''Friction, Baby'' is an album by

Better Than Ezra Better Than Ezra is an American alternative rock band based in New Orleans, Louisiana, and signed with The End Records. The band formed in 1988 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and consists of Kevin Griffin (vocals and guitar), Tom Drummond (bass g ...

, released in 1996. The album's title comes from a television interview with

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

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 ...

. When asked how he and

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

stayed together for so long, Richards took a long drag from his cigarette and said "friction, baby." This may also be a reference to the fact that the band had replaced its original drummer, Cary Bonnecaze, between the recording of their previous album and this one. The album produced two hits on the Billboard modern rock charts: "

King of New Orleans "King of New Orleans" is the lead single from the 1996 Better Than Ezra studio album, '' Friction, Baby''. It was released as a commercial single in 1996. Reception "King of New Orleans" spent seventeen weeks on the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock Tra ...

" and " Desperately Wanting." "Desperately Wanting" also narrowly missed the Billboard Top 40, peaking at #48. The third and fourth singles, "Long Lost" and "Normal Town," failed to chart.

Critical reception

In its review, ''

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 ...

'' called ''Friction, Baby'' "a batch of low-impact pop cheese that's too mindlessly catchy not to be likable."

Track listing

# "

" – 4:07 # "Rewind" – 3:07 # "Long Lost" – 3:40 # "Normal Town" – 3:39 # "Scared, Are You?" – 4:06 # "Return of the Post Moderns" – 2:54 # "Hung the Moon" – 3:46 # " Desperately Wanting" – 4:37 # "Still Life With Cooley" – 3:58 # "WWOZ" – 4:20 # "Happy Endings" – 2:43 # "Speeding Up to Slow Down" – 4:09 # "At Ch. Degaulle, Etc." – 6:37 #* "Mejor de Ezra" (3:17) starts at 3:20 into the track. On early copies of the album, the hidden track "Mejor de Ezra" is contained in the

pregap The pregap on a Red Book audio CD is the portion of the audio track that precedes "index 01" for a given track in the table of contents (TOC). The pregap ("index 00") is typically two seconds long and usually, but not always, contains silence. Po ...

. Later copies of the album tack this secret track onto the end of the album. All songs were composed by

Kevin Griffin Kevin Michael Griffin (born October 1, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Better Than Ezra. His songs have been performed and recorded by artists such as Taylor ...

Personnel

– Guitar, Vocals * Tom Drummond – Bass *

Travis McNabb Travis Aaron McNabb (born November 18, 1969) is an American drummer and percussionist. McNabb is perhaps best known as a longtime member of the band Better Than Ezra, although he has performed session and touring work with many acts during his c ...

– Drums

Additional personnel

Joan Wasser Joan Wasser (born July 26, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and producer who releases music as Joan As Police Woman. She began her career playing violin with the Dambuilders and played with Black Beetle, Antony and the Johnsons, a ...

– Violin * Peter Holsapple – Piano, Organ, Mandolin * Anthony Dagrade – Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute * Jamil Sharie – Trumpet * Mark Mullins – Trombone * Matthew Perrine – Tuba * Lawrence Sieberth – Piano * James Arthur Payne – Guitar

References

{{Authority control Better Than Ezra albums 1996 albums Elektra Records albums Albums produced by Don Gehman