King of the Road | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 15, 2000 [1] January 26, 2000 (Japan) | |||
Recorded | 1999 | |||
Studio | Monkey Studios in Palm Desert, California | |||
Genre | Stoner rock | |||
Length | 46:20 | |||
Label | Mammoth [2] | |||
Producer | Joe Barresi | |||
Fu Manchu chronology | ||||
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King of the Road is the sixth studio album by the California stoner rock band Fu Manchu. It was released on February 15, 2000, by Mammoth Records. [3] [4] Many of the songs are about cars and car culture. [5] [6]
The Japanese and European releases contain the track "Breathing Fire" in place of "Drive". "Breathing Fire" was on the demo version of the record that was sent to radio stations, clubs, and fans.
The album was produced by Joe Barresi at Monkey Studios. [7] [8] It was recorded live in the studio, where the band experimented with fuzz pedal tones. [9] [10] King of the Road contains a cover of Devo's "Freedom of Choice", which was praised by Mark Mothersbaugh. [11]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [12] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 9/10 [13] |
Courier News | [14] |
Des Moines Register | [15] |
Edmonton Journal | [16] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | [17] |
Reno Gazette Journal | [18] |
Rock Hard | 8/10 [8] |
Spin | 7/10 [7] |
The Austin Chronicle wrote: "King of the Road is another rock & roll road trip back to the early days of the Carter administration, sounding like an album that could have been made in 1977 ... It's full of obscenely fat guitar licks à la Frehley, Blackmore, Iommi (and the most perfect AC/DC break you've ever heard in the middle of 'Over the Edge'); treble-free tones; and more songs about driving and vans. It'd be stupid if it weren't so thoroughly convincing and didn't rock so unrelentingly." [19] The Morning Call wrote that "like the Ramones (and most great rock 'n' roll in general), the [monolithic] concept is based on visceral rather than cerebral response." [20] The Riverfront Times deemed the album "a happy hunting ground of beefy, bong-rattling RAWK AND ROLLLLL." [21] The Chicago Tribune called it "one bad, bone-jarring tour of the Great Riff Valley in all its arid, inhospitable majesty." [22] The Windsor Star noted that "Fu Manchu even flesh the primeval metal groove out of a new wave tune, Devo's 'Freedom of Choice', giving the song a beefy bottom end." [23]
The Washington Post opined that "true believers might call Fu Manchu's approach to headbanging odes of the road conceptually pure; skeptics could deem it moronic." [24] The Boston Globe thought that "guitarists [Scott] Hill and Bob Balch's aptitude for the big guitar sound popularized by Kiss and AC/DC locks into a monster rhythm section, ensuring that listeners are laughing with Fu Manchu, never at them." [25] In a review of Fu Manchu's next album, California Crossing, USA Today deemed King of the Road a "creative peak" and "a stoner milestone of turbo-revved guitars and West Coast slackerdom." [26] The New York Times advised: "Think Tommy Lee riffing with Jerry Garcia." [27]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Hell on Wheels" | 4:48 |
2. | "Over the Edge" | 5:01 |
3. | "Boogie Van" | 4:17 |
4. | "King of the Road" | 4:03 |
5. | "No Dice" | 3:09 |
6. | "Blue Tile Fever" | 5:30 |
7. | "Grasschopper" | 3:51 |
8. | "Weird Beard" | 3:32 |
9. | "Breathing Fire" | 3:46 |
10. | "Hotdoggin'" | 4:52 |
11. | "Freedom of Choice" (Devo cover) | 3:27 |
Production
All songs written by Bob Balch, Brant Bjork, Brad Davis and Scott Hill, except "Freedom Of Choice": written by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale
All tracks recorded, mixed and engineered at Monkey Studios, Palm Desert, CA, except "Hell On Wheels" mixed at Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA
Assistant engineer: Steve Feldman
Mastered by Dave Collins A&M Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Live photo: C. Taylor Crothers
Band photo: Alex Obleas
Art direction: Lane Wurster
Graphic design: Christopher Eselgroth
Devo, often stylized as DEVO, is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales, along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", the song that gave the band mainstream popularity.
Freedom of Choice is the third studio album by the American new wave band Devo, released in May 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. The album contained their biggest hit, "Whip It", which hit No. 8 and No. 14 on the Billboard Club Play Singles and Pop Singles charts, respectively. Freedom of Choice peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
Brant Bjork is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the drummer and founder of the influential Californian stoner rock band Kyuss. Bjork has also been a member of Fu Manchu, Mondo Generator and Vista Chino, the latter with former Kyuss members John Garcia and Nick Oliveri. He is currently the frontman and co-founder of the stoner rock power trio, Stöner. Bjork is one of the more notable figures in the stoner rock and Palm Desert scene and maintains a prolific solo career with over a dozen released albums.
Fu Manchu is an American stoner rock band, formed in Orange County in 1985. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout the 80s and 90s, but has remained consistent since 2001. The band currently consists of founding guitarist turned lead vocalist Scott Hill, bassist Brad Davis, lead guitarist Bob Balch and drummer Scott Reeder.
"Whip It" is a song by American new wave band Devo from their third studio album Freedom of Choice (1980). It is a new wave and synth-pop song that features a synthesizer, electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums in its instrumentation. The apparently nonsensical lyrics have a common theme revolving around the ability to deal with one's problems by "whipping it". Co-written by bassist Gerald Casale and lead vocalist Mark Mothersbaugh, Devo recorded "Whip It" with producer Robert Margouleff at the Record Plant in Los Angeles.
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DEV-O Live is a live EP by American new wave band Devo. It was recorded during the Freedom of Choice tour on August 16, 1980, at the Fox Warfield Theatre in San Francisco.
Now It Can Be Told: DEVO at the Palace is a live album by American new wave band Devo, released in 1989 by Enigma Records. The album was recorded during their 1988 "comeback tour" in promotion of the Total Devo album. It contains performances of several cuts from Total Devo but largely focuses on earlier material and also contains one exclusive song, "It Doesn't Matter to Me".
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