There's an old parable you may remember involving 3 blind men and an elephant. The blind men touched the elephant on different parts of it's anatomy and as a result all three men had vastly different reports as to what an elephant was all about - a snake, a tree, a German tiger tank something like that. In any case the same analogy applies surprisingly well to the newest release from the Secret Machines. Depending upon which track you might happen to touch upon, would most likely give the listener a distorted perception as to it's whole. Thus I've decided to break the album down by it's various parts using the oldest (and some might say cheapest) form of music criticism - comparison. Many music critics regard using comparisons to other bands as a crutch, if this be the case then this review will be more akin to a motorized wheelchair with an oxygen supply. Screw it, I like doing it this way because it's fun, and it presents a challenge to the eclecticism of the reader. So strap on your erudition my musical co-pilots as we head back to the future.

Before I take you on my song by song wheelchair tour of this rather fascinating sophomore release from the Texas trio that isn't ZZ Top, I'll touch on a few generalities. First of all Ten Silver Drops is a far more pop-ified effort than their debut retro-prog record, though there is a wide diversity to these 8 tracks, Kyle nailed it on his review of Now Here is Nowhere when he described Brandon Curtis' vocals as eerily reminiscent of Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett. While this is true on several of Ten Silver Drops tracks (as well as a definite likeness to Midnight Oil's sound in general) Curtis is a true vocal chameleon often sounding like Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue, the Jayhawks' Gary Louris of and Paddy Macaloon from Prefab Sprout. The chief touchstone here however is Jeff Lynne (circa E.L.O.'s Face The Music). Ten Silver Drops is a grand tribute to the pop-prog movement ('76-'82) which will become increasingly evident as I break it down song by song.

Track 1"1,000 Seconds" Vocal: Gary Louris cum Jeff Lynne, Music E.L.O. Eldorado, The Jayhawks post Mark Olsen Alt/Country era - anything from Smile. Note of interest - Louris is presently the chief co-writer for the Dixie Chicks, penning over half of the tracks from their latest Taking The Long Way. Also of interest is the other chief songwriter is Dan Wilson of Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare fame.)

Track 2 "Faded Lines" Vocal: Peter Garrett, Music: Midnight Oil, Yes, "Owner of a Lonely Heart." Main touchstone: Backing vocal Prefab Sprout, the hyper-brilliant "Golden Calf."

Track 3 "I Hate Pretending," Vocal: Trent Reznor light, Music: NIN-light, U.K. (Eddie Jobson era) "Caesar's Palace Blues." Guitar: Trevor Rabin.

Track 4 "I Want To Know" Vocal: Jeff Lynne, Grandaddy. Music: E.L.O. cum Grandaddy. All in all a lovely little ditty that's the most original track on the record.

Track 5 "All At Once (It's Not Important)" Vocal: Lyndsey Buckingham, Jeff Lynne (ridiculously so) Music: E.L.O. Fleetwood Mac, Grandaddy.

Track 6 "Alone Jealous and Stoned" Vocal: E. Everett (Eels) Mark Linkous (Sparkelhorse) Music: Genesis (And Then There Were Three) Pink Floyd (Division Bell) Mostly Jayhawks and Ryan Adams. Unquestionably the best song on the record. Forever banishing the notion that Secret Machines are weak lyricists.

Track 7 "Daddy's In The Doldrums" Vocals: Roger Waters mostly Brandon Curtis. Music: Genesis (Duke) Pink Floyd (The Wall) Guitar: Steve Hackett. Obviously the most unique track here, in terms of the overall feel of the album you could liken it to anyone from The Bends Radiohead to Beck.

Track 8 "Lightning Blue Eyes" Vocal Ben Gibbard, Robin Gibb (interesting coincidence). Music: Death Cab For Cutie, Jimmy Eat World.

Overall, derivative? Fuckin' A. Enjoyable? Fuckin A. Should you purchase and/or download? Fuckin' Absolutely. As a wise man once remarked, "there's nothing new under the sun" which leads one to only one conclusion - recycle. One of my favorites of the year.