| At Action Park | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 24, 1994 | |||
| Recorded | March 1994 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:03 | |||
| Label | Touch and Go | |||
| Producer | Shellac | |||
| Shellac chronology | ||||
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At Action Park is the debut studio album by American rock band Shellac, released in 1994.
The release came in a folded and hand-pressed sleeve which is referred as uni-pak style album jacket. The inner sleeve shows artwork with four microphones, the record sleeve shows an illustration of a fictionalized map of Action Park on one side, and a lengthy medical text Resuscitation from apparent death by electric shock on the other side (the text was found in an old electronics textbook of Weston's). The Vinyl had inscriptions in the run-out groove of both sides, reading: "Smoking is as natural as breathing. They've been doing it since before I was born... ... which is a shame, because I could have invented it. - Todd Stanford Trainer 1994"
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Chicago Sun-Times | [5] |
| Chicago Tribune | [6] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [7] |
| The Great Rock Discography | 6/10 [8] |
| MusicHound Rock | [9] |
| OndaRock | 9/10 [10] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [11] |
| Select |   [12] |
The album received highly positive reviews on release. Greg Kot wrote that the "music is still punishing in the extreme, with melody subservient to groove and dynamics, and the human voice just another instrument in a maelstrom", going on to write that "Albini uses his guitar more for color and texture rather than as a lead instrument, while bassist Bob Weston and drummer Todd Trainer create a vicious spin-cycle groove, punctuated by thrilling ebbs and leaps in volume and tempo" and called the engineering "extraordinary". [6]
Retrospectively, AllMusic's Mark Deming wrote that despite Albini's continued obsession with "sex, violence, and anti-social behavior" from his Big Black days and while "the hard, metallic guitar figures of "Pull the Cup" and "Song of the Minerals" were as uncompromisingly abrasive as ever", the album revealed "a band more musically intelligent and imaginative" than his former band. [4]
In 2012, Fact ranked it the 18th best album of the 1990s, calling it "brilliantly angular [...] Combining Minutemen-esque grooves that feel like they could last forever with spit-riddled, sneering vocals and a storming rhythm section, there are few albums that sound as simultaneously doomed and driven as At Action Park." [13]
Christian Lemach of Whores called At Action Park his favorite noise rock album of all time. [3] Mike Sullivan of Russian Circles cited this album, alongside Fugazi's Red Medicine , as major influences on his guitar-playing, noting that they "literally changed the way [he] looked at music". [14] Electronic producer Clark included the album among his favorites, noting that "there's almost a techno element to it, it feels blocky, like it's made out of angles rather than anything circular, but still the production's quite warm, it just draws you in." [15]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Black Ass" | 3:00 |
| 2. | "Pull the Cup" | 4:12 |
| 3. | "The Admiral" | 2:21 |
| 4. | "Crow" | 4:47 |
| 5. | "Song of the Minerals" | 4:24 |
| 6. | "A Minute" | 3:40 |
| 7. | "The Idea of North" | 3:42 |
| 8. | "Dog and Pony Show" | 3:59 |
| 9. | "Boche's Dick" | 1:38 |
| 10. | "Il Porno Star" | 5:14 |
| Total length: | 37:03 | |
Personnel:
Staff:
Rapeman was an American noise rock band founded in 1987 and disbanded in 1989. It consisted of Steve Albini on guitar and vocals, David Wm. Sims on bass and Rey Washam on drums. In the years since their brief tenure, Rapeman’s sound has also been described as post-hardcore.
Shellac was an American noise rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1992 by Steve Albini, Bob Weston and Todd Trainer. Their lineup remained consistent until Albini's death in May 2024.
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The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas by vocalist David Yow, guitarist Duane Denison and bassist David Wm. Sims. They relocated to Chicago, Illinois, in 1989, where they found kindred spirits in recording engineer Steve Albini and Touch and Go Records. With the addition of drummer Mac McNeilly, they began performing live, eventually attracting an international audience with their powerful live show.
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Bob Weston is an American musician, producer, recording engineer, and record mastering engineer. Critic Jason Ankeny declares that "Weston's name and fingerprints are all over the American underground rock of the post-punk era, producing and engineering dates for a seemingly endless number of bands." As a performer, Weston is best known as the bass guitarist in the groups Volcano Suns and Shellac.
The Rude Gesture: A Pictorial History is the first release by American noise rock band Shellac, a three-song 7" on Touch and Go Records. It was released in 1993 on vinyl format only. The brown smear on the cover was originally rumored to be real shellac, but is actually root beer concentrate.
Steven Frank Albini was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (1992–2024), and engineered acclaimed albums like the Pixies' Surfer Rosa (1988), PJ Harvey's Rid of Me and Nirvana's In Utero.
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To All Trains is the sixth and final studio album by American rock band Shellac, released by Touch and Go Records on May 17, 2024. It is the first original studio effort by the band in a decade and is the final recording made before band member Steve Albini's death days prior to the album's release. The recording was made around the band's touring over the course of several years and was not promoted with advance copies, specific tour dates, or singles. The release coincided with Shellac's music being available on several streaming services for the first time in years.
