The Early Four Track Recordings

''The Early Four Track Recordings'' is a compilation album by indie rock band of Montreal. It contains early recordings from the band, with the song titles changed to ones which tell a fictional story about actor Dustin Hoffman eating his bathtub. The album was originally released January 16, 2001, by Kindercore and later reissued by Polyvinyl Record Co. on March 7, 2006.

Background

The album's songs have nothing to do with Dustin Hoffman beyond their track names. The connection to Hoffman is only for humor and to give some coherence to the songs' content. The songs are lo-fi demo recordings made mostly by Barnes alone with a 4-track recorder, drawn together from several different recording sessions.

Style and reception

Per AllMusic's Michelle Cross, the album's "stripped-down indie pop tunes vary in tempo and mood, indicative of the musical and lyrical flexibility that evinBarnes would develop with bandmates in the albums to come", with songs featuring " Beatlesque, slightly off-kilter chord progressions and lyrics established in Of Montreal's charming debut album, '' Cherry Peel''" and "hints at the sweet, wacky instrumentation and subject matter that brought popular and critical success to the band's fourth album, '' The Gay Parade''." The album's "insight into Barnes' early development as an innovative songwriter is generous, but on the whole, ''The Early Four Track Recordings'' does not add tremendous value" to the band's discography.

''Pitchfork''s Matt LeMay wrote that "Sometimes lackluster songwriting aside, ''The Early Four Track Recordings'' is a must for fans anxiously awaiting the upcoming '' Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies'', and a perfectly good starting point for those who might find Of Montreal's over the top pop intimidating", circumventing the "pounding ice cream headache" of their main discography and providing "almost all the goodness with none of the harmful side effects."

''PopMatters''s Patrick Schabe calls the album's guitars "rough, scratchy garage pop chords", says the "rhythm section consists of simplistic and rattling drum patterns" with "little hint of the melodic genius" of Barnes' later work, and calls the lyrics a "decidedly trippy word-jumble pastiche". Schabe concludes by calling the album fascinating for fans and interesting as a historical record, but generally "a sub-lo-fi recording of a guy just beginning to exercise his strengths and not having yet developed an established sense of song."

Car Seat Headrest frontman Will Toledo named ''The Early Four Track Recordings'' as one of the formative influences on his desire to self-record.

Track listing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Early Four Track Recordings
2001 compilation albums
Of Montreal albums
Kindercore Records compilation albums
Polyvinyl Record Co. albums
Indie pop albums by American artists
Lo-fi music albums