One (Dirty Vegas album)
One is the second album by British house music trio Dirty Vegas, released 18 October 2004 in the UK (see 2004 in British music). Release & promotion. On August 6, band member Steve Smith delivered an acoustic performance of several of the songs from the upcoming album. The album was released by Capitol Records and Parlophone in Europe on 18 October 2004. A limited number of promotional two-record vinyl copies were also available. The album was later released in the United States, on 30 November 2004. Ahead of the album's release in the States, a  club and theater tour was announced. The tour included sixteen dates, starting in Washington, DC on 26 October. Critical reception. "One" garnered generally negative reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 35, based on 8 reviews, making it the worst-reviewed album of 2004. Steve Lowe of "Blender" heavily criticized the group's AOR tracks filled with earnest lyrics and Richard Marx-like production, concluding that "If this exhaustingly awful album repeats its predecessor’s success, the world will seem more  confusing than ever." "The Guardian"s Dorian Lynskey also panned the overall work of the album, "At best, it suggests Duran Duran indulging their U2 fantasies. At worst, the brain scrabbles for comparisons. The post-millennial Bruce Hornsby? Mike & The Mechanics go to Ibiza? Frontman Steve Smith delivers lyrics that he presumably made up on the spot in the voice of a man who rolls up the sleeves of his sports jacket. "One"s sole redeeming feature is that its title helpfully informs reviewers how many stars to give it." AllMusic's David Jeffries said of the group in this album that  They're still dreamy and maudlin, and still not lyricists who will threaten Dylan, but the production is slick and hides the band's shortcomings. David Dierksen of "PopMatters" said that despite sounding like the group's self-titled debut, he praised the album's production for capturing their live performances and instilling a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the tracks, saying that "What Dirty Vegas has really accomplished with this release is a completely unpretentious piece of work designed to move folks who want nothing more than something fun and catchy to listen to. And bless ‘em for  pulling it off because even the simplest pop can be botched." Brian Howe of "Paste" praised the group for its mixture of acoustics, electronica and orchestral music to craft tracks that contain multi-layered intricacies in their structures, concluding that "When so much music is so bleak, a little unlikely optimism might be a crucial palliative measure, rather than Pollyanna-ish head-burying, and it’s sanguinity that Dirty Vegas delivers in spades." Release details. The album was released in various countries in October and November 2004.