It would be a canard — and inaccurate — to say that Low had already figured out everything they needed to on their first album. But where the debut of the Ramones, say, was both concentrated perfection and ultimately a bit of an artistic straitjacket, the hushed power and sudden intensities of I Could Live In Hope became the foundation for all the remarkable albums to come, Al and Mimi Sparhawk’s utterly simpatico harmonies the not so secret weapon from the opening track “Words” forward.

– Ned Raggett