Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. "Perpetual Motion Machine" is about fish who wish they could walk so they could find out how it feels to fall down, and "Whale Song" bemoans Brock's metaphorical uselessness as it demonstrates his capacity for beauty.
  2. So while it doesn’t exactly have the cohesive through-line of Modest Mouse’s epic full-lengths, No One’s First still captures solid energy from a band riding a long-ass peak.
  3. These supposed table scraps left off their previous two albums, Good News… and We Were… respectively, run a gauntlet that finds the band revitalized, lively and tremendously wonderful.
  5. Beyond the banjo-brushed lullaby 'Autumn Beds' and the laser show-ready 'The Whale Song,' it's a bumpy ride. Bless them for never being boring, though.
  6. Given its years-spanning tracklist, No One's First obviously has a retrospective flavor, but it also seems to point the way ahead for Modest Mouse, if only to suggest that the band will continue moving in opposite directions--backwards and forwards--all at once.
  7. ‘The Whale Song’ may offer a solitary crumb for old skool Micers to nibble, but unfortunately this EP will not offer much else.
  8. As a collection of odds and ends, No One’s First… is a necessarily disjointed album. It’s alternately disappointingly simple and refreshingly unique from song to song, torn between country, radio rock and classic Modest Mouse.
  9. This collection of B-sides, recorded over the past few years, is way more put-together than Modest Mouse’s previous rarities comps, Building Nothing Out Of Something and Sad Sappy Sucker. But it lacks the carefree charm of Isaac Brock’s pre-success indie rock experiments.
  10. Boring when they're not acting out, but too jarring when hitting their groove, Brock and company are forced to toe a finicky line between normalcy and absurdity.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 25 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 12
  3. Negative: 1 out of 12
  1. DerekG
    Oct 30, 2009
    listen to this 10 times or more and tell me it's not fantastic.
  2. Oct 8, 2010
    Even though some of their songs on this album are from other albums or EPs that never really made it big it's still wonderful to listen too. Modest Mouse is one of my favorite badn and this album (even though not the best) still continues to make me love the. The song writing in brilliant and the sounds are bizarre at times but still modern and fresh. It's something I can just keep listening too. I love it! Anyone who hasn't heard it has to listen to it. Full Review »
  3. Simon
    Oct 26, 2009
    Pure fun. More good Modest Mouse. (At least, if you liked the last album.)