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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Push The Button
by The Chemical Brothers


8.0

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 36 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

Q-Tip and Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) guest on the UK dance duo's fifth full-length.

LABEL:	Astralwerks
RELEASE DATE:	25 January 2005
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Electronic

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Village Voice (Consumer Guide)

They turn in their best album since 1996 even though some schmuck from the Charlatans ruins track two.

Los Angeles Times

An evolution in big beat and sweet dance-pop loyalty as hard-hitting as their mid-'90s works "Exit Planet Dust" or "Dig Your Own Hole." [23 Jan 2005]

Filter

The Chemical Brothers have always been kings of collaboration, and this album is no anomaly. [#14, p.96]

Spin

It's the album on which the Chems relax into a comfortable maturity, secure in their status as elder statesmen. [Feb 2005, p.87]

Under The Radar

The new material sounds more unified and danceable. [#8, p.106]

PopMatters

Push the Button is rounded and accomplished where Come With Us was uneven and tentative.

The Guardian

It shows the Chemical Brothers, unlike their peers, are capable of adapting and surviving.

Uncut

Cleaner and crisper... their first [album] for half a decade where great noises... outshine august guest vocalists. [Feb 2005, p.73]

Urb

Comes as an especially welcome jolt after their last wishy-washy effort. [Mar 2005, p.110]

cokemachineglow

The lion’s share of these tracks throb with a purpose that was mostly absent from their last effort.

Lost At Sea

While the album is based around the repetitive choppy hook and big beat, some quiet building moments of the heavy songs lack a sense of creativity and movement towards a real climactic edge.

Blender

The missing links between club night, rock show and 2001-style cosmic experience, these boys are still worth digging. [Mar 2005, p.138]

All Music Guide

While there aren't as many heart-stopping productions as on 2002's unjustly neglected Come With Us, Push the Button proves the Chemical Brothers have retained the innate curiosity necessary to keep them blazing trails for years to come.

Rolling Stone

An album full of beat-wise psychedelia. [27 Jan 2005, p.61]

Pitchfork

The Chemical Brothers tend to find the best results when they focus on atmospheric, buzzing instrumentals.

Splendid

Push the Button isn't wall-to-wall brilliant; it has its share of lulls and, for want of a better term, dubious inspirations. However, when it works, it's so on that you won't want to turn it off.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

An album that covers a lot of ground without ever tilling it.

Dot Music

Overall the duo have given us a much braver and stronger album than their last, but as far as anything truly revolutionary goes it’s merely a step in the right direction.

Entertainment Weekly

The Chems' mix of big-beat thumps and psychedelic swirls sounds a bit dated. [28 Jan 2005, p.84]

Stylus Magazine

It certainly doesn’t stand up to Dig Your Own Hole or half of Exit Planet Dust, but Push the Button is much better than I’d hoped it would be a few months ago.

ShakingThrough.net

Other than a few impressive moments... Push the Button proves less than inspiring.

Drowned In Sound

The problem with ‘Push The Button’ is that it’s all so predictable.

Mojo

There are moments when Tom and Ed no longer sound like the baton is theirs to pass. [Feb 2005, p.101]

Playlouder

The album suffers from serious momentum problems. You get something that hammers in a good and interesting way and then a few minutes later it's like the tap of a blue tit's beak on a milk bottle top.

Tiny Mix Tapes

When all's said and done, too much of the album sounds dated and uninspired.

Billboard

Finds the duo, well, pushing too many of the same buttons.

Alternative Press

The Chemical Brothers seem adrift and directionless. [Mar 2005, p.138]

New Musical Express

An album that not only fudges golden opportunities, but finds this band's whole modus operandi laid embarrassingly bare. [15 Jan 2005, p.42]

Q Magazine

It's like they've just put all their old sounds together in a slightly different order. [Feb 2005, p.101]

The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 36 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Tosh gave it an8:
Some fantastic moments on this album: Surface to Air is just stunning, a beautiful heart-pumping sleek beast of a tune. You can live inside that track for eight straight hours. Galvanise and The Boxer are drop-dead Koool. Successful overall, by a long way.

Dave gave it a6:
each song seems to be either a hit or miss. You may love a few, but you may hate others. I am now discovering why i should invest in an iPod so i can purchase the songs i like, and leave the others in the trash heap.

Jan J gave it an8:
Nothing short of a near miss of a successfull album.

jsd gave it a2:
The only track with any merit whatsoever is "Galvanise". The rest is incredibly bland by-the-numbers dance/rock or rock/dance depending on who the guest star is. The Chems have totally lost the plot, I'm afraid to say.

Jack Blueberry gave it a7:
Brothers have produced a decent album, to put the review in few wordz. I belong to those who expected something big from this one, however end up in a little dis. Where's the experimental atmosphere these guys used create in the past albums? Still it's a pretty good plate and there are few tracks that will nicely do the leg swinger in clubs.

Lenny B gave it an8:
Like all of the Chemical Brothers albums, only the first 4 or 5 songs are worth listening to. However I give this album a high rating based on thier former albums. Thier unique style of music stills gets you moving.

Decepticon_Pom gave it a9:
Their best yet - and Surface To Air is a blinder of a closer.

Push The Button by The Chemical Brothers

Push The Button
by The Chemical Brothers