Billy's Live Bait

Last updated
Billy's Live Bait
BillysLB.jpg
Studio album by
Released1990
Genre Rock, Country rock
Length35:54
Label Polygram [1]
Producer Tom Herbers, Gear Daddies [1]
Gear Daddies chronology
Let's Go Scare Al
(1988)
Billy's Live Bait
(1990)
Can't Have Nothin' Nice
(1992)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]
Entertainment Weekly B− [3]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Billy's Live Bait is the second album by Austin, Minnesota band the Gear Daddies, released in 1990. [4] It was their first release for a major label. [5]

Contents

"(I Wanna Drive the) Zamboni" is often played at hockey rinks. [6]

Critical reception

AllMusic called the album "sometimes poignant and often humorous." [2] The Chicago Reader called it "terrific," writing that, compared to the debut, "the record is less naive, has more shape, and rocks out more confidently." [7] Trouser Press wrote that "the quartet upgrades its sound and rocks more forcefully, with [Martin] Zellar and [Randy] Broughten bouncing guitar rhythms off one another." [8] The Chicago Tribune wrote: "Though often as dark and unsettling as Al, Billy is more outward-looking, less concerned with small circles." [9] The Los Angeles Times wrote that "the Gear Daddies’ basic, garage-rock style is brightened by a touch of country-music color and twang, but the heart of the quartet’s vision is in the passionate, liberating edge of Zellar’s songs and in the warm, almost conversational tone of his vocals." [10]

Track listing

  1. "Stupid Boy"
  2. "Sonic Boom"
  3. "Wear Your Crown"
  4. "Don't Look at Me"
  5. "Time Heals"
  6. "Gonna Change"
  7. "No One's Home"
  8. "Color of Her Eyes"
  9. "Goodbye Marie"
  10. "One Voice"
  11. "(I Wanna Drive the) Zamboni" (Hidden track)

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References

  1. 1 2 3 MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1267.
  2. 1 2 "Billy's Live Bait - Gear Daddies | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" via www.allmusic.com.
  3. "Billy's Live Bait". EW.com.
  4. "Gear Daddies | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  5. King, Melissa. "Gear Daddies prepped to once again rock the Red Carpet". St. Cloud Times.
  6. "Martin Zellar". Music.
  7. Wyman, Bill. "Gear Daddies". Chicago Reader.
  8. "Gear Daddies". Trouser Press. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  9. Heim, Chris. "THE GEAR DADDIES: FROM SMALL TOWN TO MAJOR-LABEL DEAL". chicagotribune.com.
  10. "Gear Daddies Have a Liberating Vision : Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five (a classic). :". Los Angeles Times. November 11, 1990.