by Ranaldo during its recording at Echo Canyon West in Hoboken, New Jersey during a seven-month period in early 2011.

Between the Times and the Tide's sound was influenced by Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen, as well as contemporary artists such as Cat Power. The title of the album comes from a lyric in the song "Xtina as I Knew Her". Upon its release, Between the Times and the Times received positive critical acclaim and charted in four countries, including Belgium, France, Germany and the United States. Its two singles—"Off the Wall" and "Shouts"—were moderate critical successes but failed to chart. The album's release was followed by two tours of North America and Oceania from April to October 2012, which included appearances at various music festivals, including All Tomorrow's Parties I'll Be Your Mirror and the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

During his time as the lead guitarist of Sonic Youth, Lee Ranaldo had considered recording a "simple, acoustic album" of original songs "with just an acoustic guitar and a microphone." After the release of Maelstrom from Drift—a collection of group improvisations, live recordings and home studio sessions—in 2008, Ranaldo's plans developed further. Following Sonic Youth's indefinite hiatus, he began arranging the material with contributors such as Nels Cline, John Medeski and Bob Bert. All three musicians, except Bert, had recorded renditions of Bob Dylan songs for the soundtrack to his 2007 biopic, I'm Not There, as The Million Dollar Bashers. Most of the material he began arranging had been written between June and August 2010 when the songs "just kept flowing out behind that one ["Lost"]."

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Wikipedia