Wide Swing Tremolo

Last updated
Wide Swing Tremolo
Wide Swing Tremolo.jpg
Studio album by
Son Volt
ReleasedOctober 6, 1998
RecordedJajouka Studio
Genre Alternative country
Length45:34
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Son Volt
Son Volt chronology
Straightaways
(1997)
Wide Swing Tremolo
(1998)
Okemah and the Melody of Riot
(2005)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Entertainment Weekly B+ [3]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Pitchfork Media 7.3/10 [6]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Wall of Sound 82/100 [9]

Wide Swing Tremolo is the third studio album by alternative country band Son Volt. [10] [11] It was released in 1998 on Warner Bros. Records. [2] [12]

Contents

The album peaked at No. 93 on the Billboard 200. [13]

Production

The album was recorded in Millstadt, Illinois, at the band's rehearsal space. [14] It was produced by the band and engineered by David Barbe. [15]

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly wrote that "many of the songs ... return to the power and purity of the band’s brilliant 1995 debut, Trace. [3] Trouser Press called the album "genuinely mediocre," writing that "the flourishes that had initially made Son Volt uncanny had transgressed into stale formula." [16] The Tucson Weekly wrote that "the songs retain Farrar's downcast approach, but they're extremely well-written this time around; and the band seems to have been reinvigorated, putting a little more into their performances than the cultivated ennui we've become accustomed to." [17]

Track listing

All songs written by Jay Farrar.

  1. "Straightface" - 3:02
  2. "Driving the View" - 2:57
  3. "Jodel" - 0:41
  4. "Medicine Hat" - 4:12
  5. "Strands" - 5:06
  6. "Flow" - 2:18
  7. "Dead Man's Clothes" - 2:46
  8. "Right on Through" - 3:08
  9. "Chanty" - 1:27
  10. "Carry You Down" - 3:28
  11. "Question" - 4:00
  12. "Streets That Time Walks" - 5:24
  13. "Hanging Blue Side" - 3:41
  14. "Blind Hope" - 3:17

Personnel

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References

  1. "Wide Swing Tremolo - Son Volt | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" via www.allmusic.com.
  2. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. p. 600.
  3. 1 2 "Wide Swing Tremolo". EW.com.
  4. "Album Review / Pop". Los Angeles Times. October 10, 1998.
  5. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1049.
  6. "Son Volt: Wide Swing Tremolo: Pitchfork Record Review". April 27, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-04-27.
  7. "Wide Swing Tremolo : Son Volt : Review : Rolling Stone". February 24, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-02-24.
  8. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 759.
  9. Durchholz, Daniel. "Wall of Sound Review: Wide Swing Tremolo". Wall of Sound . Archived from the original on 2001-04-15. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  10. "Son Volt | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  11. "Son Volt Turn It Up With Tremolo". MTV News.
  12. "Distant Rumblings". CMJ New Music Monthly. CMJ Network, Inc. November 11, 1998 via Google Books.
  13. "Son Volt". Billboard.
  14. Himes, Geoffrey (September 25, 1998). "SON VOLT'S RURAL ROCK" via www.washingtonpost.com.
  15. Harris, Michael C. (October 1, 1998). "Americana, No Depression, Whatever". Miami New Times.
  16. "Son Volt". Trouser Press. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  17. "Tucson Weekly: Soundbites (October 22 - October 28, 1998)". www.tucsonweekly.com.