Ten Silver Drops
by Secret Machines
  • Record Label: Reprise
  • Release Date: Apr 25, 2006
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 23
  3. Negative: 1 out of 23
  1. The Guardian
    100
    These are beautiful songs, as delicate as they are rocking and heavy.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    The result is a spiritual sibling to such previous great, emotionally raw ruminations on shattered personal lives as Phil Collins' Face Value and Beck's Sea Change.
  3. Urb
    90
    An ass-kicking sophomore effort. [Mar 2006, p.111]
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  5. Uncut
    80
    If there's any justice, the stadiums of tomorrow await them. [Apr 2006, p.105]
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  6. Under The Radar
    80
    A surprisingly strong and confident record. [#13, p.88]
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  7. Prefix Magazine
    80
    Where Now Here Is Nowhere was equally about force and restraint but always in separate parts, Ten Silver Drops does well to blend the two.
  8. Dot Music
    80
    It is a qualified success, at times brilliant, at others rather vague and off target.
  9. Mojo
    80
    There are some beautiful moments. [Apr 2006, p.94]
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  10. Q Magazine
    80
    [Secret Machines] have pruned back the vast sonic expanses of 2004's full-length debut album, focusing instead on brevity and melody. [Apr 2006, p.120]
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  11. Alternative Press
    80
    [A] thrilling trip to the sold-out stadiums of inner space. [Jun 2006, p.190]
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  12. PopMatters
    80
    Ten Silver Drops is a record made for being played at extreme volumes.
  13. Los Angeles Times
    75
    This is a continuation, not a breakthrough. [23 Apr 2006]
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  14. Amazon.com
    70
    Each [song] is epic (and not in the bad Creed "arms-spread-on-the-mountaintop" way): packing in more drama, billowing guitar solos and stealth pop hooks than the Strokes' entire back catalog.
  15. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    Yes, the Secret Machines do prog, but vitally they do so much more.
  16. Rolling Stone
    70
    The Machines' laser-light-show-ready atmospherics don't entirely compensate for the lack of a single as catchy as their last album's "Nowhere Again."
  17. Pitchfork
    63
    Lacking the dynamic cohesion that made its predecessor more than the sum of its tracklist, it feels like merely a collection of random tracks, which, despite their common themes, begin to sound haphazard in their arrangements and sequencing.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 2 out of 16
  1. RichardH
    Apr 27, 2007
    6
    What a letdown. I loved Now Here is Nowhere and thought that the Secret Machines were poised for big things, but this album left me What a letdown. I loved Now Here is Nowhere and thought that the Secret Machines were poised for big things, but this album left me scratching my head. The best parts of the original album were the throbbing rhythms. Sadly, this new disk is mixed so that the drums are almost an afterthought. The only song that captured the sound that I dug in the past album was "Daddy's in the Doldrums" which was a pretty good listen, but none of the other songs jumped out at me. I'm going to give this CD some time to change my mind, but so far I'm disappointed at the step back that this band has apparently taken.… Full Review »
  2. LeylaH
    Sep 26, 2006
    1
    I heard these guys at the Austin City Limits Festival and they ROCKED! I went and bought this album and it SUCKED! Either they are only good I heard these guys at the Austin City Limits Festival and they ROCKED! I went and bought this album and it SUCKED! Either they are only good live or maybe like Mark H said, they were playing thier old stuff at that show I saw. I was truly dissapointed with 10 drops. It was alot lot of "guy whineing" in my opinion.… Full Review »
  3. MarcH
    Jul 20, 2006
    4
    This album is terrible compared to their last. They went from hard hitting, spacey rock to BORING in one album. Such a disappointment.
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