Palomine

Not to be confused with Pal o' Mine or Pal-o-mine.
Palomine
Studio album by
Bettie Serveert
Released2 November 1992 (1992-11-02)
StudioSound Enterprise (Weesp)
Genre
Length49:12
Label
Producer
  • Bettie Serveert
  • Frans Hagenaars
  • Edwin "Hank" Heath
Bettie Serveert chronology
Palomine
(1992) 		Lamprey
(1995)
Singles from Palomine
  1. "Tom Boy"
    Released: 1992
  2. "Palomine"
    Released: 1992
  3. "Kid's Allright"
    Released: 1993

Palomine is the debut studio album by Dutch indie rock band Bettie Serveert. It was released on 2 November 1992 by Brinkman Records and Guernica, and by Matador Records in the United States the following year.

Release

Palomine was released on 2 November 1992 by Brinkman Records in Benelux and by the 4AD subsidiary label Guernica in the United Kingdom.[3][4] Upon its release, the album charted at number 43 in the Netherlands.[5] In the United States, it was issued by Matador Records on 7 January 1993.[3][6] Three singles were released from Palomine: "Tom Boy" and "Palomine" in 1992,[7] the second of which reached number 122 on the UK Singles Chart,[8] and "Kid's Allright" in 1993.[7]

On 7 July 2023, Palomine was reissued by Matador for the album's 30th anniversary.[9] The reissue reached a new peak of number 30 in the Netherlands,[5] while also reaching number 177 on the Belgian Flanders albums chart.[10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[11]
CD Review[12]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[2]
NME6/10[13]
PopMatters8/10[14]
Q[15]
Rolling Stone[16]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[17]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[18]
Uncut8/10[19]

Q reviewer Martin Aston commented that Palomine "is produced with a bar band intimacy that amplifies the sparse, roaming spaces at the heart of the music", and that "Carol van Dijk has a vibrant, husky voice, capable of plaintive, precocious passion and gutsy ferverishness".[15] Stephanie Zacharek, writing for CD Review, said that as a vocalist, van Dijk "taps into" the subtleties of her "austere" lyrics and "brings home, in words, the sorts of things that are otherwise best communicated by a wry smile or the flutter of eyelashes."[12] Spin's Jim Greer stated that the album juxtaposes "Van Dijk's suspiciously accurate Long Island-inflected langour with the slow, intense sloppiness of the band to form one glorious mess of sound", while also finding Bettie Serveert's songwriting remarkably mature for an indie rock band.[1] In The New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote that the band's songs "echo the clear-cut melodies and verbal directness of Neil Young and the garage-rock scruffiness of his collegiate-rock heirs, like Dinosaur Jr."[20]

Palomine placed at number 15 in The Village Voice's 1993 year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll.[21] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, awarded it a "two-star honorable mention" and remarked, "by the time the tunes grow on you, you'll be wondering why the songs never get where they're going".[22]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Carol van Dijk, except where noted; all music is composed by Bettie Serveert (Herman Bunskoeke, Van Dijk, Berend Dubbe, and Peter Visser), except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."Leg"6:11
2."Palomine"4:09
3."Kid's Allright"4:20
4."Brain-Tag"6:26
5."Tom Boy"4:21
6."Under the Surface"4:17
7."Balentine"4:11
8."This Thing Nowhere"3:18
9."Healthy Sick" (lyrics and music by Lou Barlow)2:23
10."Sundazed to the Core"7:05
11."Palomine (Small)"2:31
Total length:49:12

Notes

  • "Brain-Tag" is omitted from the LP edition of the album. The UK LP edition, released by Guernica, instead included a bonus 7" disc featuring "Brain-Tag" on side one and "Get the Bird" and "Smile" on side two.[4][23]

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[24]

Bettie Serveert

  • Herman Bunskoeke – bass
  • Carol van Dijk – guitar, vocals
  • Berend Dubbe – drums
  • Peter Visser – guitar

Production

  • Bettie Serveert – production
  • Berend Dubbe – mixing
  • Frans Hagenaars – production, mixing
  • Edwin "Hank" Heath – production, mixing
  • The Masters – mastering

Design

  • Diederik van der Donk – photography
  • Roel Siebrand – cover design

Charts

Chart (1992–1993) Peak
position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[5] 43
Dutch Alternative Albums (Dutch Charts)[5] 2
Chart (2023) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[10] 177
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[5] 30

References

  1. ^ a b Greer, Jim (December 1992). "Bettie Serveert: Palomine". Spin. Vol. 8, no. 9. pp. 91–93. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b Robbins, Ira (22 January 1993). "Palomine". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Bettie Serveert History 1982–1993" (PDF). bettieserveert.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b Palomine (press advertisement). Guernica. 1992. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Dutchcharts.nl – Bettie Serveert – Palomine" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  6. ^ Giles, Jeff (17 May 1993). "A Dutch Treat". Newsweek. p. 70.
  7. ^ a b "Singles". bettieserveert.com. p. 1. Archived from the original on 5 May 2001. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Chart Log UK: Darren B – David Byrne". Zobbel.de. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Bettie Serveert → Palomine Reissue". Matador Records. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Ultratop.be – Bettie Serveert – Palomine" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  11. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Palomine – Bettie Serveert". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  12. ^ a b Zacharek, Stephanie (May 1993). "Bettie Serveert: Palomine". CD Review. Vol. 9, no. 9. p. 64.
  13. ^ Dalton, Stephen (7 November 1992). "Bettie Serveert: Palomine". NME. p. 37.
  14. ^ Lee, Christopher J. (22 August 2023). "Bettie Serveert Shine Again on the Re-released 'Palomine'". PopMatters. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  15. ^ a b Aston, Martin (January 1993). "Bettie Serveert: Palomine". Q. No. 76. p. 78.
  16. ^ Ali, Lorraine (29 April 1993). "Bettie Serveert: Palomine". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 8 March 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  17. ^ Harris, Keith (2004). "Bettie Serveert". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 67. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  18. ^ McDonnell, Evelyn (1995). "Bettie Serveert". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 37–38. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  19. ^ Wallace, Wyndham (July 2023). "Bettie Serveert: Palomine". Uncut. No. 314. pp. 43–44.
  20. ^ Pareles, Jon (1 May 1993). "Pop and Jazz in Review". The New York Times. p. 1.18. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  21. ^ "The 1993 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. 1 March 1994. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  22. ^ Christgau, Robert (2000). "Bettie Serveert: Palomine". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 25. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  23. ^ Brain-Tag (liner notes). Bettie Serveert. Guernica. 1992. GU 3 S.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  24. ^ Palomine (liner notes). Bettie Serveert. Brinkman Records. 1992. BRCD 004.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)