| Let's Kill Saturday Night | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 15, 1998 | |||
| Genre | Country, rock and roll, folk-pop | |||
| Label | Geffen | |||
| Producer | Rick Will, Robbie Fulks | |||
| Robbie Fulks chronology | ||||
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Let's Kill Saturday Night is the third album by the American musician Robbie Fulks, released on September 15, 1998. [1] [2] Fulks supported the album with a North American tour. [3] The title track had previously been recorded by 5 Chinese Brothers. [4]
Recorded in Nashville, the album was produced by Rick Will and Fulks. [5] Fulks was interested in moving beyond confining alternative country labels. [6] His songwriting was in part influenced by Elvis Costello. [7] Fulks was unhappy with how the album was sequenced. [5] "Little King" was written in 1989. [8] Al Anderson sang on "You Shouldn't Have". [9] "Night Accident" is about a man trapped in a car that is about to be hit by a train; it was inspired by an incident from Fulks's childhood. [10] [6] "God Isn't Real" is a defense of atheism; Fulks noted that people would occasionally leave his concerts when he played the song. [11] [12] Fulks duetted with Lucinda Williams on "Pretty Little Poison". [13] "Can't Win for Losing You" is propelled by pedal steel guitar. [14] "Take Me to the Paradise" is about an artists' restaurant and bar. [15]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The Atlanta Constitution | B [16] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |   [17] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ [18] |
| The Hamilton Spectator | [19] |
| The Independent | [20] |
| The Indianapolis Star |  [21] |
| Lincoln Journal Star | [14] |
| The Ottawa Citizen | [13] |
| Philadelphia Daily News | B [22] |
| USA Today | [23] |
The Village Voice noted that the title track "has become a standard, one of those wistful odes to a dead end that makes the hair stand up." [24] USA Today opined that "Fulks' songwriting may be uneven, but his vision is consistently bleak." [23] The Hamilton Spectator said that the album "still finds him dipping into wells previously excavated by the Louvin Brothers and Tex Williams, although a good half of the record's 13 songs land squarely in rock and roll territory." [19] The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called the album "both derivative and eclectic, a flow of restrained Nashville studio craft that occasionally bumps into whimsical folk-pop of a high order." [9] Robert Christgau praised "Pretty Little Poison" and "God Isn't Real". [25]
The Independent labeled the album "a storming rustic rocker." [20] The Indianapolis Star said that the "strong pop ballads ... show off vocal stylings reminiscent of Marshall Crenshaw and Freedy Johnston." [21] The Atlanta Constitution concluded that "there's plenty of old-line C&W stylizing ... but the fun comes with the distorted guitars of 'Caroline' and the Byrdsian jangle of 'She Must Think That I Like Poetry'." [16] The Philadelphia Daily News noted that "Fulks is a subtle lyricist, leaving room for varied interpretation". [22] The New York Times stated that "Fulks's narrators aren't country's regular Joes ... woman trouble often drives them to a vindictive bitterness that verges on psychosis." [26] Rolling Stone opined that the album "exhibits a weighty self-consciousness with little of its predecessors' spry, whimsical bite." [27]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Let's Kill Saturday Night" | |
| 2. | "Caroline" | |
| 3. | "Pretty Little Poison" | |
| 4. | "She Must Think I Like Poetry" | |
| 5. | "Bethelridge" | |
| 6. | "Take Me to the Paradise" | |
| 7. | "Little King" | |
| 8. | "You Shouldn't Have" | |
| 9. | "God Isn't Real" | |
| 10. | "Down in Her Arms" | |
| 11. | "Can't Win for Losing You" | |
| 12. | "Night Accident" | |
| 13. | "Stone River" |