Track Listing

1. Alone Jealous And Stoned
2. All At Once (It's Not Important)
3. Lightning Blue Eyes
4. Daddy's In The Doldrums
5. I Hate Pretending
6. Faded Lines
7. I Want To Know If It's Still Possible
8. 1000 Seconds

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32023 in Music
• Released on: 2006-04-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The rise of Texan troubadours Secret Machines has been impressive. They initially appeared with the fantastic debut album September 000; bettered it with Now Here Is Nowhere; and now they’ve gone one better with Ten Silver Drops--not only a more personal record, but also more musically ambitious and more conceptually sustained. Recorded in the Catskills mountains in New York state, the band’s third project leads with the whirling, yearning, mildly epic single "Alone, Jealous and Stoned" before unfurling in typically "space-rock" (their description) fashion, all prog-rock psychedelia, hypnotic krautrock grooves and a decent split of cosmic instrumentals and catchy Flaming Lips-style choruses. The loping, slow-burning strangeness of "Daddy’s In The Doldrums" and the easy-going "I Want To Know (if it’s still possible" (featuring Garth Hudson from The Band on accordion) all bring forth the band’s penetrative grooves and psych-rock keyboard scribbles, offering a sound that’s impressively muscular and surprisingly melodic. It’s very rare that a band these days gets better and better with each successive album, but Secret Machines are fast becoming old masters at upsetting such conventions.--Paul Sullivan

CD Description
Second full length studio album from Dallas-born trio Secret Machines. This is the follow-up to 2004's 'Now Here Is Nowhere'. Produced by the band, the album was recorded at the Allaire Studios in New York. The singles 'Lightning Blue Eyes' and 'Faded Lines' are included.

Customer Reviews

Quite simply astounding - an etremely welcome return
New York's Secret Machines, after a heavy touring schedule which meant most of 'Ten Silver Drops' was concocted on the road, do not disappoint with this extraordinary album. Taking the same prog elements that infused their promising, if overlong debut, 'Now Here Is Nowhere', and honing them into eight quite superb tracks, the band have released easily the best album of the year so far and one which will be almost impossible to top.

While it is true to some extent that Secret Machines have taken a slightly more pop-oriented approach to their songwriting - single 'Lightning Blue Eyes' is almost catchy - they still average around five minutes each, with monumental centrepiece 'Daddy's In The Doldrums' nearly nine. No track outstays its welcome though. Soaring opener 'Alone, Jealous and Stoned' begins with mournful, tolling piano soon subsumed by pounding drums and powerfully paranoid lyrics. The pair of epics that close the record are spellbinding, particularly the finale '1,000 Seconds', which, whilst sounding scarily like 'Performance and Cocktals' closer 'I Stopped To Fill My Car Up' documents the breakdown of a relationship quite superbly, with little more than piano and drums. 'I Hate Pretending' is the closest the band come to reprising the sound of their debut - enter swooping guitars and driving synth basslines - but the arguable high point is 'All At Once (It's Not Important), a breathtaking tirade against an unknown lover, fillled with tribal drumming, a memorable guitar line and palpable, pulsating angst.

The Pink Floyd/Krautrock comparison are of course valid but Secret Machines are carving their own sound very successfully. They are a force to be reckoned with live and these songs will only cement their gig reputation. A gripping listen, 'Ten Silver Drops' will suit prog dinosaurs and rock enthusiasts old and new - highly recommended.

The new Neu!
I know very little about this US trio, apart from the fact that they are very good! There does seem to be something afoot in certain musical circles at the moment. A host of young, up and coming bands are producing very sophisticated, challenging music within a mainstream genre. The likes of Pure Reason Revolution, Mew and Secret Machines are at the vanguard of a new type of prog rock. Not looking back to the likes of Genesis or Yes for inspiration, but taking the exploratory, boundary breaking, open-ended attitude which made prog the force it once was and adding a keen sense of melody and pop nuance to the brew. The results, as best exemplified here with Secret Machines second album are simply stunning! If anything these guys look more towards the 70's so called Krautrock of Can and Neu! The motorik beat of Neu! is very much in evidence throughout as is early Eno. The use of guitar treatments recalls Eno's work with Phil Manzanera. In fact processing and treatments are used extensively on guitars and keyboards throughout. Just listen to the fuzzy piano intro to "Daddy's in the Doldrums".

The groups first album "Now Here to Nowhere" was much rawer sounding. Here there is a much cooler, cleaner sheen to the groups sonic palette. Plus, the songwriting is moved up a notch. The vocals of Brandon Curtis have also matured and show greater flexibility. On "Faded Lines" it reminds me of Paul Haig!

I like this album a lot. A young band producing sophisticated, involving music is refreshing to come by. At once catchy and direct, but taking their influences and pushing everything forward to make their own individual sound. On the evidence of this release they have a very bright future.

a fine return
'Sad and Lonely' was the first track I heard from SM and it cought my attention immediately. I bought Now Here Is Nowhere and it stayed in my CD player for a good 3 months, it is a fabulous album. And now Ten Silver Drops is here and despite not having the immediate love-affair with it I feel it surpasses the previous record with ease. Its beautiful noises and original sounds make it a record which gets better with each listen... if there is a complaint, then it is that it is only 8 tracks long and forever leaves me wondering what a few more songs could add to it. However a very decent record from a very decent band.

p.s. go see them live...it's brilliant