Motion
by Calvin Harris
  • Record Label: Columbia
  • Release Date: Nov 4, 2014
User Score
7.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 105 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 73 out of 105
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 105
  3. Negative: 15 out of 105
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  1. djkeef13
    Nov 7, 2014
    3
    While I really enjoyed "I Created Disco," "Ready For The Weekend," and "18 Months," I'm really disappointed by this album.

    It's not completely without substance - "It Was You" feat. Firebeatz, and "Burnin" feat R3hab stand out as enjoyable tracks. "Together" feat. Gwen Stefani was also reminiscent of older Harris tracks. The rest of this album, however, has a certain hackneyed    While I really enjoyed "I Created Disco," "Ready For The Weekend," and "18 Months," I'm really disappointed by this album.

    It's not completely without substance - "It Was You" feat. Firebeatz, and "Burnin" feat R3hab stand out as enjoyable tracks. "Together" feat. Gwen Stefani was also reminiscent of older Harris tracks.

    The rest of this album, however, has a certain hackneyed finish to it. Most of the songs are over-compressed, giving the album a "nuked for radio" sound. The majority of the drops sound flat and predictable as a result. There is audible distortion in some of the tracks as well, which is completely unacceptable for an artist of this caliber. "Outside" and "Open Wide" are the biggest examples of audible distortion - the choruses sounds like they were processed through a Boss Metal Zone. This album was the victim of a "loudness war" mix, and an amateur one at that.

    In addition, this album has an all-star line-up, but fails to deliver an all-star product. It's like the 2004 Dream Team or the 2008 Yankees - the mere existence of high caliber talent doesn't make for a championship team. Harris's songs with Alesso, John Newman, Ellie Goulding, Haim, Big Sean, and Gwen Stefani - all great in their own respects - sound more like product extensions than they do artistic collaborations.

    Some of the songs sound a little imitated as well - the syncopated percussive lines in "Dollar Signs" seems to borrow heavily from Martin Garrix's "Animals," and the perfomance from Tinashe that sounds like Rihanna Lite. (Rihanna also had a song about dollar signs, oddly enough.)

    Overall, this majority of this album sounds like a label executive's idea of an electronic music album, more than it sounds like an electronic music album made by one of the best DJs in electronic music. I'm sure it will get plenty of radio spins, and maybe be featured in a few tech product commercials, but that won't make this album any better.

    Sorry to say, but this album isn't Harris's best work. The best we can hope for is that the sales from this album will fuel a more earnest effort in the future.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

40
#40 Most Shared Album of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
57

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. PopMatters
    Nov 18, 2014
    60
    Ultimately, Motion is somewhat of a scattered album with some shining moments.
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  2. The Guardian
    Nov 6, 2014
    60
    The big pop hooks and breakdowns are here, but there is little sense of Harris’s personality.
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  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Nov 5, 2014
    75
    His largely straight-ahead approach will rankle EDM devotees who are searching for boundary-busting beats, but he's taking his chances with the most unpredictable technology of all: the human voice.
    Read full review
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