''Breakfast with Girls'' is the fourth studio album by

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band

Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhoo ...

, released in 1999. The album was highly anticipated, being the first

album released on a major label since their debut album, '' Subliminal Plastic Motives''.

Production

Working with a larger budget now that the band was on DreamWorks Records, the album featured an impressive roster of production credits, including: Richard Dodd, a Grammy-Award winning engineer;

Hugh Padgham Hugh Charles Padgham (born 15 February 1955) is an English record producer and audio engineer. He has won four Grammy Awards, for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year for 1985, Record of the Year for 1990, and Engineer of the Year for 199 ...

, a legendary British producer; and

Ken Andrews Ken Andrews (born Kenneth Andrew Doty; June 18, 1967) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Andrews was born in Seattle, Washington, and attended film school in Los Angeles before his band Failure received a record de ...

of Failure. The sessions took place at

Ocean Way Studios Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

in Nashville, with additional tracking done at The Bennett House in

Franklin, TN Franklin is a city in and county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454. ...

and Mahaffey's house in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. "Uno Song" and "Suzie Q Sailaway" were last minute additions to the album - both had originally been recorded for inclusion on '' Gizmodgery''.

Reception

The album wasn't well-received upon release, in part due to the delays in its release, but also because of the drastic change in style from its predecessor. Rather than the more rock-oriented approach of the debut, ''Breakfast with Girls'' saw lead singer/songwriter Matt Mahaffey focusing on the more experimental sides of his music. The change confused many fans, and the critical response was mixed, with some praising him for his bold, disciplined, do-it-yourself indie aesthetic, while other critics felt the record was too cold and calculated—something that could only be enjoyed at a distance. Despite the lukewarm reception, many of the band's fans now consider ''Breakfast with Girls'' to be Self's masterpiece, citing its quirky songwriting and diversity as reasons. It contains a wide variety of styles ranging from industrial, funk, and hip-hop to blues, jazz, and orchestral pop. The album also contains a few slightly more conventional pop/rock songs.

Release

In addition to CD, the album was also released on Vinyl with bonus tracks, and as a limited edition CD, which had a full 12 page booklet of artwork done by Brian Botcher. People who pre-ordered the album also received an EP,

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, and there was a vinyl release of the album, with the Brunch EP and two other songs added as bonus tracks. Both of these items are now amongst the most highly sought after Self items, though all the bonus tracks are available online as downloads. The album produced one single, the bouncy pop song "Meg Ryan", but like its parent album it didn't see much success. The song "Paint by Numbers" was featured in the movie ''

Dead Man on Campus ''Dead Man on Campus'' is a 1998 black comedy film starring Tom Everett Scott and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. It centers on the urban legend that a student gets straight As if their roommate commits suicide (''see'' pass by catastrophe). Two failing ...

'' and its soundtrack.

Track listing

CD

Vinyl edition

Personnel

*Vocals - Matt Mahaffey *Bass, Double Bass, Harmonica, Trombone - Mac Burrus *Drums, Percussion - Jason Rawlings *Guitar, Bass, Xylophone - Mike Mahaffey *Piano, Xylophone - Chris James *Strings - The Nashville String Machine (tracks: 7, 13) *Horns - David Jellema (tracks: 11) *Saxophone - Richard Griffith (tracks: 9) *Other (Various instruments) - Matt Mahaffey

Production

*Writer - Matt Mahaffey *Producer - Matt Mahaffey *Executive Producer - Richard Williams *Mastering - Bob Ludwig *Mixing - Hugh Padgham (tracks: 1-3, 6-13), Csaba Petocz (tracks: 4), Matt Mahaffey (tracks: 5) *Engineer - Bobby Dufresne Jr., Chris James, Jeff Balding, Joe Baldridge, Ken Andrews, Matt Mahaffey, Richard Dodd, Shawn McLean *Engineer (Assistant) - Aaron Swihart, Brian Garten, Glenn Spinner, Joe Costa, John Saylor *Arranged (Strings) - Chuck Lee (tracks: 7), Chris McDonald (tracks: 13) *Engineer (Strings) - Allen Sides (tracks: 7), Shawn McLean (tracks: 13) *Co-producer - Ken Andrews (tracks: 13) {{Authority control 1999 albums Self (band) albums DreamWorks Records albums