- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Recalls last year's fine Halo Benders release, The Rebels Not In, the album Martsch recorded with Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson and former Spinanes and current Built to Spill drummer Scott Plouf. And that's not a bad thing at all.
-
In a sense, this is Built to Spill's pop album: every song is direct and clean, without the long, cerebral jamming that characterized their earlier albums.
-
Perhaps the secret they're trying to keep here is that Built To Spill quite frankly write some of the most original, interesting and catchy pop songs you'll ever hear.
-
Built to Spill make music with a weird naive excitement that recalls R.E.M. at their fresh-out-of-Athens finest.
-
The album you always want Sebadoh to make: unrestrained, kinda sensitive, speckled with paranoia and insecurities and, best of all, in love with the very idea of making music for the sheer thrill of it.
-
The last album's title ['Perfect From Now On'] was a promise; this one makes good on it.
-
Regardless of how much noodling, compromising or second guessing this trio does, Martsch and crew remain the best band America is not listening to.
-
Beautiful pop symphonies that hit like a Louisville Slugger.
-
With its layers of guitars and sharp lyrics, Keep It Like A Secret is a smart, challenging installment in a career that's been as varied as it is prolific.
-
It's sort of a cross between the epic masterpieces of Perfect From Now On and the shorter, more pop songs of There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Basically, it's another winner from the group.
-
Keep It Like a Secret is tightly wound clang, effectively understated in spots.
-
PunctureSounds exactly like its predecessor, except the songs are shorter and less interesting. [March 1999]
-
Built to Spill's combo of wry phrasing and explosive sound is more honed on this album than ever before.
-
Built To Spill have made a concise, pop-smart record.
-
Built To Spill sound as if they're trying too hard, and ultimately both The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev do this sort of thing with far more panache.
-
Somehow these fragments instantly assemble themselves into a gorgeous whole, and there's not a piece you could imagine replacing.
-
It's pure BTS, but without enough sparkle or rough-hewn beauty to be memorable.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 35 out of 39
-
Mixed: 1 out of 39
-
Negative: 3 out of 39
-
Mar 8, 2019
-
Apr 30, 2015
-
Aug 19, 2013