Trials & Errors

Last updated
Trials & Errors
Meco-Trials.jpg
Live album by
ReleasedJanuary 18, 2005 (2005-01-18)
RecordedApril 16, 2003 (2003-04-16)
Genre Indie rock
Length72:22
Label Secretly Canadian [1]
Magnolia Electric Co. chronology
The Magnolia Electric Co.
(2003)
Trials & Errors
(2005)
What Comes After the Blues
(2005)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 79/100 [2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Pitchfork Media 5.7/10 [4]
Tiny Mix Tapes Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]

Trials & Errors is a live album by Magnolia Electric Co., released on Secretly Canadian in 2005. It was recorded on April 16, 2003, at Club Ancienne Belgique in Brussels.

Contents

It was the first Magnolia Electric Co. album released under that name, even though at the time of recording the band still toured under the Songs: Ohia moniker. The album received generally favorable reviews according to Metacritic, with multiple reviewers noticing the homage to Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but offering mixed opinions on its success: "[It is] hard to avoid thinking of Neil Young and Crazy Horse at the peak of their '70s powers" ( Mojo , Feb 2005). "Magnolia Electric Co. is no Crazy Horse, and Molina's vocabulary on the guitar doesn't yet have the presence to carry such extended interpretations of his material." ( Pitchfork Media , February 1, 2005). The album itself is made up of ten original songs, all but three of which were at the time unreleased, but contains three fragments of Neil Young songs, including the show-closing chorus of "Tonight's the Night" at the end of the song "The Big Beast", as well as the Young tunes "Out on the Weekend" and "Walk On". The fragments are technically uncredited, but the liner notes contain the information "Songs written by J.M. (Jason Molina) and there are ones that clearly have not[,] they're included here respectfully. Thank you."

Track listing

  1. "The Dark Don't Hide It" – 5:51
  2. "Don't This Look Like the Dark" – 5:50
  3. "Such Pretty Eyes for a Snake" – 8:49
  4. "Almost Was Good Enough" – 9:13
  5. "North Star" – 8:26
  6. "Ring the Bell" – 6:01
  7. "Cross the Road" – 6:38
  8. "Leave the City" – 6:21
  9. "The Last 3 Human Words" – 7:11
  10. "The Big Beast" – 7:58

Recording information

Physical copies were limited to 10,000 per version (vinyl and CD), and the album is now available digitally via iTunes and Spotify.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Young</span> Canadian-American singer-songwriter (born 1945)

Neil Percival Young is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining the folk-rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the beginning of his solo career, often with backing by the band Crazy Horse, he has released critically acclaimed albums such as Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969), After the Gold Rush (1970), Harvest (1972), On the Beach (1974), and Rust Never Sleeps (1979). He was also a part-time member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, with whom he recorded the chart-topping 1970 album Déjà Vu.

<i>Tonights the Night</i> (Neil Young album) 1975 studio album by Neil Young

Tonight's the Night is the sixth studio album by Canadian / American songwriter Neil Young. It was recorded in August–September 1973, mostly on August 26, but its release was delayed until June 1975. It peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard 200. In 2003, the album was ranked number 331 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, moving up to number 330 in the list's 2012 edition and climbing further to number 302 in the 2020 update. The album is the third and final of the so-called "Ditch Trilogy" of albums that Young released following the major success of 1972's Harvest, whereupon the scope of his success and acclaim became so difficult for Young to handle that he subsequently experienced alienation from his music and career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crazy Horse (band)</span> American rock band

Crazy Horse is an American rock band best known for their association with Neil Young. Beginning in 1969 and continuing to the present day, they have been co-credited on a number of Young's albums, with 15 studio albums and numerous live albums being billed as by Neil Young and Crazy Horse. They have also released six studio albums of their own, issued between 1971 and 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Molina</span> American musician

Jason Andrew Molina was an American musician, singer and songwriter. Raised in northern Ohio, he came to prominence performing and recording as Songs: Ohia, both in solo projects and with a rotating cast of musicians in the late 1990s. Beginning in 2003, he garnered a further indie following for his releases with the band Magnolia Electric Co.

<i>The Magnolia Electric Co.</i> 2003 studio album by Songs: Ohia, or Magnolia Electric Co.

The Magnolia Electric Co. is the seventh and final album by Songs: Ohia. It was recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago and released by Secretly Canadian on March 4, 2003. The naming of the album and comments by Jason Molina have led to discussions whether it is not simultaneously, in fact, the debut album by Molina's new band, also named Magnolia Electric Co.

Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Secretly Canadian is a label included in Secretly Group, which also includes Dead Oceans and Jagjaguwar. Secretly Group includes the three record labels as well as a music publisher known as Secretly Publishing, representing artists, writers, film makers, producers, and comedians.

<i>Zuma</i> (album) 1975 studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Zuma, the seventh studio album by Canadian/American musician Neil Young, was released on Reprise Records in November 1975. Co-credited to Crazy Horse, it includes "Cortez the Killer," one of Young's best-known songs.

<i>Are You Passionate?</i> 2002 studio album by Neil Young and Booker T. & the M.G.s

Are You Passionate? is the 24th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, his only album to feature Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and his eighth with Crazy Horse, released on April 9, 2002 as a double LP and as a single CD. It represents Young's foray into soul music, not sounding like anything he had previously released. Exceptions are rocker "Goin' Home", recorded with Crazy Horse, and the brooding "Let's Roll", a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The album ends with "She's a Healer", an extended jam.

<i>Broken Arrow</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Neil Young with Crazy Horse

Broken Arrow is the 22nd studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, and his tenth with Crazy Horse. The first three songs are in the form of long, structured jams. The final track is a live version of a Jimmy Reed song that was recorded on an audience microphone at a small "secret" gig in California, giving it a bootleg feel.

<i>What Comes After the Blues</i> 2005 studio album by Magnolia Electric Co.

What Comes After the Blues is the first full-length recording by what became the Magnolia Electric Co. touring line-up, and the second album released by Jason Molina under that name. It was recorded in November 2003 by Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago.

<i>Fading Trails</i> 2006 studio album by Magnolia Electric Co.

Fading Trails is the second studio album by Magnolia Electric Co., a project of indie musician Jason Molina. It is a compilation of tracks from four different recording sessions, including recordings at Electrical Audio in Chicago, engineered by Steve Albini, Sound of Music Studio in Richmond, Virginia, produced by David Lowery, and Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, engineered by James Lott. All of Fading Trails' songs are featured on the boxset Sojourner.

<i>Sojourner</i> (album) 2007 box set by Magnolia Electric Co.

Sojourner is Magnolia Electric Co.'s 2007 box-set release, comprising: three full-length albums, one four-song EP, one documentary movie on DVD called The Road Becomes What You Leave; a celestial map and a medallion; all within a wooden box. The band's 2006 album, Fading Trails, was compiled from the four recording sessions included in their entirety on Sojourner.

<i>Mi Sei Apparso Come Un Fantasma</i> 2001 live album by Songs: Ohia

Mi Sei Apparso Come Un Fantasma is a live album by Songs: Ohia. It was recorded at Barchessone Vecchio in Modena, Italy on September 27, 2000. The album received mixed reviews, with a Metacritic score of 60. While Pitchfork Media wrote that the album "...offers a better introduction to Songs: Ohia than the last couple of proper albums, which seemed like transitional or exploratory releases", The Wire's reviewer was underwhelmed, feeling that the disc "[s]till sounds like the work of someone desperate to gain the approval of the Drag City clique".

<i>Josephine</i> (album) 2009 studio album by Magnolia Electric Co.

Josephine is Magnolia Electric Co.'s third and final studio album, and the first after Fading Trails in 2006. For the album, the band teamed up once again with engineer Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago. The record was conceived as a tribute to late Magnolia Electric Co. bass guitarist Evan Farrell. The album took two weeks to write and record.

<i>On My Way to Absence</i> 2005 studio album by Damien Jurado

On My Way to Absence is Damien Jurado's sixth full-length album. It was released in 2005 and was Jurado's second release on Secretly Canadian records. The album was produced by his frequent collaborator Eric Fisher. Jurado has referred to the album as "a tribute to jealousy".

<i>Americana</i> (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album) 2012 studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Americana is the 31st studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on June 5, 2012. The album was Young's first collaboration with backing band Crazy Horse since their 2003 album, Greendale, and its associated tour.

<i>Psychedelic Pill</i> 2012 studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Psychedelic Pill is the 32nd studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on October 30, 2012. It is the second collaboration between Young and Crazy Horse released in 2012 and their first original work together since the Greendale album and tour in 2003 and 2004. The album was streamed on Young's website on October 24, 2012, and leaked onto the Internet the same day.

<i>Way Down in the Rust Bucket</i> 2021 live album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Way Down in the Rust Bucket is a live album and concert film from Canadian-American rock musician Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse, released on February 26, 2021. It is Volume 11.5 in the Performance Series of Neil Young Archives.

<i>Barn</i> (album) 2021 studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Barn is the 41st studio album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young and his 14th with Crazy Horse. The album was released on December 10, 2021, by Reprise Records. A stand-alone film of the same name directed by Young's wife Daryl Hannah was also released for streaming and on Blu-ray.

<i>World Record</i> (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album) 2022 studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

World Record is the 42nd studio album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young and his 15th with Crazy Horse, released on November 18, 2022, through Reprise Records. The album was produced by Young and Rick Rubin, and preceded by the lead single "Love Earth".

References

  1. "Trials & Errors - Magnolia Electric Co. | Secretly Store". www.secretlystore.com.
  2. "Trials & Errors by Magnolia Electric Co" via www.metacritic.com.
  3. "Trials & Errors - Magnolia Electric Co. | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
  4. "Magnolia Electric Co.: Trials & Errors". Pitchfork.
  5. "Music Review: Magnolia Electric Co. - Trials and Errors". Tiny Mix Tapes.