Wikipedia

People (Babe the Blue Ox album)

People is an album by the American band Babe the Blue Ox, released in 1996.[2][3] Like the band's other releases, the album title shares a name with a Barbra Streisand record.[4]

People
Studio album by
Babe the Blue Ox
Released1996
LabelRCA[1]
ProducerEd Stasium
Babe the Blue Ox chronology
Color Me Babe
(1994) 		People
(1996) 		The Way We Were
(1998)

The album's first single was "Stand by Your Man".[5] Babe promoted People by touring with Cibo Matto.[6]

Production edit

People was produced by Ed Stasium.[7] The band signed with RCA in order to obtain a budget that would allow them to make their version of a pop album.[8] Babe's singer and guitar player Tim Thomas employed at least 15 different guitars during the making of the album.[9] Bass player Rose Thomson decided to employ basic bass lines, complementing the songs rather than attempting wild improvisations.[10]

Critical reception edit

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [11]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide     [12]
The San Diego Union-Tribune    [13]

Trouser Press wrote that, "if People attracts new fans who won’t care much for the band’s trickier back catalogue, it’s clear that the same wry intelligence and highly individual musical ambition is at work both here and there."[14] The Salt Lake Tribune considered the album "edgy, yet filled with melodic, funky and odd rhythms."[5] The San Diego Union-Tribune called it "a bit too artsy for its own good."[13]

The Dayton Daily News deemed the album a "collection of fractured pop and funk-inspired punk that is bound by a certain sense of controlled experimentation."[15] Guitar Player thought that "Babe delivers complex arrangements, saturated guitar riffs and odd-meter grooves with an organic yet menacing feel."[16] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch opined that "the best moments on the album are when the songs shift from experimental to infectious; on 'Stand by Your Man' when relentless drumming and driving guitar stop building tension and swizzle in and out of a soothing melody."[17]

In a retrospective article, The Village Voice called the album "gritty but glistening," writing that Babe "specialized in booming noise-pop rants awe-inspiring in both girth and mirth—1996’s 'Fuck This Song', a delirious, profane anthem delivered in a crisp 1:41, sums their range up excellently, the whispers to the unhinged screams, the cacophonic riffs to the subtle pop sensibilities."[18]

Track listing edit

No.TitleLength
1."Can't Stand Up" 
2."Stand by Your Man" 
3."Rube Goldberg" 
4."Beat You to It" 
5."Fuck This Song" 
6."Breathe" 
7."Family Picnic" 
8."Resume" 
9."I'm Wrong" 
10."Shunpiking" 
11."Just Checking" 
12."Memphis" 

Personnel edit

  • Hanna Fox - drums
  • Tim Thomas - vocals, guitar
  • Rose Thomson - bass

References edit

  1. ^ "Babe the Blue Ox". Perfect Sound Forever. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  2. ^ "Babe the Blue Ox Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  3. ^ Blush, Steven (October 4, 2016). New York Rock: From the Rise of the Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-250-08362-3. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  4. ^ Manes, Billy. "Pop trio follows heard instinct". Orlando Weekly. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  5. ^ a b Renzhoffer, Martin (17 May 1996). "Babe the Blue Ox Finds Happiness as Small Band with a Large Label". The Salt Lake Tribune. p. E12.
  6. ^ Rodriguez, Kenn (24 May 1996). "N.Y.C.-Based Box Deserves Respect, Too". Albuquerque Journal. p. E21.
  7. ^ Masley, Ed (March 20, 1997). "Babe the Blue Ox Having a Blast". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. F3.
  8. ^ Duda, S. (26 Jun 1996). "Babe the Blue Ox". The Rocket. p. 14.
  9. ^ Vaziri, Aidin (Nov 1996). "Babe the Blue Ox: 6-string smorgasgored". Guitar Player. Vol. 30, no. 11. p. 23.
  10. ^ Leigh, Bill (Nov 1996). "BassNotes: Rose Thomson". Bass Player. Vol. 7, no. 11. pp. 18, 20.
  11. ^ "People". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2019-12-16. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  12. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 57.
  13. ^ a b Niesel, Jeff (June 20, 1996). "Album Reviews". Entertainment. The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. 15.
  14. ^ "Babe the Blue Ox". Trouser Press. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  15. ^ Simmons, Carol (21 Mar 1997). "Music Is Their Business". Go!. Dayton Daily News. p. 18.
  16. ^ Gore, Joe; Rotondi, James (Oct 1996). "Babe the Blue Ox, People, RCA". Guitar Player. Vol. 30, no. 10. p. 109.
  17. ^ Shapiro, Samantha M. (11 July 1996). "Music". Get Out. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 8.
  18. ^ "The Main Event". The Village Voice. May 22, 2007. Archived from the original on September 15, 2018. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
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