''Harmacy'' is the sixth album by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band Sebadoh. It was released by

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

in 1996. It is the second and final Sebadoh album to feature drummer

Bob Fay Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

, who replaced founding member Eric Gaffney in 1994. The album cover features a photograph of a

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

in Cashel, Ireland, taken by band member Jason Loewenstein on tour. The missing "P" gave the album its title.

Music

As with its predecessor, '' Bakesale'', the songwriting on ''Harmacy'' was handled primarily by Loewenstein and founding member

Lou Barlow Louis Knox Barlow (born July 17, 1966) is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion, Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock mus ...

, with Fay contributing the lone track, "Sforzando!", and the band covering "I Smell a Rat" by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band The Bags. Their cover was featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 American comedy-thriller film '' Homegrown''. Like ''Bakesale'', the album was a "(relatively) polished production", and featured pervasive use of electric guitars and longer song structures, marking a clear departure from the band's

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

, often acoustic earlier albums like their release, '' Sebadoh III'' (1991). Solo acoustic versions of "On Fire" and " Willing to Wait" were released prior to the album's release, on the 1994 " Rebound" single and the 1995 compilation '' Rare on Air, Volume 2: KCRW Live'', respectively.

Reception

Released in the wake of Barlow's

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

hit, "

Natural One "Natural One" is a song by the band The Folk Implosion. The song was written by Folk Implosion's lead member Lou Barlow and Orbit bassist Wally Gagel, who also produced the song. It was released as a single in 1995, and was featured on the sound ...

", with his band

The Folk Implosion The Folk Implosion is an American band founded in the early 1990s by Lou Barlow and John Davis. It was initially a side-project started by Barlow to explore different territory than that being canvassed with his primary band at the time, Sebadoh. ...

, ''Harmacy'' became Sebadoh's first charting album in the U.S., expanding on the success of ''Bakesale'', and yielding the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

hit, "

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". The album was well received by critics, albeit less so than ''Bakesale''. Stephen Thompson of '' The Onion's'' ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' wrote that ''Harmacy'' "doesn't have ''Bakesale''s considerable staying power as a whole, but the strong balance of soft pop songs ("Too Pure", "Perfect Way", the elegant pop ballad " Willing to Wait") and abrasively punky rock songs ("Love To Fight", "Mind Reader", "Can't Give Up") still holds together somehow." ''Harmacy'' was included on several year-end lists in 1996, including ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' "Ten Best Albums" (#8), the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

''s " Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll" (#36), and the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''s critics' poll (#38).

Proposed reissue

The album was supposed to be reissued in 2011, along with ''Bakesale'', but never was. In a 2012 interview with ''blurredvisionary'', Barlow explained, " ey wanted me to eissue ''Harmacy''and I absolutely don’t want to pursue it at all. I just can’t get excited about that record...I think anyone can find it and I don’t know how we could improve upon it unless we included the b-sides from that time, but the b-sides we did from that time I don’t know they were that great."

Track listing

#"On Fire" (Barlow) – 3:36 #" Prince-S" (Loewenstein) – 2:52 #"

" (Barlow) – 2:46 #"Nothing Like You" (Loewenstein) – 3:09 #"Crystal Gypsy" (Loewenstein) – 1:29 #" Beauty of the Ride" (Barlow) – 2:48 #"Mind Reader" (Loewenstein) – 1:50 #"Sforzando!" (Fay) – 3:30 #" Willing to Wait" (Barlow) – 3:32 #"Hillbilly II" (Loewenstein) – 1:59 #"Zone Doubt" (Loewenstein) – 2:18 #"Too Pure" (Barlow) – 3:46 #"Worst Thing" (Loewenstein) – 2:55 #"Love to Fight" (Loewenstein) – 0:54 #"Perfect Way" (Barlow) – 2:49 #"Can't Give Up" (Loewenstein) – 2:02 #"Open Ended" (Barlow) – 3:28 #"Weed Against Speed" (Barlow) – 2:55 #"I Smell a Rat" (Jon Hardy, Jim Janota, Crispin Wood) – 1:34

Personnel

– lead vocals (tracks 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18), guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18), bass (tracks 2, 4, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16), mellotron (tracks 9, 12, 17), synthesizer (track 1) * Jason Loewenstein – lead vocals (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16), guitar (tracks 2, 4, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16), bass (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 12, 17), drums (tracks 8, 15, 18, 19) *Bob Fay – drums (tracks 1-7, 9-14, 16, 17), bass (tracks 8, 15, 18), lead vocals (track 19) Additional personnel *Mark Perretta – lead guitar and bass (track 19) * Wally Gagel – engineer (tracks 3, 6, 10, 11, 14, 17), mixing (tracks 3, 6, 10, 11, 14) *Eric Masunaga – engineer (tracks 2, 7, 8, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19), mixing (tracks 2, 8, 13, 15, 18, 19) *Tim O'Heir – engineer (tracks 1, 3-6, 9-12, 14, 17), mixing (tracks 1, 3-6, 9-11, 14, 17) *

Bryce Goggin Bryce Goggin is an American record producer and sound engineer. His career began in the early 1990s, working at Baby Monster Studios. He first received note for mixing the album ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'' by Pavement. He has since worked with ...

– mixing (tracks 7, 12, 16) * Charles Peterson – photography

Charts

Album

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmacy 1996 albums Sebadoh albums Sub Pop albums Domino Recording Company albums City Slang albums