''Sha Sha'' is the debut album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

and former

Radish The radish (''Raphanus sativus'') is a flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Its large taproot is commonly used as a root vegetable, although the entire plant is edible and its leaves are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable. Origina ...

member

Ben Kweller Benjamin Lev Kweller (born June 16, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A former member of Radish, Kweller has released six solo albums and appeared on several collaborations. Early life Ben Kweller was born in S ...

. The album was originally composed of outtakes from sessions for Radish's unreleased album ''Discount Fireworks.'' It was self-released by Kweller, via CD-R, in 2000. In 2002, ATO Records released a second version of the album with a radically different track listing featuring many new recordings and songs.

Track listing

All tracks written by Ben Kweller except where noted.

2000 CD-R version (PA 101)

#"Launch Ramp" #"Next Time" #"Drink Me Away" #"How It Should Be (Sha Sha)" (Joe Butcher/Ben Kweller) #"Wasted and Ready" #"In Other Words" #"What It's Like to Live in Commerce" (AKA: "Commerce, TX") #"Silent Scene" #"Girl in Between" #"4.40 (Episode 2)"

2002 ATO Records version (07863 68114-2)

#"How It Should Be (Sha Sha)" – 1:49 (Joe Butcher/Ben Kweller) #"Wasted & Ready" – 3:51 #"Family Tree" – 4:20 #"Commerce, TX" – 3:52 #"In Other Words" – 5:36 #"Walk on Me" – 3:55 #"Make It Up" – 4:50 #"No Reason" – 3:51 #"Lizzy" – 4:06 #"Harriet's Got a Song" – 4:50 #"Falling" – 4:04

2023 20th Anniversary Edition Bonus Discs

Disc 2 (Demos & Outtakes)

#"Falling - Brooklyn Demo" #"Walk on Me - Brooklyn Demo" #"Lizzy - Brooklyn Demo" #"Lizzy - LA Demo" #"Ballad of Wendy Baker - Brooklyn Demo" #"How It Should Be (Sha Sha) - Brooklyn Demo" (Joe Butcher/Ben Kweller) #"Walk on Me - Live at The Double Door" #"Make It Up - Brooklyn Demo" #"No Reason - Brooklyn Demo" #"No Reason (feat. Nils Lofgren) Live at The Marquee"

Disc 3 (B-sides & Rarities)

#"Today" (William Patrick Corgan) #"Psycho Girl" (Michael Donceel & Jonathan Jeter/ Ben Kweller) #"I Have the Power" #"Kokomo (with Adam Green)" (Mike Love/Scott McKenzie/Terry Melcher/John Phillips) #"Debbie Don't Worry Doll" #"My Drug Buddy - Live at The Mercury Lounge" (Evan Griffith Dando) #"SHS-10r" #"It's Up to You" #"It's Up to You (feat. Evan Dando) Live at The Brattle Theatre" #"Undone - The Sweater Song (feat. Juliana Hatfield) Live at Fletchers" (Rivers Cuomo) #"Lollipop" (Julius Dixon/Beverly Ross) #"It's Not Fair"

Personnel

*Ben Kweller – lead vocals, guitar, piano *John Kent – drums (also backing vocals on PA-101 version) *Josh Lattanzi – bass *Debbie Williams – bass (PA-101 version) *Joe Butcher – bass (PA-101 version) *Jane Scarpantoni – string arrangements *Steve Mazur – engineer *Stephen Harris – producer, mixing, engineer *Roger Greenawalt – producer *C. Taylor Crothers – photography *Mike Waring – photography *Liz Smith – photography *Brett – art direction *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...

– mastering

Charts

Album

Singles

References

Ben Kweller albums 2002 debut albums ATO Records albums Self-released albums {{2000s-indie-rock-album-stub