1965 (The Afghan Whigs album)

Last updated
1965
AfghanWhigs1965.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 27, 1998
StudioKingsway Studios, New Orleans, Louisiana
Genre Alternative rock
Length41:35
Label Columbia
Producer Greg Dulli
The Afghan Whigs chronology
Black Love
(1996)
1965
(1998)
Unbreakable: A Retrospective 1990–2006
(2007)
Singles from 1965
  1. "Somethin' Hot"
    Released: October 13, 1998
  2. "66"
    Released: March 30, 1999

1965 is the sixth studio album by American rock band The Afghan Whigs. It was released on October 27, 1998, by Columbia Records. [1]

Contents

Writing and recording

The album was written and recorded after Greg Dulli, the band's lead singer and rhythm guitarist, underwent treatment for clinical depression. [2] The Afghan Whigs recorded primarily at Daniel Lanois' Kingsway Studios in New Orleans, [3] with additional recording done at Ocean Way and Larrabee North in Los Angeles, The American Sector in New Orleans, and London Bridge in Seattle. [4] Dulli produced the album and wrote most of its songs. [4] For the cover, a photograph was used showing astronaut Ed White on the first American space walk as part of the Gemini 4 flight which took place in June 1965. [5]

Music and lyrics

The album incorporates jazz, [6] R&B, and soul music influences in its mainly rock sound. [7] The lyrics feature erotic narratives and paeans to sexuality. [8] [9] Music journalist David Stubbs writes that the album's subject matter "reconciles lust for women with respect for women", abandoning the "ironic self-loathing" of the band's 1993 album Gentlemen (1993) and the "down in the dumps" lyrics of Black Love (1996). [9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [10]
Entertainment Weekly A [8]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Houston Chronicle Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [13]
NME 9/10 [9]
Pitchfork 7.5/10 [14]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Spin 7/10 [16]

Reviewing for the Los Angeles Times in November 1998, Marc Weingarten regarded songs like "Somethin' Hot" and "Neglekted" as "the ugliest sort of come-ons, full of innuendo and whispered imprecations", but concluded that "Dulli's velvety vocals and the band's sharp, punchy melodies win you over every time." [13] Entertainment Weekly reviewer Matt Diehl called Dulli "one of rock’s finest lyricists: His noir vignettes read like a Jim Thompson novel, their erotic narratives expertly skewering the male psyche." [8] Stubbs, in NME , hailed 1965 as "a triumph against the grain of post-grunge", [9] while Jason Ankeny of AllMusic called it "the gritty soul record just always out of The Afghan Whigs' reach—seamlessly integrating the R&B aspirations which have textured the band's sound since the beginning". [10]

Some reviewers were less receptive. Robert Christgau assigned 1965 a "neither" ( Rating-Christgau-neither.png ) grade in Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s (2000), indicating an album that "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't." [17] In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Joe Gross considered the album's upbeat tone and healthier thoughts on sexual relationships to be "a mild letdown from the previous trilogy's relentlessness". [2]

Track listing

All tracks written by Greg Dulli except where noted. [4]

  1. "Somethin' Hot" – 2:58
  2. "Crazy" – 4:04
  3. "Uptown Again" – 3:11
  4. "Sweet Son of a Bitch" – 0:23
  5. "66" – 3:23
  6. "Citi Soleil" – 5:06
  7. "John the Baptist" – 5:34
  8. "The Slide Song" (Dulli, McCollum) – 3:54
  9. "Neglekted" (Dulli, McCollum) – 4:01
  10. "Omertà" (Dulli, McCollum) – 5:40
  11. "The Vampire Lanois" (Dulli, McCollum, Horrigan, Curley) – 3:21

Notes


“Somethin’ Hot” was used in the 2001 film American Pie 2, but did not appear in the soundtrack.

Personnel

Credits for 1965 adapted from liner notes. [4]

Charts

Chart (1998)Peak
position
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) [18] 38
US Billboard 200 [19] 176

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References

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  3. Hughes, Kim (November 5, 1998). "Afghan Whigs discover their soul in N'Awlins". NOW . Toronto: Now Communications. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
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  5. "JSC Digital Image Collection". Archived from the original on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
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  10. 1 2 Ankeny, Jason. "1965 – The Afghan Whigs". AllMusic . Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  11. Cox, Tom (October 23, 1998). "The Afghan Whigs: 1965 (Columbia)". The Guardian . London.
  12. Vaziri, Aidin (October 25, 1998). "Afghan Whigs, 1965, Columbia". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved October 15, 2017.
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  15. "The Afghan Whigs: 1965". Q . No. 147. London. December 1998. p. 114.
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  17. Christgau, Robert (2000). Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the 90s. St. Martin's Griffin. pp. xvi, 2. ISBN   0312245602.
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  19. "1965 - The Afghan Whigs". Billboard . Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved 2012-08-06.