One Sock Missing

For the lost item of clothing, see Missing sock.

One Sock Missing
Studio album by Grifters
Released	1993
Recorded	1992, The Flower Shop & Easley McCain Recording, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre	Indie Rock, lo-fi
Length	44:59 (CD)
Label	Shangri-La Records Shangri-La 004
Producer	The Grifters & Shangri-La Records
Grifters chronology
So Happy Together (1992) One Sock Missing (1993) Crappin' You Negative (1994)

One Sock Missing is the second album by the American band the Grifters, released in 1993 on Shangri-La Records.[1][2] The album was an underground hit.[3] It was reissued by Fat Possum Records in 2016.[4]

Production

The album was in part recorded at Easley McCain Recording, in Memphis, Tennessee.[5] "I Arise" is a bonus track on the vinyl format of the album.[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]

Trouser Press wrote that "Shouse and Taylor (who split vocals) often slip into a laconic saunter that’s a little too close for comfort to Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus’ slacker slump."[8] Billboard called "Corolla Hoist" "one of the great lofi singles."[9] The Staten Island Advance praised the band's "process of chopping, skewing, rearranging and mixing the standard formulas of various musical genres into a whole new ball of wax."[10]

AllMusic stated: "Certainly the most low-key (if not lo-fi) of the Grifters' early records, 1993's One Sock Missing is less noisy and aggressive than its immediate predecessor, So Happy Together."[7] Magnet noted: "Few indie-rock groups of this time pulled off such an emotionally cathartic and powerful mix of desperate darkness, dynamic heaviness, convincingly abstract drug-influenced weirdness, unbelievably infectious and gorgeous hooks, real wall-shredding sheets of noise and discordance, and low-key every-guy approachability."[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Stank Gallimore, Tripp Lampshade, Diamond Dave Shouse and Slim Taylor

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Bummer"	Diamond Dave Shouse	2:53
2.	"She Blows Blasts of Static"	Diamond Dave Shouse	4:04
3.	"Shark"	Slim Taylor	4:16
4.	"Teenage Jesus"	Tripp Lampshade	3:02
5.	"Side"	Slim Taylor	2:50
6.	"#1"	Diamond Dave Shouse	1:16
7.	"Tupelo Moan"	Diamond Dave Shouse	5:06
8.	"Wonder"	Slim Taylor	1:20
9.	"Corolla Hoist"	Diamond Dave Shouse	4:02
10.	"Encrusted"	Slim Taylor/Diamond Dave Shouse	2:19
11.	"The Casual Years"	Diamond Dave Shouse	3:19
12.	"Sain"	Slim Taylor	2:28
13.	"Just Passing Out"	Diamond Dave Shouse	3:21
14.	"I Arise"	Slim Taylor	4:35
Total length:			44:59

Album credits

Grifters

credited as

• Stank Gallimore
• Tripp Lampshade
• Diamond Dave Shouse
• Slim Taylor

Additional musicians

Greg Easterly (Compulsive Gamblers) – Violins and Bass on Wonder

Skronkadelic Orchestra Unlimited on I Arise

• Jack Adcock – Gourd
• Jimmy Enck – Sax in Tune
• Robert Gordon – Jamming Untensil
• Fields Trimble (Compulsive Gamblers) – Saxophone

sitting in

• Jim Cole – Kwirrr Machine
• Sherman Willmott (Shangri-La Records) – Bike Horn
• Roy Berry (The Simple Ones)

Additional credits

• Largely recorded at the Flower Shop by Roy Berry
• Additional recording and mixing at Easley Studios by Doug Easley & Davis McCain
• Album and disc art by Roy Berry
• Cover drawing by Tripp Lamkins
• Cover design by Paul W. Ringger XXIV
• Paintings of the Grifters as a young band by Kelly
• Cover production by Towery Publishing

References

1. "Grifters Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
2. Unsworth, Cathy (Jun 26, 1993). "Put a sock in it". Melody Maker. 69 (26): 29.
3. Valania, Jonathan (July 23, 1994). "IT'S NOT LACK OF CONFIDENCE THAT MAKES THE GRIFTERS WANT TO HIDE". The Morning Call. p. A57.
4. "Grifters Reissues". The Commercial Appeal. 26 Feb 2016. p. G6.
5. Earles, Andrew (September 15, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. Voyageur Press. ISBN 9781627883795 – via Google Books.
6. Davis, Erik (Aug 1993). "Spins". Spin. 9 (5): 86.
7. "Grifters - One Sock Missing Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
8. "Grifters". Trouser Press. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
9. Bambarger, Bradley (Sep 27, 1997). "Grifters give weight to Indie rock scene". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 39. pp. 11, 108.
10. Wright, Tom (November 28, 1993). "GRIFTERS' 'ONE SOCK MISSING' A GEM". Staten Island Advance. p. E3.
11. "Essential New Music: Grifters' "One Sock Missing" And "Crappin' You Negative"". Magnet. September 8, 2016.