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Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations Image
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The latest full-length release from British indie rock band The Vaccines was recorded in Los Angeles and is its first without guitarist Freddie Cowan.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 8
  2. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Jan 12, 2024
    80
    There is an attractive simplicity to this record, perhaps the band’s most straightforward since their debut. These are catchy feelings-forward songs with football chant-worthy choruses. It is, quite simply, an album full of singles.
  2. Jan 12, 2024
    80
    He [producer Andrew Wells] manages to magnify an already impressive sound without weighing it down in over-production or slickness. The Vaccines have been a big deal back home, but Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations could (and should) be the record that brings them that same type of recognition in the U.S.
  3. Jan 22, 2024
    80
    Even with its taut construction, Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations sags just a bit in the middle. The downside of the renewed focus is that some of the songs sound similar and struggle to assert themselves. .... All of this aside, it is good to hear the Vaccines being a guitar band again—and an excellent one, at that.
  4. Jan 12, 2024
    70
    This isn’t necessarily one to win The Vaccines a new generation, but for those already won over, it’ll prove worth the listen.
  5. 60
    Though the romantic elements of ‘Discount De Kooning (Last Man Standing)’ are nice enough, it fails to penetrate in any meaningful way. As the record meanders on, tracks such as ‘The Dreamer’ and ‘Anonymous In Los Feliz’ fail to leave a lasting impression. That’s not to say it doesn’t work. It might not offer anything new, but it doesn’t necessarily need to.
  6. Jan 12, 2024
    60
    No wheels are being reinvented here but it’s another tune-filled, uplifting, solid winner.
  7. Jan 12, 2024
    60
    If you simply want to revel in the elemental pleasures of sleek, clever, catchy songs played with rough vigour by a band who love to rock, then the Vaccines deliver their usual payload. .... They lack the boldness of the bands that most influenced their sound (The Ramones, Jesus and the Mary Chain) or the flair and ambition of others still flying the pop-rock flag (The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines). On this evidence, The Vaccines are approaching their expiry date.

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