''West'' is the fourth solo album by the
American Music Club
American Music Club was an American, San Francisco-based indie rock band, led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. Formed in 1983, the band released seven albums before splitting up in 1995. They reformed in 2003 and released two further albums.
...
singer/songwriter
Mark Eitzel
Mark Eitzel (born January 30, 1959) is an American musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club.
Biography
Eitzel spent his formative years in a military family living in Okinawa, Taiwan, Ohi ...
, released by Warner Bros. Records in 1997. It includes songs co-written and produced by the
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...
guitarist
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his ca ...
from October 15 to October 17, 1996.
Critical reception
The ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' wrote that "with Buck producing and co-writing ''West'', Eitzel has never been part of such an overtly inviting pop album."
Track listing
All songs written by Buck and Eitzel, except where noted:
#"If You Have to Ask" – 4:20
#"Free of Harm" – 3:21
#"Helium" – 5:25
#"Stunned & Frozen" – 5:10
#"Then It Really Happens" – 4:28
#"In Your Life" – 4:04
#"Lower Eastside Tourist" – 3:49
#"Three Inches of Wall" – 4:48
#"Move Myself Ahead" – 3:35
#"Old Photographs" – 5:22
#"Fresh Screwdriver" – 3:59
#"Live or Die" (Eitzel) – 5:14
Personnel
*
Mark Eitzel
Mark Eitzel (born January 30, 1959) is an American musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club.
Biography
Eitzel spent his formative years in a military family living in Okinawa, Taiwan, Ohi ...
–
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
on "Live or Die",
string arrangements on "If You Have to Ask"
*
Steve Berlin
Steven M. Berlin (born September 14, 1955, Philadelphia) is an American saxophonist, keyboardist and record producer, best known as a member of the rock group Los Lobos and, before that, Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, the Blasters, and the Fles ...
–
fuzz bass
Fuzz bass is a style of playing the electric bass or modifying its signal that produces a buzzy, distorted, overdriven sound, as the name implies. Overdriving a bass signal significantly changes the timbre, adds higher overtones (harmonics) ...
on "Old Photographs", piano on "Helium"
*
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his ca ...
– guitar,
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
on "Live or Die"
*
Bruce Kaphan – string arrangements on "If You Have to Ask"
*
Barrett Martin
Barrett Martin (born April 14, 1967) is an American record producer, percussionist, writer, and ethnomusicologist from Washington. As a producer he has won one Latin Grammy and has been nominated in two other categories. As an ethnomusicologist ...
–
drums,
acoustic bass guitar
The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar ...
,
bass marimba, vibes,
tabla
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబలఠ...
s,
conga,
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
*
Scott McCaughey
Scott Lewis McCaughey is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5. He was also an auxiliary member of the American rock band R.E.M. from 199 ...
–
electric bass
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...
, organ,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
,
slide guitar
*
Mike McCready
Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band. McCready ...
– guitar on "Fresh Screwdriver"
*
Skerik
Skerik is an American saxophonist from Seattle, Washington. Performing on the tenor and baritone saxophone, often with electronics and loops, he is a pioneer in a playing style that has been called saxophonics.
He is a founding member of Critt ...
–
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
,
organ,
baritone saxophone
See also
*''
The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy
''The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy'' is an album by American rock band The Minus 5. Their final release of new material for Hollywood Records, it was released in 1997. The album was met with positive reception from critics.
Recording and release ...
'', a studio album by
The Minus 5
The Minus 5 is an American pop rock band headed by musician Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows, often in partnership with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.
Band history
McCaughey formed the band in 1993 as a side project with Buck, Jon Auer ...
featuring many of the same musicians and recorded at the same time as ''West''
References
External links
"Power Trio" in the ''
Phoenix New Times
''Phoenix New Times'' is a free digital and print media company based in Phoenix, Arizona. ''New Times'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue ...
'' (July 12, 1997)
{{Authority control
1997 albums
Albums produced by Peter Buck
Mark Eitzel albums
Warner Records albums