U.S. Girls Scratch It

Critic's Take

U.S. Girls's Scratch It finds its clearest triumphs in expansive, immersive pieces like “Bookends” and the opening momentum of “Like James Said”. Rick Quinn writes with measured admiration, noting how “Bookends” unfolds as an almost 12-minute ballad that is "immersive, but never straightforward," a slow burner that draws the listener closer to themselves. He frames the album as a collage of countrypolitan, gospel and lounge aesthetics, arguing that the best tracks reward deep, repetitive listens and reveal Remy’s restless creativity. This is an album whose best songs are those that balance vulnerability and groove, where the danceable beats and elegiac moments intersect to powerful effect.

Key Points

• “Bookends” is the best song because it is expansive, immersive, and a perfect distillation of the album’s themes.
• The album’s core strengths are its analog warmth, collaborative Nashville musicianship, and the collage-like blend of gospel, country and lounge aesthetics.

Themes

Critic's Take

U.S. Girls’ Meg Remy moves confidently across Scratch It, and the review makes clear the best songs are the ones that linger - “Like James Said” for its solitary dance groove, the 12-minute centrepiece “Bookends” for its slow-burn homage, and the wry closer “No Fruit”. The writing repeatedly rewards the album’s live, warm arrangements and soulful frameworks, and the reviewer singles out “Bookends” as the record’s hypnotic highlight. Overall the piece frames these tracks as both affecting and witty, which is why queries about the best songs on Scratch It point back to those moments.

Key Points

• The best song is "Bookends" because its 12-minute slow-burn homage becomes the album’s hypnotic centrepiece.
• The album’s core strengths are its warm live arrangements, soulful frameworks, and a blend of wit and emotional affect.

Themes

Critic's Take

U.S. Girls’ most accessible record, Scratch It, finds its best songs when pleasure and politics collide, notably on “Like James Said” and the centrepiece “Bookends”. Tom Williams praises how “Like James Said” insists listeners surrender to the groove while “Bookends” transforms grief into an increasingly furious blues-rock epilogue. He also singles out “The Clearing” and “Pay Streak” for marrying folk-Americana lyricism to sly, groovy arrangements, which is why searches for the best songs on Scratch It point straight to those tracks. The review reads as a victory lap for Remy, celebrating how these best tracks balance body-moving hooks with incisive, humane commentary.

Key Points

• The best song is the 12-minute “Bookends” because it combines mourning, genre shifts, and ferocious tribute into a centrepiece.
• The album’s core strengths are marrying danceable retro-funk and accessible grooves with incisive, personal political songwriting.

Themes

Critic's Take

In his lively, riff-filled way Kyle Mullin argues that U.S. Girls' Scratch It finds its best moments in the likes of “Like James Said” and the sprawling “Bookends”. He writes with cataloguing pleasure, praising the vintage Memphis soul on “Like James Said” and the theatrical, nearly apocalyptic jam of “Bookends” that reverberates like a modern-day story song. Mullin foregrounds Charlie McCoy's harmonica as the glue that lifts vignettes on tracks such as “Pay Streak” and “The Clearing”, and credits Remy's eerie immediacy and surprising vocal range for making these the best tracks on Scratch It.

Key Points

• The best song is "Bookends" for its sprawling, theatrical 12-minute centerpiece that evokes The Doors and Dylan.
• The album's core strengths are vintage soul-rock arrangements, McCoy's harmonica atmosphere, and Remy's immediate, varied vocal delivery.

Themes

Critic's Take

U.S. Girls makes Scratch It feel like a mid-60s country fever dream, and the best songs - especially “Like James Said” and “The Clearing” - prove why. The record luxuriates in sleazy Vegas-Nashville glamour while staying surprisingly loose, and Remy’s voice turns satire into something bodily and irresistible. If you want to know the best tracks on Scratch It, start with “Like James Said” for its cheeky gospel flip and with “The Clearing” for its pissed-yet-tender protest; both showcase the album’s knack for holding contradiction and making it sing.

Key Points

• The best song is "Like James Said" because its gospel flip and commanding opening set the album’s irreverent tone.
• The album’s strength is holding contradictory tones - satire, sensuality, protest - and making them feel bodily and immediate.

Themes

Critic's Take

U.S. Girls' Scratch It feels like Meg Remy sharpening decades of invention into a tightly focused triumph, where the best songs - notably “Bookends” and “Like James Said” - showcase both grandeur and groove. Winstanley lingers on the towering 12-minute “Bookends”, calling it a journey from icy keys to carnivalesque psychedelia, and praises the joyous, James Brown-referencing opener “Like James Said” for its glorious defiance. He also singles out covers like “Firefly On The 4th Of July” and originals such as “Walking Song” for inventive twists, making clear the record's cohesion and frequent moments of genius. The tone is admiring and precise, arguing that these best tracks make Scratch It possibly the most complete U.S. Girls record yet.

Key Points

• The best song, “Bookends”, stands out for its cinematic 12-minute arc and moments of 'startling genius'.
• The album's core strengths are focused production, cohesive genre fusion, and inventive arrangements recorded live to tape.

Themes

Critic's Take

U.S. Girls' Meg Remy always reads like a writer, and on Scratch It that literary impulse makes “Dear Patti” and “Bookends” the album's clearest triumphs. Lucy Harbron finds “Dear Patti” revelatory - a fan letter that nails Remy’s dual identity as creative and author - while “Bookends” is praised as an 11-minute epic that smacks you around the face with poetic meandering. The record's live-to-tape spontaneity surfaces in moments, and when the band leans into richer instrumentation the best tracks stand out, but overall the album lacks fizz and risk. For readers asking what the best songs on Scratch It are, the review points squarely to “Dear Patti” and “Bookends” as the highlights.

Key Points

• ‘Dear Patti’ is the best song because it feels revelatory and showcases Remy’s writerly voice.
• The album’s strengths are its literary songwriting, live-to-tape warmth, and occasional richer instrumentation, but it lacks risk and fizz.

Themes

Critic's Take

The press-release voice here insists that U.S. Girls' Scratch It finds its best songs in the live immediacy of tracks like “Like James Said” and the sprawling “Bookends”. Remy sounds relaxed and radiant, and the record's highlight moments - from the AM-gold bounce of “Like James Said” to the 12-minute centrepiece “Bookends” - show why listeners ask about the best songs on Scratch It. Elsewhere, the slinky diss of “No Fruit” underlines Remy’s biting, poetic edge, so searches for the best tracks on Scratch It will often point to these three songs. The live-to-tape approach ties the album together, making its best tracks feel immediate and crafted at once.

Key Points

• The best song is the sprawling 12-minute “Bookends”, which the reviewer calls the album's heart and a centerpiece of the record.
• Scratch It's core strengths are its live-to-tape immediacy, genre-blending songwriting, and Remy’s relaxed, sparkling vocal delivery.

Themes