Sound Of Silver - LCD Soundsystem

I liked LCD Soundsystem, aka James Murphy, before it was "cool" to like them/him. Their debut album (5th in my 2005 "Best Of" list) was a superb effort (with or without the bonus disc) and whilst I suppose I should be quite sad that Murphy seems to have decided not to work with Britney Spears you could forgive him almost everything after this "almost-as-superb-as-the-first-album" effort.

Yes, I said ALMOST.

The main "problem" I have with Sound Of Silver is that it lacks the absolute killer track that would set it apart. It's got nothing that matches the majesty of old LCD singles Losing My Edge or Yeah, or even Tribulations.

On the plus side, almost everything on the album is very good indeed. As ever it's nigh on impossible to pin down a definition of their sound from track to track, never mind over a full album.

Recent single North American Scum would perhaps best be described as punk-funk; All My Friends sounds very "New Order"; Get Innocuous channels the spirit of Talking Heads...Hell Murphy even delves into ballad territory for album closer New York I Love You.

Of course some will label the genre-hopping as desperate and will suggest that all it shows is that James Murphy has a large record collection from which to gain "inspiration." To me though, listening for the influences is as much fun in itself as listening to the record in it's own right. And if it doesn't quite match up to the visceral power of the debut, it's not far off it and is still a fantastic album in it's own right.