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Apr 1, 2013It's an environment that rewards more often than it disappoints.
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Apr 3, 2013Machineries of Joy lacks the kind of crucial equalizers that appeal to all levels of education--big hooks, convincing physicality, legible emotions.
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UncutMar 29, 2013Despite a tendency to drift slightly, BSP remain a reliably warm-hearted antidote to the bustle of modern life. [May 2013, p.68]
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May 8, 2013Though there are certainly more misses than hits on Machineries of Joy, its not for lack of trying, and those hits soar.
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MojoApr 9, 2013One of their most consistently impressive releases. [May 2013, p.90]
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Q MagazineApr 9, 2013It's one of their finest. [May 2013, p.98]
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Apr 2, 2013This is BSP in fine, if not exactly boundary-shoving, form.
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Apr 1, 2013While British Sea Power do occasionally revert back to the anthemic formula that worked so well on previous albums, on the whole, Machineries Of Joy is a more considered and composed effort.
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Under The RadarMar 29, 2013If Machineries Of Joy doesn't win global adoration, there are songs here very likely to at least make someone's day, which is possibly an even more admirable goal. [Mar-Apr 2013, p.91]
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Mar 29, 2013For all its shifts and quirks, it's a more cohesive album than its predecessor, 2011's Valhalla Dancehall, thanks mostly to the keening viola of Abi Fry.
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Mar 29, 2013Machineries of Joy is an improvement on its predecessor but far from a dramatic leap forward.
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Mar 29, 2013Learning the lessons of its predecessor, then, album number 5 is an intelligent distillation of everything that people cherish about British Sea Power and what makes them a truly Great British rock band.
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Apr 2, 2013Between Abi Fry’s lilting viola and Wilkinson’s cogent, sentimentalist vocals, BSP sails through Machineries of Joy without any fatal blunders.
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Apr 1, 2013Machineries Of Joy isn’t [the truly vital album], but what it is is a touching, ambitious and inventive album, and one which stands head and shoulders above most
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Apr 11, 2013It sees the Cumbrian exiles embracing their maturity and demonstrating restraint, without scrimping on the songs.
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Apr 1, 2013Their fifth album finds them playing it relatively straight, and it's no bad thing.
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Mar 29, 2013Valhalla Dancehall found British Sea Power somewhat becalmed, but Machineries Of Joy gets them moving again, albeit in a variety of directions.
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Mar 29, 2013A mature record, in the best possible sense, Machineries of Joy reins in the whimsicality and tendency towards wackiness, while still retaining a smart sense of humour alongside the philosophical pondering and strident rock shapes.
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Jun 4, 2013Machineries Of Joy proves that BSP are still in bloom.
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Apr 5, 2013Unfocused and uninspired, Machineries lacks the sprawling majesty and well-forged hooks of earlier efforts.
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Apr 1, 2013It's almost boring: yet another excellent British Sea Power album.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 14
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Mixed: 3 out of 14
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Negative: 0 out of 14
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Oct 31, 2014