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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The second album from New York uberproducer James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem project is every bit as smart, funky, and literate as its predecessor. Party-starting dance music indebted to the driving percussion of early-'80s New York acts like Liquid Liquid and ESG, the pneumatic thud of house music, and the arch, modernist pop of Brian Eno or David Bowie circa Heroes. If you don't know the reference points, it really doesn't matter: "Someone Great" is the sort of delightful, dazed disco to rank amongst Ladytron or Goldfrapp's best, surfing a six-minute wave of woozy keyboards, acid blips and tapped xylophone, while "Us Vs Them" is a combative punk-dance march built from aggressive cowbells and splinters of funk guitar. But the clued-in will get an additional kick, both from James Murphy's hipster humour ("Take me off your mailing list," he wheezes, on the weary "New York I Love You") and the myriad reference points wired into the machinery of each song: see the tongue-in-cheek 'North American Scum', the sound of Fatboy Slim's 'The Rockefeller Skank' rewired by industrial terrorists Throbbing Gristle. Making music 'intelligent' so often kills its rump-shaking appeal, but Sound Of Silver does its thinking on the dancefloor. --Louis Pattison
Review
Although existing as a fully live touring band, the studio-inhabiting LCD Soundsystem is basically Mister James Murphy, who also happens to be the co-owner of DFA Records. That's Death From Above. Occasionally, he'll invite his four extra LCD players upstate from their roosts in Manhattan central, to lay down some tracks, but it's Murphy himself who sings and/or yelps the most, combining his love for electro-looping with faithful old drums and guitars.
This second album upholds the quality of songwriting from LCD's 2005 debut. Murphy manages to translate harsh, neurotically discordant punk-funk values into a contagious dancefloor commerciality. These tunes have edge, but the listener will be humming them immediately. Murphy calls out, and the backing vocals invariably shout back, creating a snappy singalong opportunity.
It's usually unhealthy to tabulate influences, but that's quite unavoidable here. Murphy's record boxes are clearly open to all platters, his inspirations many and diverse. Vocally, there are hints of Brian Eno on the sweeping ballads, Mark E. Smith on the yapping punkers. Structurally, there's Tom Tom Club, ESG, Talking Heads and The Modern Lovers, whilst sonically, we have Roxy Music, Steve Reich and Arcade Fire. And those last three are all on one track, ''All My Friends''. Can we also mention The Velvet Underground, Robert Fripp and A Certain Ratio?
When the electro-patterns are shimmering, James is cavorting at the Giorgio Moroder end of disco, making a starkly minimalist opening with ''Get Innocuous''. But it's the second and third numbers, ''Time To Get Away'' and ''North American Scum'', that are destined to repeat and repeat as classic cuts. Murphy certainly adores repetition, but only when the hook justifies the repeating. He likes to clamp down on his own energy explosions, building and building towards each new emission, accumulating tension and excitement on the way. --Martin Longley
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Speechless .... an awesome follow up,
By
This review is from: Sound of Silver (Audio CD)
I'm usually one for reading reviews rather than writing. I typically cast a cynical eye over most new releases ... which are mainly repetitive and degenerate reworkings of music from far back ... be it 80's 70's or 60's.However, like most people reading this - you must have some appreciation of LCD Soundsystem. I could only *hope* that Sound of Silver would match the first album .... but I was wrong! It's better! The opener "Get Innocuous" ... kicks off sounding exactly like "losing my edge" ... but about 30 seconds in starts to lift and re-interpret Kraftwerk's "The Robots". I know I'm onto something good here! Nine tracks. No fillers. This just doesn't happen any more! Give James Murphy a medal. Album of the year ... I just can't see anyone topping this.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Splendid splendour,
By
This review is from: Sound of Silver (Audio CD)
My word, I love Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem. It's a funky little beast, awash with pulsating electronic beats and riddims and some of the exhilarating numbers make one want to dance a little (in the kitchen) and even whoop occasionally. It certainly is a marvellous long player. The closest comparisons I can contemplate are Power, Corruption and Lies by New Order for its electronic splendid splendour and Talking Heads' Remain in Light for the strutting and fascinating rhythmic resonance that permeates the whole effort. I salute this recording and effortlessly recommend it to all hepcats.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but based on the first album, I expected more,
By
This review is from: Sound of Silver (Audio CD)
I was so excited about this album after loving his first double album. I have to say however that after buying it, I do feel a bit disappointed. Yes, there is plenty on here to like, but there simply isn't the rawness of the songs like Yeah Yeah Yeah and Daft Punk. There's a definite Brian Eno sound to Sounds of Silver and an almost minimalist approach to some of the tracks so I do believe it deserves the four stars, but when compared with the first album, it's just not quite there.
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