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I don't really understand the good critic reviews, I just think it's dull. Many people think of it as a great album after a lot of Mediocre ones. Help me understand.
EDIT: I forgot about Momentary Bliss, I will give it credit, it is one of the best tracks they ever made.
EDIT 2: After listening through the album again, I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong. Although there is (in my opinion) a lot of Mediocre tracks - The Pink Phantom, Aries, Friday the 13th, Désolé, Simplicity, MLS (again, my opinion) - there are a lot of bangers, which outweigh this. Thanks for sharing your opinions, it has convinced me to look at this album with a fresh view. Congratulations, you did in fact change my mind 👏👏
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Not throwing other albums under the bus, as an OG fan I found song machine captured the spirit of the first 2 albums quite well, albeit in a modernized way. It felt like Gorillaz simplified the formula and went back to their roots. I also appreciated that the cartoon characters were in the forefront again.
The music didn't feel overproduced and I appreciated bringing back the guitars, bass and drums again when so many songs since phase 3 have been synthesizer heavy. Even if those instruments were reproduced with midi, when you can hear a clear guitar, bass, drum, and 2d vocal it goes a long way of selling the cartoon band illusion.
Momentary Bliss, Aries, Desole, Pink Phantom, and Lost Chord are 5 of the strongest songs they ever put out.
The other songs on the album (both vanilla and deluxe tracks) are also strong enough that virtually anyone will find a few tracks that they really connect to. You can see this on any reddit post where people praise the different deep cuts of this album.
Where I feel song machine is weaker as an album compared to the rest of the discography is in cohesion. The other Gorillaz albums, even the fall, feel like they are taking you on some kind of thematic journey and then they end with some kind of finale. Song Machine doesnt seem to have as strong of a storytelling feeling, which I blame on the sequencing more than the strength of the songs. The YouTube sequencing with the music video helps, but the music on its own struggles in this aspect imo.
Tbh I don’t have an explanation, I just think Song Machine is an album full of bangers. Even songs I didn’t really like at first like Friday the 13th are great to me now. Dead Butterflies is the only dud imo.
Disagree. SM has been their best album since Plastic Beach.
Genuine question, why do you think this?
Cracker island had so much potential. Just one banger. And that was it.
Song machine is a top 3 album and it’s way ahead of everything outside of the top 3
Can't really change your mind. I'll just agree to disagree.
The Lost Chord is an absolute masterpiece of a song. I like Song Machine not as a cohesive album but as a collection of really great tracks that has a bit of something for everyone.
For me, as long as every song is good, it's a good album
I think it's got a lot of great tracks but it's kinda ordered weirdly and they're not all that cohesive. And for me The Now Now is the best of the recent bunch.
But I also just really like it. It came out during lockdown which was a bit of a tough time and (after lockdown ended but while the pandemic was still affecting daily life) my mum and i went out for walks in the country and listened to it in the car, which was nice. It reminds me of the good things about that period.
I will concede it’s an album of singles which really doesn’t make up a traditional album (though that can be more nuanced conversation). But otherwise nearly every dang song is very very good. It’s probably the best thing they have put out in a long time.
I'm with you 🚣
With you on that. Loved the idea of it but what comes with it is my complaint. Thrown together. None of it sounds like an actual song
It is dull. Just like everything they did past Plastic Beach. You are correct, Sir.