Nixon | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 7, 2000 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | ||||
Length | 49:44 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
| |||
Lambchop chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Nixon | ||||
|
Nixon is the fifth studio album by American rock band Lambchop. It was released on February 7, 2000 and was issued by Merge Records and City Slang.
Nixon became a breakthrough release for Lambchop in the United Kingdom, where it received critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2000 by numerous publications.
Nixon has been described as a merging of chamber pop, countrypolitan, and R&B sounds alongside "sweet" soul music. [1] [2]
The title Nixon alludes to Richard Nixon and was derived from the album's cover artwork, which is a painting by Wayne White, a friend of Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner. [3] "He always plays around with slogans or words. He considered the material on the Nixon album to be tragicomic, and an image of Nixon came to mind," Wagner explained. [3]
Nixon was released on February 7, 2000 by Lambchop's European label City Slang, [4] and on February 8, 2000 by the band's American label Merge Records. [5] It peaked at number 60 on the UK Albums Chart. [6] "Up with People" was released as a single from the album on May 2, 2000, [7] reaching number 66 on the UK Singles Chart. [8] According to The Guardian's John Aizlewood, Nixon established Lambchop as "standard bearers" for alternative country music, and "proved that the genre could be commercially viable if it painted its off-kilter pictures of redemption and loss in glorious Technicolor rather than mealy-mouthed monochrome." [9]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 84/100 [10] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Entertainment Weekly | A− [11] |
Los Angeles Times | [12] |
Mojo | [13] |
NME | 9/10 [14] |
Pitchfork | 6.5/10 (2000)
[15] 8.3/10 (2014) [16] |
Q | [2] |
Rolling Stone | [17] |
Spin | 9/10 [18] |
Uncut | [19] |
Nixon was released to highly positive reviews from music critics, receiving a score of 84 out of 100 on the review aggregation website Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim". [10] The album was particularly well received by the British music press. [16] NME critic Gavin Martin deemed it Lambchop's best record and said that its "sheer sonorous delight" justified comparisons to The Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds, [14] while Allan Jones of Uncut praised Nixon as "one of the first great records of the new millennium". [19] At the end of 2000, Nixon was named one of the year's best albums by numerous British publications, including Uncut (who ranked it as the best album of 2000), [20] Mojo, [21] NME, [22] and Q. [23]
Nixon was later included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. [24]
All tracks are written by Kurt Wagner, except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Old Gold Shoe" | 6:21 | |
2. | "Grumpus" | 4:19 | |
3. | "You Masculine You" | 5:59 | |
4. | "Up with People" | 5:59 | |
5. | "Nashville Parent" | 5:38 | |
6. | "What Else Could It Be?" | 3:38 | |
7. | "The Distance from Her to There" | 4:20 | |
8. | "The Book I Haven't Read" |
| 5:44 |
9. | "The Petrified Florist" | 4:52 | |
10. | " The Butcher Boy" | Traditional | 2:54 |
Total length: | 49:44 |
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. [25]
Lambchop
Additional musicians
Production
Design
Chart (2000) | Peak position |
---|---|
Norwegian Albums ( VG-lista) [26] | 27 |
Scottish Albums ( OCC) [27] | 98 |
UK Albums ( OCC) [6] | 60 |
UK Independent Albums ( OCC) [28] | 7 |
{{
cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)
Nixon | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 7, 2000 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | ||||
Length | 49:44 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
| |||
Lambchop chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Nixon | ||||
|
Nixon is the fifth studio album by American rock band Lambchop. It was released on February 7, 2000 and was issued by Merge Records and City Slang.
Nixon became a breakthrough release for Lambchop in the United Kingdom, where it received critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2000 by numerous publications.
Nixon has been described as a merging of chamber pop, countrypolitan, and R&B sounds alongside "sweet" soul music. [1] [2]
The title Nixon alludes to Richard Nixon and was derived from the album's cover artwork, which is a painting by Wayne White, a friend of Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner. [3] "He always plays around with slogans or words. He considered the material on the Nixon album to be tragicomic, and an image of Nixon came to mind," Wagner explained. [3]
Nixon was released on February 7, 2000 by Lambchop's European label City Slang, [4] and on February 8, 2000 by the band's American label Merge Records. [5] It peaked at number 60 on the UK Albums Chart. [6] "Up with People" was released as a single from the album on May 2, 2000, [7] reaching number 66 on the UK Singles Chart. [8] According to The Guardian's John Aizlewood, Nixon established Lambchop as "standard bearers" for alternative country music, and "proved that the genre could be commercially viable if it painted its off-kilter pictures of redemption and loss in glorious Technicolor rather than mealy-mouthed monochrome." [9]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 84/100 [10] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Entertainment Weekly | A− [11] |
Los Angeles Times | [12] |
Mojo | [13] |
NME | 9/10 [14] |
Pitchfork | 6.5/10 (2000)
[15] 8.3/10 (2014) [16] |
Q | [2] |
Rolling Stone | [17] |
Spin | 9/10 [18] |
Uncut | [19] |
Nixon was released to highly positive reviews from music critics, receiving a score of 84 out of 100 on the review aggregation website Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim". [10] The album was particularly well received by the British music press. [16] NME critic Gavin Martin deemed it Lambchop's best record and said that its "sheer sonorous delight" justified comparisons to The Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds, [14] while Allan Jones of Uncut praised Nixon as "one of the first great records of the new millennium". [19] At the end of 2000, Nixon was named one of the year's best albums by numerous British publications, including Uncut (who ranked it as the best album of 2000), [20] Mojo, [21] NME, [22] and Q. [23]
Nixon was later included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. [24]
All tracks are written by Kurt Wagner, except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Old Gold Shoe" | 6:21 | |
2. | "Grumpus" | 4:19 | |
3. | "You Masculine You" | 5:59 | |
4. | "Up with People" | 5:59 | |
5. | "Nashville Parent" | 5:38 | |
6. | "What Else Could It Be?" | 3:38 | |
7. | "The Distance from Her to There" | 4:20 | |
8. | "The Book I Haven't Read" |
| 5:44 |
9. | "The Petrified Florist" | 4:52 | |
10. | " The Butcher Boy" | Traditional | 2:54 |
Total length: | 49:44 |
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. [25]
Lambchop
Additional musicians
Production
Design
Chart (2000) | Peak position |
---|---|
Norwegian Albums ( VG-lista) [26] | 27 |
Scottish Albums ( OCC) [27] | 98 |
UK Albums ( OCC) [6] | 60 |
UK Independent Albums ( OCC) [28] | 7 |
{{
cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)