Jawbox (album)

Last updated

Jawbox
Jawbox1996.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 2, 1996
RecordedDecember 1995March 1996
StudioWater Studios (Hoboken, New Jersey)
Genre
Length47:46
Label Atlantic/TAG (1996) [5]
Desoto (re-release)
Producer John Agnello and Jawbox [6]
Jawbox chronology
For Your Own Special Sweetheart
(1994)
Jawbox
(1996)
The Revisionist
(2022)
Singles from Jawbox
  1. "Absenter"/"Chinese Fork Tie"
    Released: 1996
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Entertainment Weekly B [3]
MusicHound Rock Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [9]
NME 7/10 [10]
Pitchfork 7.6/10 [2]
Punknews.orgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [1]
Tiny Mix Tapes TMT full.svgTMT full.svgTMT full.svgTMT full.svgTMT full.svg [4]

Jawbox is the fourth and most recent album by American post-hardcore band Jawbox. [11] The album was released by TAG Recordings, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. In the months following the album's release, the band was dropped from TAG and thus from Atlantic.

Contents

The album is much more commercial than its predecessor, For Your Own Special Sweetheart . Music videos were produced for the tracks "Mirrorful" and Tori Amos cover "Cornflake Girl," with the latter being a hidden track. The cover became a surprise (albeit minor) hit in the alternative and college radio scene, thus the video was filmed. The cover was omitted from the album's 2015 LP reissue. Along with those two tracks, promotional singles were also created for "Absenter" and "His Only Trade."

It was Jawbox's final studio album before disbanding in 1997. [6] [12]

Critical reception

Trouser Press wrote: "Moody, driven and downbeat (save for the occasional sanguine moment, like the rousing 'Excandescent'), Jawbox is a work of integrity and passion from a pop band that refuses to write pop songs." [6] Tiny Mix Tapes called the album "a masterpiece of driving, angular rock prowess." [4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jawbox, except for "Cornflake Girl," written by Tori Amos

No.TitleLength
1."Mirrorful"3:02
2."Livid"3:55
3."Iodine"3:35
4."His Only Trade"1:58
5."Chinese Fork Tie"2:29
6."Won't Come Off"2:46
7."Excandescent"4:25
8."Spoiler"2:28
9."Desert Sea"3:05
10."Empire of One"2:48
11."Mule/Stall"1:56
12."Nickle Nickle Millionaire"2:35
13."Capillary Life"3:22
14."Absenter" ("Absenter" ends at 3:10; the hidden track "Cornflake Girl" begins at 5:02)9:22

Personnel

Jawbox

Production

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References

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  8. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4. MUZE. pp. 587–588.
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