''Little Apocalypse'' is an album by the American band
the Schramms, released in 1994. It was the band's third album, and first to be released in the United States; their first two albums, initially released by a German label, were rereleased in the U.S. in early 1995.
[
The band supported the album by opening for ]Freedy Johnston
Freedy Johnston (born Frederic John Fatzer in 1961) is a New York City–based singer-songwriter originally from Kinsley, Kansas.
Johnston's songs are often about troubled loners, and cover topics like heartbreak, alienation, and disappointm ...
on a North American tour; they also toured with Kate Jacobs
Kate Jacobs (born January 11, 1959, in Alexandria, Virginia, United States) is an American singer-songwriter.
Biography
Jacobs wanted to become a ballet dancer. Her father was in the United States Foreign Service, and she moved to Austria when s ...
.[
]
Production
The album was produced by Dave Schramm, Ron Metz, Al Greller, and Gary Arnold. "Side of the Road" is a cover of the Lucinda Williams song. "A Woman's Name" begins with a line from an Emily Dickinson poem.
Critical reception
''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 ...
'' wrote that "a pair of instrumentals—the slide-driven 'Duck Hunting in Hell' and the acoustic 'Little American Hymn'—stand out for their stylistic variance, an attribute that doesn’t flatter the rest of the album."Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
'' thought that Schramm's "guitar playing soars: complex, often knotty excursions that maintain a balance between the songs' exquisite tunefulness and their tender emotional outlay."
The ''Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' determined that "this is about as close as it comes to country in New York City, where smart lyrics are combined with acoustic twangs that owe more to the Byrds than the Burrito Brothers."The Columbus Dispatch
''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...
'' deemed ''Little Apocalypse'' "a country-inflected folk album featuring terrific originals."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 ...
wrote that "Dave Schramm's guitar playing has, if anything, grown even more striking and inventive, confirming his status as one of America's greatest unsung guitarists."[ '' MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide'' called "Little American Hymn" "one of the most gorgeously introspective instrumentals this side of John Hartford's 'Presbyterian Guitar'."][
]
Track listing
References
{{reflist
1994 albums