Different Days (The Charlatans album)

On 20 March 2017, Different Days was announced for release.[2] "Plastic Machinery" was made available for streaming on 4 April.[3] A music video was released for the track on 24 April; directed by Ewen Spencer, the clip was filmed in Barcelona, Spain.[4] A remix of the song was done by Sleaford Mods and was made available for streaming on 25 May.[5] Different Days was released on 26 May.[2] On the same day, "Plastic Machinery" was released as a single.[3] To promote the album's release, the band did two acoustic performances.[2] The album was released in Japan through Hostess Entertainment on 2 June and included remixes of "Plastic Machinery" as bonus tracks.[6] "Over Again" was released as a single on 13 October.[7] In November and December, the group went on a headlining UK tour.[8] On 8 December, a music video was released for "Over Again", directed by Ashley Shakibai.[9] An EP, Totally Eclipsing, was released alongside a two-CD edition of the album on 8 June 2018.[10] In September and October, the group went on a headlining North American tour.[11] The album cover photo was taken in an unknown city.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.8/10[12]
Metacritic	74/100[13]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[14]
Clash	7/10[15]
The Guardian	[16]
The Independent	[17]
The Irish Times	[18]
The Line of Best Fit	7/10[19]
Pitchfork	6/10[20]
PopMatters	[21]
The Times	[22]
Under the Radar	[23]

The album was described by David Barnett in The Independent as "possibly their most ambitious project yet".[1] Dave Simpson, for The Guardian, gave it four stars and called it "their best album in 20 years".[16] AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it three and a half stars, stating that the band "embrace the elastic possibilities of new avenues here, and the results are rewarding".[14] Pitchfork's Robert Ham gave it 6.0 out of 10, calling it "good but not great".[20] Richard Folland, for PopMatters, also gave it 6 out of 10, describing it as Modern Nature Part 2.[21]

All tracks are written by The Charlatans unless stated otherwise.

[24]

The Charlatans

• Tim Burgess – vocals
• Martin Blunt – bass guitar
• Mark Collins – guitar
• Tony Rogers – keyboards

Additional musicians

• Paul Weller – piano, percussion, vocals
• Gillian Gilbert – keyboards
• Stephen Morris – drums, programming
• Johnny Marr – guitar
• Anton Newcombe – guitar, percussion, keyboards
• Peter Salisbury – drums
• Ben Gordelier – drums
• Donald Johnson – percussion
• Derick Johnson – bass
• Ian Rankin – spoken word
• Kurt Wagner – spoken word
• Sharon Horgan – backing vocals
• Nik Void – backing vocals
• Shuri Endo – voice