Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(73/100)
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Daily Express
Digital Spy
Clash	7/10
eMusic
Liverpool Sound and Vision
The Yorkshire Times
Q
Allmusic
Pop Matters	7/10
Orlando Weekly

The Minutes (stylised as the minutes) is the eighth studio album by English singer-songwriter Alison Moyet, released on 3 May 2013 by Cooking Vinyl.

It is the first album of new material released since 2007's The Turn, and a marked return to her electronic roots. While creating album Moyet stated that it was not aimed at the charts, though the album debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 13,536 copies, Moyet's highest-charting studio album since Raindancing reached number two in 1987.The Minutes received overwhelmingly positive reviews from music critics, most of whom have referred to the album as her "best in decades," or if not, the best of her career.

Moyet announced on BBC Radio 6 Music that her new album with Guy Sigsworth would be released in 2012. However, in February 2012, Moyet announced on Twitter that “I appear to have forfeited my recording deal because I won’t do reality TV. No-one needs to make an album that badly. Tea anyone?” In a 13 June 2012 interview with Touchbase, Moyet confirmed that she was still recording her album and that she wasn't rushing it, stating she couldn't see it being released before January 2013. When describing its sound and theme, Moyet revealed, "It’s quite dark and definitely not aimed at the charts... it has an electronic bias, but isn’t retro. I’m not listening to anything current or referring back to anything with this album and they [the songs] aren’t influenced by what’s going on. It will stand apart."

On 22 January 2013 it was announced via Moyet's official Facebook page that she had signed a worldwide deal with the London-based record label Cooking Vinyl. On 31 January 2013 it was revealed in a press release that the album was set to be released in May 2013.

Included in the release were quotes from both Rob Collins, and Moyet.

"Alison is a legend and has made an outstanding record on her own terms. I think a lot of people will be surprised, in a good way, about how amazing the record is."

"With the exceptional talent that is Guy Sigsworth as producer and collaborator, we have recorded a collection of original songs that sees me moving away from a generic line up and back into the world of a programmer. Born of reconstructed improvisation I like to think of it as Prog-Pop, but I also like to think of big dogs as small horses. So don’t hang on to that thought long. Unless, of course, you think it astute of me in which case I am right"

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