| The Roches | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 1979 | |||
| Recorded | September–November 1978 | |||
| Studio | The Hit Factory, New York City | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Length | 39:53 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Robert Fripp | |||
| The Roches chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Roches is the 1979 eponymous debut trio album by The Roches, on the Warner Bros. label, produced by Robert Fripp, who also plays guitar and Fripperies (a variation of his Frippertronics). Also playing on the album are Tony Levin and Jimmy Maelen.
Paul Simon had encountered Maggie and Terre Roche earlier, and asked them to sing on the song "Was a Sunny Day" on his album There Goes Rhymin' Simon . Despite further support, the Roches disliked the involvement of Simon's record company, particularly their advice that the sisters "wear hipper clothes." Terre Roche later said:
We were humiliated... We wanted to get out of the whole situation. We had a friend in Hammond, Louisiana, who was running a kung fu school. We gave up our apartment and told the record company, ‘We’re not going to promote the record anymore; we’re going away for a while.’ This was two weeks after the record came out. Maggie wrote the "Hammond Song" about the whole experience. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Pitchfork | 9.5/10 [3] |
| Rolling Stone |  [4] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 10/10 [6] |
| The Village Voice | A [7] |
The album was well received. John Rockwell in The New York Times wrote that the album was "... the best pop record of 1979 thus far. In fact, it's so superior that it will be remarkable if another disk comes along to supplant it as best album of the year." [8] Rockwell subsequently picked it as the best album of that year, stating that it was "... also the scariest record, because the Roches probe emotions and even fears that most pop — most art, even — does not approach." [9] Jay Cocks in Time magazine wrote that the Roches music "is startling, lacerating and amusing". [10] The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said "Robert Fripp's austere production of this witty, pretty music not only abjures alien instrumentation but also plays up the quirks of the Roches' less-than-commanding voices and acoustic guitars. Thus it underscores their vulnerability and occasional desperation and counteracts their flirtations with the coy and the fey. The result is not a perfect record, but rather one whose imperfections are lovingly mitigated." [7] It was voted #11 for the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. [11]
It has continued to be highly rated. AllMusic characterized it as a "mischievous and highly original folk blend". [2] Rating the album 10/10 in the Spin Alternative Record Guide , Ann Powers praised Fripp's guitar accompaniment and spare "audio vérité" production but noted his efforts "would be merely a gorgeous surface if not for the songs themselves. Suzzy and Terre each contribute winners, but it's Maggie whose genius dominates." [6] The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave it five stars and called it an "unprecedented thrill" that was "spare, loose, pointed" and equating it to the Greenwich Village version of the New York punk explosion. [5]
"The Married Men" was covered by Phoebe Snow on her 1979 album Against the Grain . [12]
"Hammond Song" was covered by The Colourfield on their 1985 debut album Virgins and Philistines and by Whitney on their 2020 album Candid. [13] It was also covered by salyu x salyu on the 2012 album s(o)un(d)beams+.[ citation needed ]
In 2020, The Avalanches sampled "Hammond Song" on "We Will Always Love You" (feat. Blood Orange), the first single from their album We Will Always Love You . The sampled line, "We'll always love you but that's not the point," forms the refrain of the song. [14]
| Year | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | US Billboard 200 | 58 |
Another Green World is the third solo studio album by Brian Eno, released by Island Records on 14 November 1975. The album marked a transition from the rock-based music of Eno's previous releases toward the minimalist instrumentals of his late 1970s ambient work. Only five of its fourteen tracks feature vocals, a contrast with his previous vocal albums.
The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey.
Robert Thomas Christgau is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West. Christgau spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music, and was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. CNN senior writer Jamie Allen has called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world – when he talks, people listen."
Fear of Music is the third studio album by American new wave band Talking Heads, released on August 3, 1979, by Sire Records. It was recorded at locations in New York City during April and May 1979 and was produced by Brian Eno and Talking Heads. The album reached number 21 on the Billboard 200 and number 33 on the UK Albums Chart. It spawned the singles "Life During Wartime", "I Zimbra", and "Cities".
Discipline is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 22 September 1981 by E.G. Records in the United Kingdom and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States.
Suzzy Roche is an American singer, best known for her work with the vocal group The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre. Suzzy is the youngest of the three, and joined the act in 1977. She is the author of the novels Wayward Saints and The Town Crazy and the children's book Want to Be in a Band?
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper The Village Voice and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year absence from the Voice, each year from 1974 onward. The polls are tabulated from the submitted year-end top 10 lists of hundreds of music critics. It was named in acknowledgement of the defunct magazine Jazz & Pop, and adopted the ratings system used in that publication's annual critics poll.
Dub Housing is the second album by American rock band Pere Ubu. Released in 1978 by Chrysalis Records, the album is now regarded as one of their best, described by Trouser Press as "simply one of the most important post-punk recordings."
Los Angeles is the debut studio album by American rock band X, released on April 26, 1980, by Slash Records. It was produced by ex-Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and includes a cover of the 1967 Doors song "Soul Kitchen".
Into the Music is the 11th studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, and was released in August 1979. It includes "Bright Side of the Road", which peaked at number 63 on the UK Singles Chart, and other songs in which Morrison sought to return to his more profound and transcendent style after the pop-oriented Wavelength. The record received favourable reviews from several music critics and was named as one of the year's best albums in the Pazz & Jop critics' poll.
Sweet Old World is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on August 25, 1992, by Chameleon Records.
Trouble in Paradise is the seventh studio album by the American musician Randy Newman, released in 1983. It includes "I Love L.A." and the first single, "The Blues", a duet with Paul Simon. "Same Girl" is about a woman addicted to heroin. Newman supported the album playing shows with the Roches.
Squeezing Out Sparks is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter Graham Parker and his band the Rumour. The album was released in March 1979. Although the Rumour were not credited on the cover, their name was included on the album label.
Exposure is the debut solo album by guitarist and composer Robert Fripp. Unique among Fripp solo projects for its focus on the pop song format, it grew out of his previous collaborations with David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, and Daryl Hall, and the latter two singers appear on the album. Released in 1979, it peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard Album Chart. Most of the lyrics were provided by the poet and lyricist Joanna Walton, who also coined the term "Frippertronics" to describe Fripp's tape looping techniques.
Nurds is the second studio album by the American musical trio the Roches, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1980. It peaked at number 130 on the Billboard 200. Nurds was produced by Roy Halee.
Keep On Doing is the third studio album by the folk trio the Roches, released in 1982 on Warner Bros. Records. It is their second collaboration with Robert Fripp, following their 1979 debut album.
Another World is the fourth studio album by the American musical trio the Roches, released in 1985 on Warner Bros. Records. The trio supported the album with a North American tour.
Speak is an album by the American musical trio the Roches, released in 1989 on MCA Records. The album contained two singles that had accompanying videos, "Big Nuthin'" and "Everyone Is Good". Another track, "Nocturne", was included in the 1988 film Crossing Delancey, which costarred Suzzy Roche.
We Three Kings is an album by the American folk trio the Roches, released in 1990. It is a collection of Christmas songs. The sisters wrote two of the album's 24 tracks. We Three Kings is considered a classic of unconventional Christmas music.
The League of Gentlemen is an album by Robert Fripp. The music on the album was performed by members of a band which toured Europe and North America throughout 1980 under the name of the League of Gentlemen. The album was released in the UK in 1981 in vinyl format on the Editions EG label. The original album has never been reissued in full on CD, however some tracks are on the abridged Robert Fripp and the League of Gentlemen God Save the King CD release.
