''Plays Pretty for Baby'' is the second

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

punk rock band

Nation of Ulysses The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kroner ...

. Tracks 14-16 on the CD are not on the original album, and are taken from the 7" EP ''Birth of the Ulysses Aesthetic''. "The Sound of Jazz to Come" and "50,000 Watts of Goodwill" reference the opening track of ''

A Love Supreme ''A Love Supreme'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Ga ...

'' by John Coltrane in their respective openings, while the former references the similarly titled

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...

album, ''

The Shape of Jazz to Come ''The Shape of Jazz to Come'' is the third album by jazz musician Ornette Coleman. Released on Atlantic Records in 1959, it was his debut on the label and his first album featuring the working quartet including himself, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassi ...

''. The album's first track begins with a live reading from

Thus Spoke Zarathustra ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None'' (german: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen), also translated as ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', is a work of philosophical fiction written by German philosopher Friedrich Niet ...

To you the bold and foolish lambs. To you who are intoxicated with riddles, let's go. Who take pleasure in twilight. Whose souls are lured by noise to every treacherous abyss. For you do not feel for a rope like cowards, and where you can guess you hate to calculate. And where others would poison, you dismember.

Track listing

#"N-Sub Ulysses" − 3:32 #"A Comment on Ritual" − 2:27 #"The Hickey Underworld" − 2:50 #"Perpetual Motion Machine" − 2:33 #"N.O.U. Future Vision Hypothesis" − 3:09 #"50,000 Watts of Goodwill" − 4:05 #"Maniac Dragstrip" − 2:59 #"Last Train to Cool" − 3:27 #"Shakedown" − 3:27 #"Mockingbird, Yeah!" − 2:59 #"Depression III" − 3:27 #"S.S. Exploder" − 2:27 #"The Kingdom of Heaven Must Be Taken by Storm" − 2:12 #"The Sound of Jazz to Come" − 4:42 #"N.O.U.S.P.T.D.A." − 2:51 #"Presidents of Vice" − 2:35

Personnel

;Nation of Ulysses *

James Canty James Canty is a Brooklyn, New York-based multi-instrumentalist musician from Washington, D.C. Canty is currently known for playing guitar in the band Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and guitar and keyboard with The Make-Up. Before forming The Mak ...

- "The Exploder" (drums) * Steve Gamboa - "The Grumbler and sometimes the Mumbler" (bass) * Tim Green - "The Squealer and the Crackler" (guitar) * Steve Kroner - "The Scraper and the Howler" (guitar) *

Ian Svenonius Ian F Svenonius is an American musician and singer of various Washington, D.C.-based punk bands including Nation of Ulysses, the Make-Up, Weird War, XYZ, Escape-ism, and Chain and the Gang. Between his numerous projects, Svenonius has releas ...

- "The Sobber, the Roarer, the Hisser, and the Whisperer" (vocals, trumpet) ;Background vocals, credited as the "Doo-Wop Assembly" *

Brendan Canty Brendan John Canty (born March 9, 1966, in Teaneck, New Jersey) is an American musician, composer, producer and film maker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi. In 2007, ''Stylus Magazine'' ranked Canty at #29 on the list of "50 Gre ...

Guy Picciotto Guy Charles Picciotto ( ) (born September 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC. He is best known as the guitarist and vocalist in Fugazi and Rites of Spring. Career Rites of Spring ...

Alec MacKaye Alec MacKaye (born 1966) is an American singer and musician best known as a member of the DC hardcore bands Untouchables, The Faith, and Ignition. In the mid-1990s Alec joined the band The Warmers as a vocalist and guitarist. ''Mondo James Dea ...

Billy Karren William Francis Karren is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist of the punk/ riot grrrl band Bikini Kill, formed by Kathleen Hanna, with Karren, Tobi Vail and Kathi Wilcox. He was also active in many other music projects, includi ...

Kathi Wilcox Kathi Lynn Wilcox (born November 19, 1969) is an American musician. She is the bass player in the Julie Ruin and has been in bands such as Bikini Kill, the Casual Dots, and the Frumpies. Music Wilcox attended The Evergreen State College where s ...

Kathleen Hanna Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American singer, musician, artist, feminist activist, pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. In the early-to-mid-1990s she was the lead singer of feminist punk band ...

Tobi Vail Tobi Celeste Vail (born July 20, 1969) is an American independent musician, music critic and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington. She was a central figure in the riot grrl scene—she coined the spelling of "grrl"—and she started the zi ...

; Production *

Ian MacKaye Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (; born April 16, 1962) is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label and the frontman of hardcore punk ...

- producer *

Don Zientara Don Zientara ( ) is an American record producer and musician. He owns and runs Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, located just outside Washington D.C., and is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Minor Threat and various ...

- engineering

References

1992 albums Dischord Records albums The Nation of Ulysses albums {{1990s-punk-album-stub