| War and Peace | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1996 | |||
| Studio | The Studio, Springfield, Missouri | |||
| Label | Capricorn [1] | |||
| Producer | Syd Straw | |||
| Syd Straw chronology | ||||
| ||||
War and Peace is the second album by the American musician Syd Straw, released in 1996. [2] [3] Straw had been without a record label for four years prior to signing with Capricorn Records. [4] The album title jokingly refers to War and Peace's almost 60-minute running time. [5] [6] The first single was "Love, and the Lack of It". [7]
The album was produced by Straw. [8] [9] She recorded it, in two weeks, in Springfield, Missouri, where she was backed by the cult band the Skeletons. [7] [10] The sessions were paid for by Straw's manager boyfriend. [11]
Many of the songs are about Straw's divorce and past relationships. [11] "Million Miles" was cowritten with Johnette Napolitano. [12] "Static" was originally an instrumental track, composed by Jeff Tweedy; Straw maintains she wrote and recorded the song with an engineer while Wilco was at lunch. [13] [14] "Almost as Blue" is dedicated to Kurt Cobain. [15]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [16] |
| Chicago Tribune |  [8] |
| Robert Christgau |  [17] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
| The Indianapolis Star | [6] |
| Los Angeles Times | [18] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [9] |
Trouser Press wrote that "Straw's vocals are tremendous throughout, and the album has a tougher tone musically than the overly glossy Surprise." [12] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution deemed the album "a resilient cycle of country-rock songs about hopes, longings and the memories of complicated relationships." [19] The Dayton Daily News concluded that "her infectious roots rock melodies are surprisingly upbeat, given the subject matter, and her rich voice—capable of fierce passion or a soft country lilt—is simply beyond compare." [20]
Stereo Review determined that "it's her intelligent lyrics and soaring choruses that make War and Peace a standout—the way she plays the victim/victor personas off each other." [21] The Hartford Courant praised the Skeletons, writing that "Straw has just the right twang and snap to back her solid, affecting songs." [22] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch labeled the album "a fair-to-middlin' collection of pop dirges and country-rock tunes on which her voice veers from adequate to lovely." [23] The New York Times stated that "songs settle in between country rock and folk rock, with well-turned melodies and steady-strummed guitars... Singing about heartache, Ms. Straw cuts self-pity with determined resilience." [24] The Waterloo Region Record listed it as the second best album of 1996. [25]
AllMusic called the album "a jangly-guitar, singer/songwriter folk-rock feast and a glimpse into an apparently tortured soul." [16]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Toughest Girl in the World" | |
| 2. | "Million Miles" | |
| 3. | "Time Has Done This" | |
| 4. | "Love, and the Lack of It" | |
| 5. | "CBGB's" | |
| 6. | "All Things Change" | |
| 7. | "Madrid" | |
| 8. | "Almost as Blue" | |
| 9. | "Water, Please" | |
| 10. | "X-Ray" | |
| 11. | "Howl" | |
| 12. | "Static" | |
| 13. | "Black Squirrel" | |
| 14. | "The Train That Takes You Away" |
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