Strung Out in Heaven

Last updated
Strung Out in Heaven
Album Cover Strung Out In Heaven.jpg
Studio album by
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
ReleasedJune 23, 1998
RecordedEarly 1998
Genre
Length47:12
Label TVT
Producer
The Brian Jonestown Massacre chronology
Give It Back!
(1997)		Strung Out in Heaven
(1998)		 Bringing It All Back Home – Again
(1999)

Strung Out in Heaven is the seventh full-length album by American psychedelic rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre. It was released in June 1998 and was the band's first and only recording with the large independent label, TVT Records.

Psychedelic rock Style of rock music

Psychedelic rock is a diverse style of rock music inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centred around perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music is intended to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs, most notably LSD. Many psychedelic groups differ in style, and the label is often applied spuriously.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre American psychedelic rock band

The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American musical project and band led and started by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990.

TVT Records American record label

TVT Records was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 23-year history, the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, KMFDM, Gravity Kills, The KLF, The Baldwin Brothers, Sevendust, Nothingface, the Wellwater Conspiracy, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Holloways, The Cinematics, Buck-O-Nine, DJ Hurricane, Speech and Pitbull. Its biggest commercial successes were the triple platinum Nine Inch Nails's Pretty Hate Machine, two double platinum releases by Lil Jon, and platinum releases by Snoop Dogg and Tha Eastsidaz, Dashboard Confessional, Default and Ying Yang Twins as well as gold releases by Sevendust, Gravity Kills and The Black Crowes and Jimmy Page. Additionally, TVT also had success overseas, achieving a gold release in Germany and Sweden with The Connells and scored platinum and gold records in Canada with Default.

Contents

Background

After releasing a number of well-received recordings on the smaller psychedelia-focused Bomp! Records label, The Brian Jonestown Massacre were signed to a multi-record deal with TVT.

Bomp! Records is a Los Angeles-based record label formed in 1974 by fanzine publisher and music historian Greg Shaw and Suzy Shaw.

Recording and content

Matt Hollywood contributed more to this record due to Anton Newcombe being incapable of writing as many songs as he was addicted to heroin at the time.[ citation needed ]

Matt Hollywood is an American indie rock guitarist and singer. He was a founding member and leader of the Portland-based indie rock band The Out Crowd, as well as a founding member of the psychedelic rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre. He currently fronts the drone rock band The Rebel Drones.

Anton Newcombe American musician

Anton Alfred Newcombe is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of the music group The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

The album is named after a lyric from the David Bowie song "Ashes to Ashes".

David Bowie British musician, actor, record producer and arranger

David Robert Jones, known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer-songwriter and actor. He was a leading figure in the music industry and is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, with his music and stagecraft having a significant impact on popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million albums worldwide, made him one of the world's best-selling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded ten platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, and released eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and nine gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie song) David Bowie song

"Ashes to Ashes" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie. It was the lead single from the 1980 album Scary Monsters and became Bowie's second UK No. 1 single. It is also known for its innovative video, directed by Bowie and David Mallet, which at the time was the most expensive music video ever made.

"Wisdom" is a re-recording of the same song that originally appeared on the band's second album, Methodrone . "Dawn" is also a re-recording, with the original version appearing on Take It from the Man! . "Spun" is also a re-recording of the same song that appears on the band's album Thank God for Mental Illness .

<i>Methodrone</i> 1995 studio album by The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Methodrone is the debut studio album by American psychedelic rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre, released in 1995 by record label Bomp!.

<i>Take It from the Man!</i> 1996 studio album by The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Take It from the Man! is the third studio album by American psychedelic rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre. After recording their shoegaze-influenced debut album Methodrone (1995) and releasing a collection of early recordings, Spacegirl & Other Favorites, the band took influence from 1960s British psychedelic garage rock and recorded Take it from the Man! from November 1995–February 1996. After recording the entire album with an unnamed producer who scrapped the recordings, the band re-recorded the album on a minimal budget, mostly at Lifesource Studios in Emeryville, California with production from Psychic TV's Larry Thrasher, whose usual "studio" approach was vetoed out by the band's back-to-basics approach.

<i>Thank God for Mental Illness</i> 1996 studio album by The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Thank God for Mental Illness is the fifth studio album by American psychedelic rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre. After releasing Take It from the Man! and Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request in mid-1996, both of which display influences from 1960s psychedelic music, departing from the band's earlier shoegaze sound, the band recorded Thank God for Mental Illness through "tangible custom lo-fi stereo" in their San Francisco home studio on July 11, 1996 with the budget of $17.36.

Musical style

AllMusic's Jason Ankeny writes, "Settling into a blissfully psychedelic drift, the album opts not for the Stones-inspired raunch of before but for Byrds-like guitars, muffled drums and pulsating Hammond organ lines, all topped off by Anton Newcombe's half-stoned, half-shamanic vocals". [1]

AllMusic Online music database

AllMusic is an online music database. It catalogs more than 3 million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musical artists and bands. It launched in 1991, predating the World Wide Web. As of 2015, AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne.

The Rolling Stones English rock band

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The first stable line-up consisted of bandleader Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman (bass), Charlie Watts (drums), and Ian Stewart (piano). Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued to work with the band as a contracted musician until his death in 1985. The band's primary songwriters, Jagger and Richards, assumed leadership after Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager. Jones left the band less than a month before his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor, who remained until 1974. After Taylor left the band, Ronnie Wood took his place in 1975 and continues on guitar in tandem with Richards. Since Wyman's departure in 1993, Darryl Jones has served as touring bassist. The Stones have not had an official keyboardist since 1963, but have employed several musicians in that role, including Jack Nitzsche (1965–1971), Nicky Hopkins (1967–1982), Billy Preston (1971–1981), Ian McLagan (1978–1981), and Chuck Leavell (1982–present).

The Byrds American rock band

The Byrds were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member. Although they only managed to attain the huge commercial success of contemporaries like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones for a short period in the mid-1960s, the Byrds are today considered by critics to be nearly as influential as those bands. Their signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn's jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar was "absorbed into the vocabulary of rock" and has continued to be influential.

Release

The recording didn't sell as many records as TVT had hoped, and they later mutually dissolved their remaining contractual obligations.[ citation needed ]

"Love" was released as a CD single, with a demo of "Wasting Away" as a B-side on TVT Records in 1998. "Love" and "Nothing to Lose" was also released as a double A-side single independently in 1997. The release featured "Let's Pretend It's Summer", "I've Been Waiting", "The Devil May Care (Mom & Dad Don't)" and an alternate version of "I've Been Waiting" as B-sides.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Head Heritage favorable [2]

AllMusic praised the album, calling it "their least immediate, most restrained record to date [...] Strung Out in Heaven proves as engaging as their past efforts, with a focus and cohesiveness often lacking from their more visceral work", also calling it "the BJM's most mature outing yet". [1] Head Heritage described it as "BJM's most easily accessible and truly genius album thus far." [2]

Legacy

The song Going to Hell is featured in the "Faith, Hope & Trick" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. [3]

The song "Going to Hell" is also featured in the first American Pie movie when the guys are eating outside devising a plan on how to lose their virginity.

Track listing

All tracks written by The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

No.TitleLength
1."Going to Hell" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe)2:59
2."Let's Pretend It's Summer" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe)3:37
3."Wasting Away" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe)3:14
4."Jennifer" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe)3:32
5."Got My Eye on You" (lyrics Hollywood/vocals Hollywood/Gion)3:11
6."Nothing to Lose" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe)2:52
7."Love" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe)3:54
8."Maybe Tomorrow" (lyrics Hollywood,Taylor/vocals Hollywood)4:13
9."Spun" (lyrics/vocals Hollywood (re-recording))4:15
10."I've Been Waiting" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe)4:25
11."Dawn" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe) (re-recording)2:13
12."Lantern" (lyrics/vocals Newcombe)3:27
13."Wisdom" (lyrics/Newcombe/vocals Newcombe/Richards) (re-recording)5:29
Total length:47:12

Personnel

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Ankeny, Jason. "Strung Out in Heaven – The Brian Jonestown Massacre | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Reviews | Brian Jonestown Massacre – Strung Out in Heaven". Head Heritage . June 1, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  3. ↑ Paul Gregory Attinello, Janet K. Halfyard, Vanessa Knights Music, Sound and Silence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2010 Page 171-172 "The infamous independent band Brian Jonestown Massacre, a band known for its references to the psychedelic rhythm ... sound opening of their song "Going to Hell" evokes emotional reminiscences of the liberated 1960s, specifically the Rickenbacker sound associated with the Byrds and the Beatles."
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