''Keep It Like a Secret'' is the fourth studio album released by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band Built to Spill, and their second for

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. The initial tracks for the album were recorded in November 1997 at

Bear Creek Studio Bear Creek Studio is a residential recording studio located in Woodinville, Washington, situated in a barn on a 10 acre farm. Known for its "rural farmhouse" location, a number of artists have recorded at the studio, including: Brandi Carlile, T ...

s in Woodinville, Washington by Phil Ek, with overdubs recorded on mid-1998 at Avast! Recording Co. in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. ''Keep It Like a Secret'' was released on February 2, 1999. The album spawned two EPs: '' Carry the Zero'' and ''Center of the Universe''.

Background

After feeling burned out from constructing the lengthy songs on his previous album, ''

Perfect from Now On ''Perfect from Now On'' is the third full-length album released by Built to Spill, and the band's first major label (Warner Bros.) release. It was recorded at the Avast! Recording Company in Seattle, Washington by Phil Ek. Stylistically, the album ...

'',

Doug Martsch Doug Martsch (born September 16, 1969) is an American singer and musician. He is best known for his distinctive vocals and guitar playing style in the band Built to Spill. Career Martsch's first band was Farm Days, with Andy Capps and Brett Nels ...

made a conscious decision to write shorter, more concise songs for ''Keep It Like a Secret''.

Recording

Many of the songs on the album originated from a week's worth of band jam sessions in Boise. During these marathon jam sessions, which could last up to five hours at a time, Martsch used a foot pedal that triggered a tape machine to begin recording. He would later comb through the hours of recorded music and find parts that he liked, methodically building them into songs. The song "You Were Right" features a collage of famous lyrics from songs by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

You Can't Always Get What You Want "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones on their 1969 album ''Let It Bleed''. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was named as the 100th greatest song of all time by ''Rolling Stone'' ...

"),

The Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...

(" The End"),

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

(" Manic Depression"),

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is a song written by American musician and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962 and recorded later that year for his second album, ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' (1963). Its lyrical structure is modeled after ...

"),

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

Three Little Birds "Three Little Birds" is a song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It is the fourth track on side two of their 1977 album ''Exodus'' and was released as a single in 1980. The song reached the Top 20 in the UK, peaking at number 17. It is one of Marl ...

"),

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

Stairway to Heaven "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy Page and lead singer Robert Plant for their untitled fourth studio album (often titled ''Led Zeppelin IV'') ...

"),

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Dust in the Wind "Dust in the Wind" is a song recorded by American progressive rock band Kansas and written by band member Kerry Livgren, first released on their 1977 album ''Point of Know Return''. The song peaked at No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 the wee ...

"),

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, break ...

(" Against the Wind"), and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

(" Another Brick in the Wall"). "You Were Right" almost didn't make the album due to perceived copyright issues. At the last minute,

secured permission for the band to use the lyrics. In a 1999 interview with ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', Martsch described how he wrote the song: "...I came up with the chorus, 'You were wrong when you said, 'Everything's gonna be all right,' and then I decided the verse would be, 'You were right when you said...' something more pessimistic. And then I knew immediately that it was going to be a bunch of clichés, and I decided to use other people's clichés."

Reception

''Keep It Like a Secret'' received mostly positive reviews when it was first released. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the album has a score of 79 out of 100, indicating "generally positive reviews." '' Pitchfork''s Jason Josephes praised the album, writing "at the risk of hopping on a cliché wagon, I think I'm gonna tell all my friends about Built to Spill." In another positive review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

called ''Keep It Like a Secret'' "the most immediate and, yes, accessible Built to Spill record," writing that the band "embraced the sounds of a big studio and focused their sound without sacrificing their fractured indie rock aesthetic." Kim Stitzel of

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

called the album "a great (and different) Built to Spill record, proudly displaying its strengths and reveling in its uniqueness even while making concessions to a changing world." Christopher Hess of ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' wrote that Doug Martsch's "guitar vocabulary ..gives 'Center of the Universe' an intrinsically bright tone, and infuses 'Else' with stunning beauty," while praising Scott Plouf's drumming as being "spot on throughout, providing active punctuation for the multiple layers of guitar." ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

''s Will Hermes also praised Martsch's guitar playing, writing that "Martsch is still ..making the most beautiful baroque electric guitar murals in modern rock.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) 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 ...

gave the album a two-star honorable mention rating and selected "You Were Right" and "Center of the Universe" as highlights. Not all contemporary reviews were positive. ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' called ''Keep It Like a Secret'' "pure BTS, but without enough sparkle or rough-hewn beauty to be memorable." In another mixed review, '' Q'' wrote, "Built to Spill sound as if they're trying too hard, and ultimately both

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (keyb ...

and

Mercury Rev Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York.
Original personnel were

Legacy

In 1999, '' Pitchfork'' ranked the album at number 41 on their "Top Albums of the 90s" list. In a retrospective review published in 2013, Kevin McFarland of ''

'' called the album "perhaps the best encapsulation of the band's oeuvre and the ever-simmering public response in a single phrase."

Track listing

All songs written by Built to Spill except "Broken Chairs," which includes lyrics by the poet Uhuru Black.

Personnel

Built to Spill

– lead vocals, guitar, producer *

Brett Nelson Brett Nelson (born 1969) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter best known as the former bassist for the indie rock band Built to Spill. In high school, Nelson played in a band called Farm Days along with Doug Martsch and ...

– bass * Scott Plouf – drums

Additional musicians

* Sam Coomes –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

on "Broken Chairs" * Jim Roth – guitar

Production

* Phil Ek – producer, engineer * Steve Fallone – mastering * Zack Reinig – engineer assistant * Scott Norton, Juan Garcia – mixing assistant * Jeff Smith – photography * Tae Won Yu – design, art direction

External links

Interview about the making of Keep It Like a Secret

References

{{Authority control 1999 albums Built to Spill albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Phil Ek Albums recorded at Bear Creek Studio Dream pop albums by American artists