Oracular Spectacular

Oracular Spectacular
Studio album by MGMT
Released	October 2, 2007
Recorded	March – April 2007
Genre	Electropop neo-psychedelia indietronica indie pop psychedelic rock
Length	40:18
Label	Columbia RED Ink
Producer	Dave Fridmann
MGMT chronology
Time to Pretend EP (2005) Oracular Spectacular (2007) Congratulations (2010)
Singles from Oracular Spectacular
"Time to Pretend" Released: March 3, 2008 "Electric Feel" Released: June 23, 2008 "Kids" Released: October 13, 2008
Alternative cover
2007 digital edition cover

Oracular Spectacular is the debut studio album by the American rock band MGMT, released digitally on October 2, 2007 by RED Ink Records and physically on January 22, 2008 by Columbia Records.^[1] The album, which has sold over 1 million copies worldwide, was nominated for best international album in the 2009 BRIT Awards. It features new versions of both "Kids" and "Time to Pretend", songs from the band's previous release Time to Pretend EP (2005), with the opening track serving as a "mission statement" and the theme continued through the album's subsequent tracks. Although Oracular Spectacular never sold more than 17,000 in a week, it has been a consistent seller since January 2008, selling at least 2,000 copies per week during April 2010.^[2] In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 494 on its updated list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Alternative Press	[6]
The Guardian	[7]
The Independent	[8]
NME	8/10[9]
The Observer	[10]
Pitchfork Media	6.8/10[11]
Q	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Uncut	[14]

Oracular Spectacular has received mostly positive reviews. On the review aggregate site Metacritic, the album has a score of 76 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[4] Jason Lymangrover of AllMusic called Oracular Spectacular's tracks "some of the catchiest pop songs to come from NYC since the turn of the millennium" and stated that "the songs never feel insincere and the record is inherently strong throughout, making it a solid start to their career."^[5] Prefix Magazine described the album as "a college-dorm experiment gone horribly right."^[15] Giving the album a three-star honorable mention rating, Robert Christgau stated that "like Vampire Weekend, only as synth-dance rather than indie-rock, they convert a quality liberal education into thoughtful, anxious, faux-lite pop."^[16]

In a mixed review, PopMatters' Matt Fiander criticized the second half of the album, writing, "The second half of the record settles into a more monotone kind of space rock that is as big as the better first half, but gives us no recognizably distinct songs or catchy melodies."^[17] The album was named as the best album of 2008 by NME.^[18] In 2009, Rolling Stone named it the 18th-best album of the decade.^[19]

Track listing

All tracks written by Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser except where noted. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Time to Pretend"	4:21
2.	"Weekend Wars"	4:12
3.	"The Youth"	3:48
4.	"Electric Feel" (VanWyngarden, Goldwasser, Will Berman)	3:49
5.	"Kids"	5:02
6.	"4th Dimensional Transition"	3:58
7.	"Pieces of What"	2:43
8.	"Of Moons, Birds & Monsters"	4:46
9.	"The Handshake"	3:39
10.	"Future Reflections"	4:00
Total length:		40:30

Japanese re-release[20][21]
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Metanoia"	13:49
12.	"Electric Feel" (demo version)	3:48
13.	"Electric Feel" (Justice remix)	5:27
14.	"Kids" (Soulwax remix)	5:42
15.	"Time to Pretend" (music video)	4:19
16.	"Electric Feel" (music video)	3:50
17.	"Kids" (music video)	5:06

Japanese promo version
No.	Title	Length
21.	"Time to Pretend" (Jorge Elbrecht of Violens Remix)	4:30

• An earlier recording of "Time to Pretend" appeared on Time to Pretend EP.
• An earlier recording of "Kids" appeared on We (Don't) Care, Climbing to New Lows and Time to Pretend EP.

Quotations

• "Knowing that the Almost Famous notion of stardom doesn't exist anymore (if it ever did), the duo of Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser realize they're "fated to pretend". It's a charming idea — making a career out of fantasizing—and on Oracular Spectacular, they not only accept their playacting destiny, they demonstrate that, just maybe, it's a path more people should take." - Eric Harvey, Pitchfork Media
• "This space-rock gem mocks the clichéd cocaine-and-hookers rock-star lifestyle, over big synth whooshes." - Kevin O'Donnell of Rolling Stone on the single "Time to Pretend".^[22]
• "We redid a lot of our songs that sounded too polished... Dave (producer David Fridmann) ended up running the tracks through this thing that crushed them and made them sound really gross again. They're a lot better now." - Ben Goldwasser in Rolling Stone^[22]

Personnel

• Andrew Vanwyngarden – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, percussion
• Ben Goldwasser – backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, sampling, rhythm guitar, percussion

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[23]	6	Platinum[24]	70,000+
Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart	10	Gold[25]	15,000+
Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart	55
Canadian Albums Chart	24	Gold[26]	50,000+
Croatian International Album Chart[27]	34
Dutch Albums Chart	45
French Albums Chart	22	Silver[28]	65,480
Irish Albums Chart[29]	5	2× Platinum[30]	30,000+
Italian Albums Chart	85
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart	161
Mexican Albums Chart[31]	74
New Zealand Albums Chart[32]	13	Gold	7,500+
Swiss Albums Chart	68
UK Albums Chart	8	Platinum[33]	567,696[34]
US Billboard 200	38	Gold[35]	606,000+[34]

Year-end chart (2008)	Position
Australian Albums Chart[36]	16
French Albums Chart[37]	77
UK Albums Chart[33]	65

Awards

Title	Award	Result
NME Awards 2009	Best Album of 2008	Won

References

1. "Oracular Spectacular on Amazon". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
2. "Justin Bieber, MGMT lead U.S. album chart". Reuters. 2010-04-21.
3. Wenner, Jann S., ed. (2012). Rolling Stone - Special Collectors Issue - The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. USA: Wenner Media Specials. ISBN 978-7098934196
4. "Reviews for Oracular Spectacular by MGMT". Metacritic. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
5. Lymangrover, Jason. "Oracular Spectacular – MGMT". AllMusic. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
6. "MGMT: Oracular Spectacular". Alternative Press (235): 115. February 2008.
7. Rogers, Jude (March 7, 2008). "MGMT, Oracular Spectacular". The Guardian. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
8. Gill, Andy (March 7, 2008). "Album: MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (Columbia)". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 3, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
9. "MGMT: Oracular Spectacular". NME. February 26, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
10. Hodgson, Jaimie (March 16, 2008). "Let them sow their wild Oates". The Observer. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
11. Harvey, Eric (October 22, 2007). "MGMT: Oracular Spectacular". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
12. "MGMT: Oracular Spectacular". Q (262): 138. May 2008.
13. Ganz, Caryn (February 7, 2008). "Oracular Spectacular". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
14. "MGMT: Oracular Spectacular". Uncut (132): 98. May 2008.
15. Goldmeier, Jeremy. "Oracular Spectacular: Album review". Prefix Magazine. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
16. Christgau, Robert. "MGMT: Oracular Spectacular". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
17. Fiander, Matt (January 22, 2008). "MGMT: Oracular Spectacular". PopMatters. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
18. Chester, Tim. Revealed: NME's Top Albums Of The Year 2008. NME. 3 December 2008
19. Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums, Songs Of The ’00s. Stereogum. Retrieved 22 June 2011
20. "Sony Music Online Japan : MGMT : オラキュラー・スペクタキュラー＋4". Sonymusic.co.jp. 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
21. Oracular Spectacular backside
22. O'Donnell, Kevin. "Artist to Watch: MGMT". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
23. "Oracular Spectacular ARIA Albums". Australian ARIA Albums Chart. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
24. "Australian Record Industry Association". Ariacharts.com.au. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
25. "Ultratop Belgian Charts". ultratop.be. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
26. "Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum - January 2005". Cria.ca. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
27. "Top of the Shops - službena tjedna lista prodanih albuma u Hrvatskoj". Hdu-toplista.com. 2011-03-25. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
28. "InfoDisc : Les Meilleurs Ventes de CD (Albums) en 2008". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
29. "Irish Album Chart 13th March 2008". Retrieved 2008-04-03.
30. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. 1962-10-01. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
31. "AMPROFON: Week 43" (PDF). amprofon.com.mx. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
32. "Oracular Spectacular RIANZ Albums". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
33. Official Album Chart - 2008. ukchartsplus.co.uk. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
34. MGMT Takes A Risk With 'Congratulations' Album. Billboard.com. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
35. "Gold & Platinum - April 07, 2011". RIAA. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
36. "ARIA Top 100 Albums 2008". Aria.com.au. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
37. "Disque en France". Disque en France. Retrieved 2011-04-08.

External links

• Oracular Spectacular at Metacritic