The Third Hand is the third studio album by RJD2. It was released on XL Records on March 6, 2007. It peaked at number 190 on the Billboard 200 chart, number 5 on the Heatseekers Albums chart, and number 23 on the Independent Albums chart. The Third Hand Instrumentals, an instrumental version of the album, was also released in 2007.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic60/100
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
The A.V. ClubB−
Billboardmixed
MusicOMH
NME5/10
Pitchfork3.7/10
PopMatters
Spinmixed
Stylus MagazineC+

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, based on 28 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Noel Murray of The A.V. Club gave the album a grade of B−, saying: "About half of The Third Hand is given over to dub exercises and soundtrack-ready soundscapes, while the other half pushes fairly conventional alt-pop, heavy on the Beatles-esque flourishes." Dave Heaton of PopMatters gave the album 5 stars out of 10, saying: "You may have to listen past a few layers to be satisfied, but there is a level of satisfaction to be found."

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Intro"1:00
2."You Never Had It So Good"4:04
3."Have Mercy"3:18
4."Reality"3:01
5."Work It Out"3:26
6."Laws of the Gods"2:10
7."Get It"3:30
8."Someday"1:22
9."The Bad Penny"4:04
10."Beyond the Beyond"3:57
11."Sweet Piece"4:00
12."Rules for Normal Living"4:03
13."Paper Bubbles"2:49
14."Just When"3:28
15."The Evening Gospel"2:53
Total length:47:05
iTunes edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
16."The Past Time"9:22
17."The Wilderness"3:42
Total length:60:09

Charts

ChartPeak position
US Billboard 200190
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)5
US Independent Albums (Billboard)23

External links