Breakfast with Girls

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Breakfast with Girls
Self breakfast with girls front.jpg
Studio album by
Self
ReleasedJuly 13, 1999
Recorded1997–1999
StudioBennett House (Franklin)
Ocean Way (Nashville)
Matt's House (Murfreesboro)
Treasure Isle (Nashville)
Genre
Length48:22
Label
Producer Matt Mahaffey
Ken Andrews
Self chronology
Feels Like Breakin' Shit
(1998)		Breakfast with Girls
(1999)		 Brunch
(1999)
Singles from Breakfast with Girls
  1. "It All Comes Out in the Wash"
    Released: January 1998
  2. "Placing the Blame"
    Released: March 1998
  3. "Paint by Numbers"
    Released: July 21, 1998
  4. "Sucker"
    Released: March 1999
  5. "Meg Ryan"
    Released: May 1999

Breakfast with Girls is the third studio album by American pop rock band Self, released on July 13, 1999, by DreamWorks Records and Spongebath Records. Its songs were mainly written and composed by Matt Mahaffey, the band's lead member. The album prominently maintains a power pop/art rock soundscape with elements of hip-hop and jazz.

Contents

Five singles supported it; the third, "Paint by Numbers", received a nomination for Song of the Year from the Nashville Music Association Awards, while the fifth, "Meg Ryan", was the album's major single. Upon release, Breakfast with Girls received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its inventiveness but critiqued its complexity. It peaked at number eighteen on the CMJ Top 200 chart, the band's best-known performance.

Background

For his debut album, Subliminal Plastic Motives (1995), Self's lead member Matt Mahaffey focused on guitar arrangements and incorporating rock music. Following its release, he frequently appeared at rock radio stations, performed at venues within the genre, [5] and received invitations to strip clubs from radio personalities and other music industry colleagues. Mahaffey's strong disinterest in this lifestyle led him to drop his guitar usage on his second album, The Half-Baked Serenade (1997), [6] citing the first album as a bad first impression. He continued to hold the mindset when making his third album, declaring the project to be "anti-rock". [5]

Production

Richard Dodd, Abbey Road Studios.jpg
Ken Andrews 2014 (cropped).jpg
Richard Dodd (left) and Ken Andrews (right) helped engineer and produce Breakfast with Girls.

After signing to DreamWorks Records, a larger budget allowed Mahaffey to work with various acclaimed engineers and producers for the album, including Ken Andrews of Failure, Richard Dodd, and Hugh Padgham. He additionally recorded with a full orchestra for some songs, led by the Nashville String Machine. [7] Sessions primarily took place at Ocean Way in Nashville, Tennessee, with additional recording done at the Bennett House in Franklin, Tennessee, Mahaffey's home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Treasure Isle in Nashville. [8] Mahaffey composed each song's instrumental before writing lyrics, prioritizing a wide range of expression. [9]

Mahaffey spent his weekdays working on Breakfast with Girls while allotting weekends to work on Gizmodgery (2000), an album recorded entirely with toy instruments. [10] Mahaffey wrote and recorded "Suzie Q Sailaway" for inclusion on the latter, but was requested by the label to put it on the former. [6] He subsequently re-recorded the song with a full band, wishing to contain toy songs to Gizmodgery. [7] This process delayed the release of Breakfast with Girls, which, combined with the track's shift in style, led to a retroactive dissatisfaction. [6] Despite having Self under contract, DreamWorks decided against releasing Gizmodgery under the label. [11]

Late in development, DreamWorks executives told Mahaffey that the album didn't have any viable singles. In retaliation, he wrote "Uno Song" in two days as the "prettiest pop song" possible. Named after the card game Uno, it was intended to appeal to the band's female audience and become a hit single. [9] The song is Mahaffey's first project in Pro Tools, thus the album's only non-analog song. [6] The track's files were lost during production, leading the song's final version to be a rough mix. [12] Instead of "Uno Song", the label chose "Meg Ryan" as a single, a love song centered around the actress of the same name. [9] Overall, Self spent two years creating Breakfast with Girls. [7]

Release

Logo used by Self through 1999 and the early 2000s. Self (band) logo.svg
Logo used by Self through 1999 and the early 2000s.

"It All Comes Out in the Wash" appeared in volumes one and two of Soaking in the Center of the Universe, sampler albums released by Spongebath Records in January 1998 and March 1998, respectively. The second volume additionally featured "Placing the Blame".[ citation needed ] The third single, "Paint by Numbers", was included on the soundtrack of the film Dead Man on Campus (1998), [13] which released through MTV and DreamWorks Records on July 21, 1998. Director Alan Cohn picked the song as a theme for the main character, Josh Miller (Tom Everett Scott). [14] A website for the band later launched in promotion of Breakfast with Girls, advertised to feature new MP3 files daily. [9] The album's fifth and final single, "Meg Ryan", was marketed as the album's main single. [15]

Breakfast with Girls was delayed multiple times, first reported by CMJ to have a release date of August 25, 1998. [16] In later issues, the magazine projected release dates of March 2, [17] June 29, [18] and July 14, 1999. [2] The album eventually released on July 13, 1999, published through DreamWorks and Spongebath. [19] It is the only studio album Self released through the former. [20] Breakfast with Girls was distributed on CD, cassette, and vinyl. The latter was delayed in production due to a lack of commercial demand. [7] Reissues of the album on streaming services are managed by Geffen Records, who absorbed DreamWorks once the label shut down. [11]

Cover artwork

The cover artwork of Breakfast with Girls shows Mahaffey and a woman walking together, largely obscured by the band's logo on a black background. Physical copies feature numerous more photos, each focusing on different band members. This design was conceived by Brian Bottcher, who previously did artwork for Subliminal Plastic Motives. He was inspired by the 1968 film The Party and its promotional cardboard lobby cards to make Breakfast with Girls' artwork resemble a film poster. [7]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Pitchfork 6.5/10 [3]
Spin 7/10 [1]

The album received mixed reviews upon release. Gabe Besecker of Woof Magazine stated that the rock focus of Subliminal Plastic Motives led Breakfast with Girls to initially receive a negative reception for its power pop style, but is retrospectively regarded as "a masterpiece". [21] Barry Walters of Spin reviewed Breakfast with Girls with a 7 out of 10 rating, complimenting Mahaffey's creativity and style fusions alongside the project's emotional vulnerability and quirkiness. [1] Carlene Bauer of CMJ also praised the album's glossy, hook-driven pop, appreciating its fun instrumentation and mix of heartfelt and ironic lyricism. [2]

Vincent Jeffries of AllMusic gave Breakfast with Girls 2.5 stars out of 5, criticizing its overly intricate presentation and lack of melodic appeal while commending its diverse musical styles and experimental composition. [4] Nick Mirov of Pitchfork rated the album a 6.5 out of 10, highlighting Mahaffey's ambitious production and clever songwriting but stating that it often suffers from overcrowded ideas and mismatched elements. [3] At the 1999 Nashville Music Association Awards, "Paint by Numbers" was nominated for Song of the Year, [22] but lost to Faith Hill's "This Kiss". [23]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Matt Mahaffey, except where noted

Breakfast with Girls track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The End of it All" 4:48
2."Kill the Barflies" 4:16
3."Meg Ryan" 3:59
4."Suzie Q Sailaway"
  • Matt Mahaffey
  • Mike Mahaffey
  • Mac Burrus
  • Chris James
  • James Rawling
2:25
5."Uno Song" 2:56
6."Paint by Numbers" 3:07
7."What Are You Thinking?"
4:53
8."Sucker" 4:18
9."Breakfast with Girls"
3:12
10."Better Than Aliens" 1:53
11."It All Comes Out in the Wash"
4:00
12."Callgirls" 3:29
13."Placing the Blame" 5:00
Total length:48:22
Vinyl edition
No.TitleLength
14."Fliptop Box"3:45
15."You're a Drug"3:22
16."Happy Accidents"4:09
17."Rusted and Used"4:24
18."Crashing Parties"4:22
Total length:68:24

Sample credits

Personnel

Self

Additional musicians and arrangement

Technical

Other

Brunch

Brunch
Brunch.svg
EP by
Self
ReleasedAugust 14, 1999
Recorded1997–1998
Length12:16
Label
Producer Matt Mahaffey
Self chronology
Breakfast with Girls
(1999)		Brunch
(1999)		 Gizmodgery
(2000)

Brunch is the first EP by American pop rock band Self, released through DreamWorks Records and Spongebath Records. It was given to fans who pre-ordered Breakfast with Girls as consolation for its multiple delays. [21]

Background

Mahaffey originally wrote and produced eighteen songs for Breakfast with Girls, but DreamWorks Records cut five. Some of these were picked to appear on Brunch, while all five appear as bonus tracks on vinyl copies of the album. The first song, "Fliptop Box", consists solely of indirect references to smoking. Mahaffey struggled with addiction at the time, so he wrote the song in a failed attempt to quit. [7]

Track listing

Brunch track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Fliptop Box"3:45
2."Crashing Parties"4:22
3."Happy Accidents"4:09
Total length:12:16

Charts

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Walters, Barry (September 1999). "Self: Breakfast With Girls". Spin . Vol. 15, no. 9. p. 201. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Bauer, Carlene (June 28, 1999). "Reviews - Self - Breakfast With Girls". CMJ . Vol. 59, no. 624. p. 12. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Mirov, Nick (July 13, 1999). "Self: Breakfast with Girls Album Review". Pitchfork . Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Jeffries, Vincent. "Breakfast with Girls Review". AllMusic . Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  5. 1 2 Eliscu, Jenny (August 1999). "On The Verge". CMJ New Music Monthly . No. 72. p. 18. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Harkey, Scott (September 11, 2000). "Self / Interviews". Silent Uproar. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Duritz, Darius (March 10, 2000). "The PiG Interview with Matt Mahaffey". PiG Publications. Archived from the original on April 19, 2001. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  8. ↑ Breakfast with Girls (Media notes). Self. DreamWorks Records, Spongebath Records. 1999.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. 1 2 3 4 Conant, Brian (July 21, 1999). "Self's frontman knows art when he hears it". U. Magazine. Archived from the original on June 11, 2002. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
  10. ↑ Olmstead, Todd (July 24, 2014). "Self, a.k.a. the Dude Who Made the Expedia Dot Com Jingle, Is Back". Vice . Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  11. 1 2 Heisel, Scott (August 27, 2014). ""We never broke up, but we got burned out"—Matt Mahaffey on the return of Self". Alternative Press . Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  12. ↑ Parker, Lyndsey (August 15, 2014). "Self-Awareness! Rediscover Matt Mahaffey's Returning Cult Band Self". Yahoo! Music . Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  13. ↑ Henson, E. A. (August 4, 2022). "BBP!'s Album of the Week: "Breakfast With Girls," Self (1999)". Biff Bam Pop!. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  14. ↑ Olson, Catherine Applefeld (June 6, 1998). "Soundtracks and Film Score News". Billboard . Vol. 110, no. 23. p. 17. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  15. ↑ Anthony, Christopher (August 12, 2014). "sElf: Super Fake Nice [Album Review]". The Fire Note. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  16. ↑ Eliscu, Jenny (September 1998). "Just Out - New Music". CMJ New Music Monthly . No. 61. p. 86. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Upcoming Releases". CMJ . Vol. 57, no. 607. March 1, 1999. p. 40. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Upcoming Releases". CMJ . Vol. 58, no. 619. May 24, 1999. p. 41. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
  19. ↑ "Radio 200 Adds". CMJ . Vol. 59, no. 626. July 12, 1999. p. 19. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  20. ↑ Paulson, Dave (October 11, 2018). "Matt Mahaffey: the Nashville music genius behind the new 'Ninja Turtles'". The Tennessean . Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  21. 1 2 Besecker, Gabe (December 11, 2023). "sElf-Indulgent: A Retrospective on the Band That Started Matt Mahaffey's Career". Woof Magazine. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  22. ↑ Flippo, Chet (December 5, 1998). "Earle, Williams Lead Nashville Music Assn. Noms". Billboard . Vol. 110, no. 49. p. 79. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  23. ↑ Flippo, Chet (February 27, 1999). "Williams, Others Score At Nashville Music Awards; Hall Of Fame Gets Grandpa's Boots". Billboard . Vol. 111, no. 9. p. 34. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  24. ↑ "Top 75 CMJ Radio Airplay". CMJ New Music Monthly . No. 75. November 1999. p. 70. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  25. 1 2 "CMJ Radio 200 '99". CMJ . Vol. 61, no. 649. January 10, 2000. p. 12. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
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