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With their new album, Maxïmo Park avoid both utter disaster and absolute success by playing it safe. Nice and safe.
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UncutRepeated listens--it's a grower--reveal a number of meatier, surprisingly hard-rocking songs. [May 2007, p.99]
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Despite its flaws, Our Earthly Pleasures is a good record of mostly up-tempo UK indie rock.
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MojoThe tunes dry up alarmingly. [Jun 2007, p.108]
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Q MagazineYet, for all the dumbing down, they have much going for them. [May 2007, p.122]
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Ultimately, Maximo Park have bravely taken a chance with this album, trying to experiment with their sound rather than settling for what had previously brought them success. Shame they weren't up to the task.
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The U.K. indie band’s second album has beefed-up sound and increasingly brilliant, not-at-all-pretentious gems like "Girls Who Play Guitars," "Russian Literature" and "Karaoke Plays."
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An album which makes you feel like Maxïmo are parked when they should be in the fast lane.
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Under The RadarThe sound’s a bit harsher, more abrasive this time around; the songs blur by with melodies that seem half-baked; and the mood’s shifted from wistful self-deprecation to paranoia. [#17, p.86]
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The rest of the band haven't progressed quite as speedily as their frontman - although they've added some welcome Johnny Marr-type guitar flourishes - and remain perplexed by anything at less than breakneck speed.
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Doesn't quite have the same impact as their debut.
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On the whole, Our Earthly Pleasures is a sprightly, winsome record, even if, in second-album terms, it's more Pretenders II than The Bends.
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SpinEven with the occasional middling moments, it's hard to deny the band's clever, boisterous spirit. [May 2007, p.86]
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Paste MagazineSimplicity is king, as a relentlessly jaunty onslaught of jangle-pop hurtles ever onwards. [May 2007, p.96]
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Alternative PressPleasant but edgeless. [Jun 2007, p.149]
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It doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s not a retread. It’s just good, for you and your soul.
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It’s an engaging listen, sure, but sadly Our Earthly Pleasures lacks the euphoric punch to make a listener jump up and down vigourously.
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Our Earthly Pleasures, in contrast to the water-tight radio punk of its predecessor, overflows with ideas, even if it’s to the detriment of the material.
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[Producer] Gil Norton... [has] an enviable track record, but he’s not doing Maxïmo Park any favours with this soft soak finish.
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BillboardMaximo Park... safely explore new territory without being too obvious. [12 May 2007]
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Stick with it, and about four spins in, the album reveals itself.
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Maxïmo Park haven't just avoided the sophomore slump, they've made a follow-up that suggests that those who threw their lot in with the band instead of, say, the Futureheads made the right choice. Almost as exciting as the music on Our Earthly Pleasures is the potential.
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This air of superiority is pervasive on 'Our Earthly Pleasures', which is a pity when you consider contemporaries such as Franz Ferdinand can do clever without it getting in the way of the fact all they're really doing is making good pop records.
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It’s too early to write Maxïmo Park off, or to turf them into the ever-growing pile of indie also-rans. But they’ll need to pull out all the stops to recover their poise after this worrying misstep.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 34
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Mixed: 6 out of 34
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Negative: 2 out of 34
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JellogibbyJun 24, 2007
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Feb 24, 2012
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philgSep 16, 2007