Around the Horn (album)

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Around the Horn
Souledamerican-aroundthehorn.jpg
Studio album by
Souled American
Released1990
Genre Americana
Length40:43
Label Rough Trade
Producer Souled American, Jeff Hamand, Brian Deck
Souled American chronology
Flubber
(1989)		Around the Horn
(1990)		 Sonny
(1992)

Around the Horn is the third album by the Chicago-based band Souled American. [1] [2] It was released in 1990 by Rough Trade US, [3] a subsidiary of Rough Trade Records, shortly before the label went into receivership. The band supported the album by touring with Camper Van Beethoven. [4]

Contents

The album was re-released, as part of the Framed box set, by tUMULt Records in 1999. [5]

Production

The band recorded the album quickly, as they thought that Rough Trade may close. [6] The album title refers to the band's desire to use guitars to reproduce the feel of marching band horn lines. [7] "I Keep Holding Back the Tears" was written by bassist Joe Adducci's mother. [8] "Durante's Hornpipe" is a version of the traditional instrumental. [9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Entertainment Weekly B+ [11]

The Chicago Tribune wrote that "Souled American's music seems to spring from familiar folk, country and old-time acoustic blues roots, but the forms are odd and warped, slow and quavery." [12] The Washington Post advised: "Imagine hearing a recording of Neil Young's whiny tenor playing at the wrong speed, revolving at the dreariest pace, accompanied by amateurish guitars, an occasional trombone and muted bass and drums." [13] Entertainment Weekly stated that Souled American's music "is irresistibly deadpan, sounding not at all inept, but simply homemade... Maybe they're telling us that traditional country life has now declined into something threadbare and dim." [11]

As Mark Guarino wrote in his book Country & Midwestern, with this album, "Souled American served as a brief pivot point that foreshadowed trance-root artists like Richard Buckner, Sun Kil Moon, and Will Oldham. As alternative country gained more traction, the band itself faded..." [14]

According to AllMusic: "Around the Horn shows the band now fully master of a unique kind of Americana, here much more melancholy and gently downbeat than ever before, guitars more apt to ring softly or solitarily than anything else. The dub and r'n'b touches prevalent on the first two albums aren't as apparent here, but what the band loses in relative breadth it more than makes up for in atmosphere."

Track listing

  1. "Around the Horn" – 3:43
  2. "Second of All" – 4:01
  3. "Old, Old House" – 3:31
  4. "Durante's Hornpipe" – 2:02
  5. "Rise Above It" – 6:10
  6. "Six Feet of Snow" – 4:18
  7. "Willdawg" – 3:23
  8. "I Keep Holding Back the Tears" – 4:26
  9. "You" – 4:11
  10. "Luggy Di" – 2:39
  11. "In the Mud" – 2:19

All songs by Souled American except "Old, Old House" by George Jones, "Six Feet of Snow" by Little Feat, "Durante's Hornpipe" (traditional), and "I Keep Holding Back the Tears" by bassist Joe Adducci's mother.

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Margasak, Peter (July 17, 1997). "Life in the Slow Lane". Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  2. ↑ Popson, Tom (December 8, 1989). "I want my MTV jacket, cap and beach chair". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. 26.
  3. ↑ Smith, Andrew (March 3, 1990). "Souled American". Melody Maker. Vol. 66, no. 9. p. 33.
  4. ↑ Kot, Greg (February 23, 1990). "Listen up, folks Chicago band's quietly intense music challenges the audience". Tempo. Chicago Tribune. p. 3.
  5. ↑ Morris, Chris (June 26, 1999). "Souled Out". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 26. p. 77.
  6. ↑ Guarino, Mark (July 16, 1999). "Unknown legends Souled American rises again". Time Out. Daily Herald. Arlington Heights. p. 4.
  7. ↑ Gehr, Richard (February 5, 1990). "That's Souled American". Part II. Newsday.
  8. ↑ "Souled American". Trouser Press. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  9. ↑ Hoekstra, Dave (February 18, 1990). "Souled American just has fun on 'Around the Horn'". Show. Chicago Sun-Times. p. 5.
  10. ↑ Raggett, Ned. Around the Horn at AllMusic
  11. 1 2 Sandow, Greg. "Around the Horn". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  12. ↑ Heim, Chris (February 23, 1990). "Souled American plumbs the depths of swamp rock". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. S.
  13. ↑ Joyce, Mike (May 25, 1990). "Souled American Asleep at the Reel". The Washington Post. p. N20.
  14. ↑ Guarino, Mark (2023). Country & Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 365. ISBN   9780226110943.
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