My Way or the Highway (Tuscadero album)
My Way or the Highway | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1998 | |||
Genre | Indie rock | |||
Label | Teen Beat/Elektra[1] | |||
Producer | Keith Cleversley | |||
Tuscadero chronology | ||||
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My Way or the Highway is an album by the American indie rock band Tuscadero, released in 1998.[2][3] The first single was "Paper Dolls".[4] The band supported the album with a North American tour.[5]
Production
[edit]The album was produced by Keith Cleversley.[6] Tuscadero devoted more time to constructing the songs, while also attempting to avoid creating an overly slick record.[7] Guitar players Melissa Farris and Margaret McCartney employed fuzz tones on the album and also made use of technically inferior, "trashy" sound equipment.[8] "Tickled Pink" is about binge drinking.[9]
Critical reception
[edit]Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [10] |
Robert Christgau | [11] |
Entertainment Weekly | B+[12] |
Knoxville News Sentinel | [13] |
San Francisco Examiner | [14] |
The Washington Post thought that "the band's appeal does get lost in the ornate production of a few of these tracks, notably the over-orchestrated 'Dr. Doom' and the anti-super model 'Paper Dolls', which rides its funky sax sound to the six-minute mark."[15] Robert Christgau praised the "songcraft as end-in-itself."[11] Newsday noted that the album "abandons some of the kitsch of its previous effort for stern, often angry lyrics."[16]
Tulsa World called the album "fun, gritty pop," noting Farris's "reverence for the Pretenders/Blondie ethos."[17] Entertainment Weekly opined that "sonic departures like the slinky antifashion anthem 'Paper Dolls' and the flamboyantly James Bondish 'Dr. Doom' neatly transcend alt-guitar-rock limitations."[12] The Dayton Daily News wrote: "Meaty hooks and solid crunch back up songs that mostly pick on campus rock-band preptiles who overindulge in, um, passably clever pop-cultural strip mining."[18]
AllMusic wrote that the "heady concoction of fizzy pop hooks, teen melodrama, slamming punk, and misfit glee makes My Way or the Highway an intoxicating punk-pop rush."[10]
Track listing
[edit]No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Queen for a Day" | |
2. | "Paper Dolls" | |
3. | "Freak Magnet" | |
4. | "Not My Johnny" | |
5. | "Hot Head" | |
6. | "Tiny Shiny Boyfriend" | |
7. | "Dr. Doom" | |
8. | "Tickled Pink" | |
9. | "Evil Eye" | |
10. | "You Got Your Pride" | |
11. | "Cathy Ray" | |
12. | "Liquid Center" | |
13. | "Temper Temper" | |
14. | "Mutiny" |
References
[edit]- ^ "Tuscadero". Trouser Press. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ "Tuscadero Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
- ^ Kearney, Mary Celeste (July 13, 2017). Gender and Rock. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Horvitt, Mark (19 Apr 1998). "Music". Columbia Daily Tribune. p. 3E.
- ^ Cristiano, Nick (10 Apr 1998). "And Then There's...". Features Weekend. The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 19.
- ^ DeRogatis, Jim (September 25, 1998). "Show time – Clubs feel heat of fall". Weekend Plus. Chicago Sun-Times. p. 5.
- ^ "Tuscadero in the Pink with New Album, 'My Way'". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ Swenson, Kyle (Jul 1998). "Tuscadero". Guitar Player. Vol. 32, no. 7. pp. 51–52.
- ^ "Tuscadero, My Way or the Highway". The Pantagraph. 1 May 1998. p. D6.
- ^ a b "My Way or the Highway". AllMusic.
- ^ a b "Tuscadero: My Way or the Highway". Robert Christgau.
- ^ a b "My Way or the Highway". Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ Campbell, Chuck (April 24, 1998). "Tuscadero finds joy on the 'Highway'". Knoxville News Sentinel. p. T10.
- ^ Vaziri, Aidin (12 Apr 1998). "Tuscadero, My Way or the Highway". Datebook. San Francisco Examiner. p. 47.
- ^ "Tuscadero 'My Way or the Highway'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ Johnson, Martin (16 Apr 1998). "Hard-Driving Rock Steering to Tramps". Newsday. p. C5.
- ^ "Reviews of Recently Released CDs". Tulsa World. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ Rollins, Ron (15 May 1998). "Recordings in Brief". Go!. Dayton Daily News. p. 19.