''One Sock Missing'' is the second album by the American band the Grifters, released in 1993 on

Shangri-La Records Shangri-La Projects is a record label in Memphis, Tennessee that grew out of and split off from the Shangri-la Record store in Memphis, Tennessee, and released several of the seminal records of the early 1990s Memphis indie scene. It also manufa ...

. The album was an underground hit. It was reissued by

Fat Possum Records Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...

in 2016.

Production

The album was in part recorded at

Easley McCain Recording Easley McCain Recording is an American recording studio, based in Memphis, Tennessee, notable for recording musicians such as Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Oblivians, Grifters, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Come, White Stripes, Townes Van Zandt, Pezz, Je ...

, in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. "I Arise" is a bonus track on the vinyl format of the album.

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 "Shouse and Taylor (who split vocals) often slip into a laconic saunter that’s a little too close for comfort to Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus’ slacker slump." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' called "Corolla Hoist" "one of the great lofi singles." The ''

Staten Island Advance The ''Staten Island Advance'' is a daily newspaper published in the borough of Staten Island in New York City. The only daily newspaper published in the borough, and the only major daily paper focused on a borough, it covers news of local and ...

'' praised the band's "process of chopping, skewing, rearranging and mixing the standard formulas of various musical genres into a whole new ball of wax."

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 ...

stated: "Certainly the most low-key (if not lo-fi) of the Grifters' early records, 1993's ''One Sock Missing'' is less noisy and aggressive than its immediate predecessor, ''So Happy Together''." ''

Magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

'' noted: "Few indie-rock groups of this time pulled off such an emotionally cathartic and powerful mix of desperate darkness, dynamic heaviness, convincingly abstract drug-influenced weirdness, unbelievably infectious and gorgeous hooks, real wall-shredding sheets of noise and discordance, and low-key every-guy approachability."

Track listing

Album credits

Grifters

''credited as'' * Stank Gallimore * Tripp Lampshade * Diamond Dave Shouse * Slim Taylor

Additional musicians

Greg Easterly (Compulsive Gamblers) – Violins and Bass on ''Wonder'' ''Skronkadelic Orchestra Unlimited'' on ''I Arise'' * Jack Adcock – Gourd * Jimmy Enck – Sax in Tune * Robert Gordon – Jamming Untensil * Fields Trimble ( Compulsive Gamblers) – Saxophone ''sitting in'' * Jim Cole – Kwirrr Machine * Sherman Willmott (

) – Bike Horn * Roy Berry (The Simple Ones)

Additional credits

* Largely recorded at the Flower Shop by Roy Berry * Additional recording and mixing at Easley Studios by Doug Easley & Davis McCain * Album and disc art by Roy Berry * Cover drawing by Tripp Lamkins * Cover design by Paul W. Ringger XXIV * Paintings of the Grifters as a young band by Kelly * Cover production by Towery Publishing

References

{{Authority control Grifters (band) albums 1993 albums