LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver
LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver stakes its claim as a dance-rock landmark that synthesizes aching midlife reflection with club-ready precision. Across professional reviews, critics point to a record that tightens and refines James Murphy's palette, turning elegiac songwriting into kinetic songs that still move a room
All My Friends is the emotional centerpiece, balancing joy and melancholy with enveloping sounds.
With a consensus score of 84.53/100 from 30 professional reviews, the critical consensus skews strongly positive while noting occasional stylistic unevenness.
Best for listeners looking for danceable electro-disco and melancholy introspection, starting with Someone Great and All My Friends.
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Full consensus notes
LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver stakes its claim as a dance-rock landmark that synthesizes aching midlife reflection with club-ready precision. Across professional reviews, critics point to a record that tightens and refines James Murphy's palette, turning elegiac songwriting into kinetic songs that still move a room. With a consensus score of 84.53/100 from 30 professional reviews, the critical consensus skews strongly positive while noting occasional stylistic unevenness.
Reviewers consistently single out “Someone Great” and “All My Friends” as the album's emotional and compositional centers, praising the former's plaintive, techno-elegy mood and the latter's Steve Reich-like piano build into catharsis. Other frequently cited best tracks include “North American Scum”, “New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down” and opener “Get Innocuous!”, each illustrating the record's range from political bite and ironic wit to stripped-down tenderness. Critics note themes of nostalgia, homesickness, authenticity and the streamlining of sound, framing the album as both homage to Eighties new wave and a grown-up experiment in dance-pop songwriting.
While some reviews flag lesser moments that retread familiar ground, the dominant narrative celebrates Murphy's songwriting maturity and the album's marriage of analog warmth to modern production. The result is a collection that answers searches for the best songs on Sound of Silver with clear highlights and offers a persuasive case for why many critics consider it essential in LCD Soundsystem's catalog. Read on for full reviews and track-by-track notes that unpack why critics praise these standout moments.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Someone Great
13 mentions
"Someone Great’ and ‘All My Friends’ both tread the line between joy and melancholy"— DIY Magazine
All My Friends
10 mentions
"the spine-tingling, New Order-tinged All My Friends is the sound of midlife stock-taking"— The Guardian
North American Scum
12 mentions
"So the bleak wail of 'cloud, block out the sun / over me, over me' is...really fucking effective."— Sputnik Music
the spine-tingling, New Order-tinged All My Friends is the sound of midlife stock-taking
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Get Innocuous!
Time to Get Away
North American Scum
Someone Great
All My Friends
Us v Them
Watch the Tapes
Sound of Silver
New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 30 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
There are moments on Sound of Silver that confirm James Murphy as pop’s rare genius, and the best songs here push that claim to the fore. LCD Soundsystem turn club instincts into artistry, with “Get Innocuous!” evolving into a throbbing, hypnotic monster and “All My Friends” trading between joy and melancholy. The record’s best tracks - especially “Sound of Silver” and “Someone Great” - balance ambition and accessibility, marrying Bowie-meets-Talking-Heads oddness with heartbreaking tenderness. In short, the best songs on Sound of Silver make the album feel like a grown-up dancefloor manifesto, urgent and emotionally resonant.
Key Points
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All My Friends is the emotional centerpiece, balancing joy and melancholy with enveloping sounds.
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The album’s core strengths are its fusion of dancefloor energy and introspective songwriting, making experimental pop accessible.
Themes
Critic's Take
In a voice that mixes wry observation with heartfelt awe, LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver finds its best songs in moments of honest vulnerability - chiefly “Someone Great” and “All My Friends”. The reviewer's cadence lingers on those tracks as emotional centerpieces, noting how “Someone Great” strips Murphy’s shtick away to reveal real feeling and how “All My Friends” alternates sad and funny with a breathless, astounding final stanza. Other highlights like “North American Scum” and “New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down” are praised for humor and perfect sendoff respectively, making these the best songs on Sound of Silver by virtue of emotional resonance and audience connection.
Key Points
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All My Friends is the best song for its universal, aching final stanza and emotional honesty.
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The album's core strengths are emotional resonance, New York-flavored identity, and polished yet gritty production.
Themes
Critic's Take
LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver hinges on two songs that do the heaviest lifting: “Someone Great” and “All My Friends”. Dorian Lynskey writes with an eye for the uneasy poetry of ageing, calling “Someone Great” an addictive techno elegy and “All My Friends” spine-tingling and New Order-tinged. He frames these as the album's devastating emotional punch, the best tracks on Sound of Silver because they distil midlife stock-taking into dancefloor catharsis. The rest of the record, from the punk-funk of “North American Scum” to the art-techno of “Get Innocuous!”, furnishes texture, but these two stand tallest.
Key Points
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The best song is “Someone Great” because it is an addictive techno elegy that delivers the album's emotional core.
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The album's core strength is turning midlife anxiety and nostalgia into compelling, grown-up dance-rock.
Themes
Critic's Take
LCD Soundsystem sound more focused on Sound of Silver, Murphy having streamlined his sound while still channeling post-punk and disco. The review insists the album's best songs are inward and moving, singling out “Someone Great” as the record's most affecting track and the closer “New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down” as a sealing moment. The critic's voice is wry and appreciative, noting that Murphy comes across as a naturalized dance producer on “Get Innocuous!” yet the emotional center - chiefly “Someone Great” - proves he should be considered a great songwriter. This framing answers searches for the best songs on Sound of Silver by pointing to those three tracks as the record's core strengths.
Key Points
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The best song is “Someone Great” because it is the most moving and showcases Murphy's songwriting.
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The album's strengths are streamlined production and an emotional core that balances dance music craft with earnest lyricism.
Themes
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Critic's Take
LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver finds its best tracks in the center of the record, where “Someone Great” and “All My Friends” crystallize James Murphy's blend of dance and rock. The reviewer writes like a lover of albums - taking pleasure in how “Someone Great” turns delicately poignant and how “All My Friends” unfurls from a Steve Reich-like piano into catharsis. For best songs on Sound of Silver, the record's production and emotional weight make these two the album's clearest high points, while “Sound of Silver” and “North American Scum” reinforce its varied, classic feel.
Key Points
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The best song is "Someone Great" because the reviewer calls it his favorite of the year and praises its prettiness and poignancy.
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The album's core strengths are its analog-forward production and its successful fusion of dance and rock into album-sized statements.
Themes
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Critic's Take
LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver arrives like a perfected manifesto, all knotted homage and killer hooks - the record's best tracks such as “North American Scum” and “All My Friends” show Murphy balancing chunky, dancefloor-ready riffs with aching, talky sentiment. The reviewer writes with relieved admiration, noting how Murphy stripped back tricks from the debut to concentrate on making kick ass tunes that nod to Bowie and New Order while staying wholly his own. Club-ready moments like “Time to Get Away” sit alongside the plaintive, Rat-Pack balladry of “New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down”, proving the album's range. In short, the best songs on Sound of Silver are the ones that marry smart lyrics to irresistible grooves, and they make this record feel close to perfect.
Key Points
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All My Friends is the best song because it combines emotional depth with influences that elevate the record beyond club fare.
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The album's core strengths are its fusion of 70s/80s influences with modern indie-dance songwriting and a wide emotional range.
Themes
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Critic's Take
In a characteristically wry NME voice, LCD Soundsystem on Sound of Silver trades swagger for craft, with the best tracks proving Murphy can make you both dance and feel. “Someone Great” is mournful and inventive, the review noting its acid-fried glockenspiel and real heart, while “All My Friends” turns ambition and nostalgia into a cathartic centerpiece. Closer “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” is singled out as proof of Murphy's songwriting, its stripped piano and Stax horns delivering a defiant finale. The record’s sense of fun and emotional depth explain why readers ask about the best tracks on Sound of Silver, and why these songs stand tallest here.
Key Points
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The best song, “Someone Great”, pairs inventive production with palpable mourning, making it the album's emotional high point.
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Sound of Silver's core strength is marrying dancefloor impulses with genuine songwriting heart.
Themes
Critic's Take
LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver feels like proof rather than provocation, and yet the best tracks - “Someone Great” and “North American Scum” - are where Murphy widens his scope. He shifts from wiseass knockabout to plaintive, Bowie-tinged grandeur, so “Someone Great” carries bereavement with electronic pomp while “North American Scum” delivers hard-rocking anti-Americanism. The result answers the question of the best songs on Sound of Silver with songs that marry dancefloor mischief to real feeling, making them the record's irrefragable highlights.
Key Points
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The best song, “Someone Great”, is best for marrying bereavement to jaunty electronic pomp.
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The album's core strengths are its fusion of dance-punk history with emotional depth and New York-focused themes.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Dobson praises the record's tightening and refinement, calling it LCD 2.0 and highlighting how “All My Friends” rattles hypnotically on electric piano while “Someone Great” drifts like a gossamer Human League in an ice palace. The narrative stresses craft and surprise: Murphy has fashioned a new string to his bow, giving the best tracks both emotional weight and dancefloor intelligence. This is an album whose best tracks show Murphy at his most affecting and inventive, making clear why these are the best songs on Sound of Silver.
Key Points
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All My Friends is the standout for its hypnotic electric piano and narrative monologue, marking Murphy's songwriting growth.
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The album's core strength is refined songwriting that balances danceable beats with emotional weight and homage to classic new-wave influences.
Themes
Critic's Take
LCD Soundsystem sound resuscitates classic dance-floor drama on Sound of Silver, where the best tracks — notably “North American Scum” and “All My Friends” — balance wit and aching nostalgia. Jonathan Ringen's prose keeps the self-aware irony intact, praising Murphy's Bowie-meets-Byrne vocals and late-Eighties dance echoes while still calling out the album's comic laments. The review points listeners to the propulsive single “North American Scum” and the elegiac sweep of “All My Friends” as the record's emotional centers, making clear why fans search for the best songs on Sound of Silver.
Key Points
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The best song, “North American Scum”, is the propulsive single that captures the album's existential edge.
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The album's core strengths are its dance-floor revivalism and melancholic songwriting that together create cohesive nostalgia.
Themes
Critic's Take
LCD Soundsystem make a record about getting older, and on Sound of Silver the best tracks - notably “All My Friends” and the title track “Sound of Silver” - crystallise that mix of wistfulness and dance-floor craft. The reviewer lingers on how “All My Friends” sounds like early New Order with a Steve Reich tilt, a comparison that sells why it ranks among the best songs on Sound of Silver. Elsewhere the title track is praised for marrying Phil Oakey baritone to luxuriant techno, proving maturity and excitement can coexist. The voice throughout is admiring, amused and precise, pointing readers to these standout tracks as the album's emotional centrepieces.
Key Points
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“All My Friends” is the album's emotional and musical centre, blending elegiac lyricism with New Order–like repetition.
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The album's strengths are its fusion of dance and rock influences, mature wit, and affectionate, self-aware songwriting.
Themes
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Critic's Take
LCD Soundsystem tighten their groove on Sound of Silver, with the best tracks staking claim as dance-punk essentials. The opener “Get Innocuous!” bubbles with bass and hiss, and “Someone Great” turns mournfulness into something alive with bleeping melody, making them two of the best songs on Sound of Silver. Murphy’s lyrical turns make “North American Scum” piercing and “Watch the Tapes” propulsive, so listeners asking about the best tracks on Sound of Silver will point to those moments. Even when weaker cuts like “Time to Get Away” and “Us v Them” retread familiar ground, the record remains a damn good fusion of rock and dance music.
Key Points
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Get Innocuous! and Someone Great stand out for production, melody and emotional lift.
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The album’s core strength is fusing rock and dance-punk while sharpening Murphy’s lyrical focus.
Themes
Critic's Take
This review text does not discuss LCD Soundsystem or Sound of Silver or any of its songs, so there is no reviewer voice to reproduce about the best tracks on Sound of Silver. Because the author does not mention “All My Friends” or any other album tracks, I cannot identify the best songs on Sound of Silver from this review.
Key Points
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The review contains no discussion of individual tracks, so no best song can be determined from this text.
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Core strengths cannot be extracted because the review does not address the album.
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Critic's Take
He elevates “Someone Great” as the album's warmest, most enveloping cut, even as he says Fisher Price touches sabotage it, and he positions “Get Innocuous!” as the propulsive funk ancestor the record drifts away from.
Key Points
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The best song, "Someone Great", is praised for its warmth despite production choices that undercut it.
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The album's core strength is its continued smart songwriting and references, even as it retreats from wholehearted dance sincerity.