- Critic score
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- By date
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There is very little on Operate that sounds like anywhere Gomez have been before.
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The finest and most listener-friendly album of Gomez's 10-year career.
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Entertainment Weekly[Gomez] sheds most of its psychedelic trimmings and bluesy wailing for a disc of tight, mature Chris Martin-style pop-rock. [28 Apr 2006, p.137]
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How We Operate is strong, focused, and a complete pleasure to engage; its maturity and confidence is beyond anything they've released thus far, and the experimentalism brought into play on their other albums is here.
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This is a really great album.
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They easily incorporate traditional folk elements like Nick Drake with contemporary indie rock and cinematic string arrangements that often soar above many of their songs' humble openings.
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MojoWith no weak link, you can drop the needle anywhere. [Jul 2006, p.106]
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Paste MagazineGomez has been transformed from a likable but shambling outfit into a focused pop-rock group while retaining the iconoclastic character that mad it intriguing to begin with. [Aug 2006, p.85]
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It's as if they peeled away a layer or two in order to reveal more of the pop band beneath the off-kilter country-rock trappings.
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FilterThink of it as a musical Botoxing: the twitches are gone, but the end result seems a bit superficial and expressionless. [#20, p.99]
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Alternative PressHow We Operate shuffles between exuberance and wistfulness like a drunk stumbling through a crowded bar--and yet, oddly enough, it's also onoe of the more coherent albums in Gomez's career. [Jul 2006, p.192]
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This is Gomez edging their way back to their best.
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Everything has been stripped to the core, with the focus on creating a tight album from beginning to end.
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Under The RadarHow We Operate shares the same ramshackle vibe as their early works, presented with the precision of a band that's been at it for years. [Summer 2006, p.89]
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How We Operate earns points for stylistic adventurousness but, unlike In Our Gun, doesn’t meet its self-imposed challenge with the strongest batch of tunes.
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There aren't any real missteps, but neither is How We Operate a step forward.
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How We Operate remains a very episodic album, containing a handful of great moments but no truly great songs.
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Q MagazineNo great leap forward. [Jul 2006, p.113]
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Anyone who enjoyed Gomez for their more adventurous traits will be left in the cold by How We Operate.
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UncutOnly emphasises their problems. [Jul 2006, p.92]
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New Musical Express (NME)Combin[es] the chummy West Coast country pop of The Thrills with the plink-plonk pub piano philosophising of Embrace. [3 Jun 2006, p.33]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 34 out of 36
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Mixed: 0 out of 36
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Negative: 2 out of 36
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JosephKFeb 21, 2007Nearly perfect.
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JoshuaLJan 8, 2007
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ReubenFDec 18, 2006