''The Law of Things'' is an album by the New Zealand band The Bats, released in 1990. It was released by Mammoth Records in the United States. The track "Smoking Her Wings" was released as a single, and the album peaked at #38 in the New Zealand charts.

Production

The album was recorded at Writhe Recording in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand, toward the end of 1988. It was produced by Brent McLachlan and the band.

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 ...

'' called the album "monumental," writing: "Capturing all the hooky appeal and personal charm of their first records, it updates the recipe with seven years of instrumental mastery and superior sonics." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that "the production is raw; the song structures are almost self-consciously unsophisticated - just jaunty guitar riffs, roughshod 4/4 rhythms and, in the more aggressive tracks, base lines that rumble and swell and even drown out the other instruments."

Track listing

Personnel

*Malcolm Grant - drums *

Paul Kean Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Paul Kean. History Chris Knox was the band's front man and other members wer ...

- bass * Robert Scott - guitar, lead vocals *Kaye Woodward - guitar, vocals Also credited: *

Alastair Galbraith Alastair Galbraith (born 1965) is a New Zealand musician and sound artist from Dunedin. Career Galbraith's first band was The Rip, which he formed with Robbie Muir, and Mathew Ransome and later Jeff Harford (of Bored Games). They released two ...

- violin (tracks: 1, 4 to 8, 12) *Brent McLachlan - engineer, co-producer

References

1990 albums The Bats (New Zealand band) albums Flying Nun Records albums Dunedin Sound albums {{1990s-alt-rock-album-stub