Album of the day (#1257): Congratulations by MGMT - Music

MrFrogger
Where am I

Gender: Male
Age: 28
Location: Oakland

RockyRaccoon wrote:

Fool, you cray.

Oracular Spectacular > Congratulations > MGMT

Oracular Spectacular is an album where they put all their effort into crafting a couple hit singles, and let the majority of the rest of the album flounder. The singles themselves are also nothing to write home about, Kids in particular is extremely annoying. Congratulations is a great album, but there are parts of it that get a bit weak. The self titled is fantastic, they've finally allowed themselves total creative control, breaking free of the confines of 3 minute radio pop songs. It's a great record.

So basically you're wrong

RockyRaccoon
Is it solipsistic in here or is it just me?

Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: Maryland

Moderator

MrFrogger wrote:

Oracular Spectacular is an album where they put all their effort into crafting a couple hit singles, and let the majority of the rest of the album flounder. The singles themselves are also nothing to write home about, Kids in particular is extremely annoying. Congratulations is a great album, but there are parts of it that get a bit weak. The self titled is fantastic, they've finally allowed themselves total creative control, breaking free of the confines of 3 minute radio pop songs. It's a great record.

So basically you're wrong

I mean, I'm not saying Congratulations or their self-titled are bad, I actually quite like them, and I give them a lot of credit, expanding their sound, I like it a lot, I like seeing them evolve.

That being said, I enjoyed Oracular Spectacular a ton. There isn't a weak track on it in my opinion. The singles are fun without being generic (i.e. They sound uniquely MGMT) and the rest of the tracks are solid and varied.

If Oracular is a 90, Congratulations is an 85. So it's not like they're worlds apart.
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Saoirse

Flash Delirium was fantastic, some interesting sounds at other points but the rest of the songs all felt kind of choppy and schizophrenic, like MGMT kept changing their mind about each track halfway through. I guess compared to Oracular Spectacular this is more interesting as a whole album, but a bit half-baked.

RepoMan

RockyRaccoon wrote:

That being said, I enjoyed Oracular Spectacular a ton. There isn't a weak track on it in my opinion. The singles are fun without being generic (i.e. They sound uniquely MGMT) and the rest of the tracks are solid and varied.

I agree. Oracular Spectacular is an infectious bubbling dance party. Just a super fun album with a sound all it's own.

EDIT: I should add that my memory of this album is heavily clouded by seeing them a bunch of times live and their concerts were always a blast with everyone dancing & tearing it up. They were kind of the darlings of the summer festival circuit that year.

RepoMan

Oh Fuck! Just finished listening to MGMT’s MGMT. My little party band’s all grown up! Honestly, I didn’t even know they were capable of this.

RR, I’d get a concession speech ready if i were you. MrFrogger, while WAY too harsh on the adorable Oracular Spectacular, seems to be in the right. They’re definitely getting more interesting IMNSHO.

RockyRaccoon
Is it solipsistic in here or is it just me?

Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: Maryland

Moderator

RepoMan wrote:

Oh Fuck! Just finished listening to MGMT’s MGMT. My little party band’s all grown up! Honestly, I didn’t even know they were capable of this.

RR, I’d get a concession speech ready if i were you. MrFrogger, while WAY too harsh on the adorable Oracular Spectacular, seems to be in the right. They’re definitely getting more interesting IMNSHO.

Oh I've heard the self-titled. And it's very good. And like I said, I give them a lot of credit for evolving their sound. I just like Oracular a little bit more.
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2023 Chart

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Electronic Chart

Happymeal

If Oracular Spectacular was the album where they "put all their effort into crafting a couple hit singles, and let the majority of the rest of the album flounder", they should have kept on putting more effort into the singles. After Oracle, all their albums were consistently annoying to listen to.

RepoMan

Happymeal wrote:

If Oracular Spectacular was the album where they "put all their effort into crafting a couple hit singles, and let the majority of the rest of the album flounder", they should have kept on putting more effort into the singles. After Oracle, all their albums were consistently annoying to listen to.

haha! You definitely have a point. Those singles were fantastic. Very Happy

Tshardy

Gender: Male
Location: Birmingham, AL

I know that MGMT do not want to only make songs like Electric Feel and Time to Pretend, but that's the only reason I listened to them... I guess they don't need me though.