User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
This Is Happening Image
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 38 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 238 Ratings

  • Summary: The third album for the dance-rock band is reportedly James Murphy's last as LCD Soundsystem.

Top Track

Home
Home, home, home Home, home, home Take me home Just do it right Make it perfect and real Because it's everything Though everything was never the... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 38
  2. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. Golden-voiced Murphy, however, doesn't try for any cheap Bowie-baritone vocal mimicry, and his lyrics and musicianship have greater depth and polish. The best inspiration should come with improvements, and Murphy's are vast.
  2. While it’s certainly still working for him now—This Is Happening is, in all respects, LCD’s best album—it doesn’t take much to imagine the act becoming a tired gag a couple more albums down the line.
  3. Not only has the band wrapped up the themes of the record with impeachable, spotless playing and production, but the man at the center of it all hasn’t lost his penchant for writing quality tunes either, as nearly anything you blind-spot off This Is Happening will prove.
  4. If ‘This Is Happening’ must be a parting shot from this smartest and most human of dance machines, it’s a fine one. Though by LCD’s own standards this takes second place to ‘Sound Of Silver’’s unquestionable gold medal, by any other current band’s measure this is an all-out classic.
  5. You could argue that This Is Happening lacks its predecessor's startling sense of mapping out new territories, but if it confines itself to doing what LCD Soundsystem do, it does it all incredibly well.
  6. This Is Happening brims with smaller joys: the contrast between the wafer-dry vocal harmonies and funk-sopping synth bass on “Dance Yourself Clean”; the cut-rate laser noises on the calisthenic banger “Pow Pow.” These things accrue into a wry loveliness that’s never easy or expected.
  7. Despite occasional flashes of brilliance it’s a patchy, derivative work.

See all 38 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 44
  2. Negative: 6 out of 44
  1. KevinG.
    May 19, 2010
    10
    Really really good.
  2. Oct 6, 2011
    10
    When "New York I love you" I literally cried. Great album for a great band. I had the pleasure of seeing their final concert, I will never forget it
  3. Aug 13, 2010
    10
    This is Happening wonâ
  4. Nick
    May 22, 2010
    9
    The album proclaims "You wanted a hit/Well maybe we don't do hits". If the charts were up to me, LCD Soundsystem would have had loads of The album proclaims "You wanted a hit/Well maybe we don't do hits". If the charts were up to me, LCD Soundsystem would have had loads of hits by now. Expand
  5. MaxK
    May 23, 2010
    8
    Slightly disappointed with this album after the stellar Sound of Silver. Just a tiny bit too much balladry on here IMO. Still pretty Slightly disappointed with this album after the stellar Sound of Silver. Just a tiny bit too much balladry on here IMO. Still pretty kick-ass, though. Recommended. Expand
  6. Nov 22, 2010
    7
    The album should've been revisited before release, although the most beautiful thing about this album is that it's actually fun to listeningThe album should've been revisited before release, although the most beautiful thing about this album is that it's actually fun to listening to, but some of the songs need some editing for run time. Expand
  7. Zeus
    May 18, 2010
    0
    "...it doesn

See all 44 User Reviews

Related Articles

  1. The Best Albums of 2010

    The Best Albums of 2010 Image
    Published: January 11, 2011
    Spoiler alert: Kanye West had the best-reviewed album of 2010. But which other releases impressed critics last year? We run down the 40 highest-scoring albums, and also examine the best releases of the year in various categories.
  2. Metacritic Users Pick the Best of 2010

    Metacritic Users Pick the Best of 2010 Image
    Published: January 10, 2011
    Our users have spoken, the votes have been tallied, and we have your picks for the best of 2010 in movies, games, TV, and music. Don't expect another victory for Kanye West or The Social Network; Metacritic users had something else in mind.
  3. 2010 Music Critic Top Ten Lists [Updated Jan. 7]

    2010 Music Critic Top Ten Lists [Updated Jan. 7] Image
    Published: December 6, 2010
    Throughout the next two months, we'll be tracking the year-end Top Ten lists published by various music sites, magazines, and more. Find out which albums are currently in the running for best album of the year.
  4. May's Best New Music

    May's Best New Music Image
    Published: May 25, 2010
    What made our list of the best-reviewed albums from the past month? The debut LP from Janelle Mon