Possum Dixon is the debut album by the American band Possum Dixon, released in 1993.[2][3] The first single, "Watch the Girl Destroy Me", was a minor hit.[4][5]
The band promoted the album by touring with the Dead Milkmen and Violent Femmes, among others.[6][7] The album had sold more than 31,000 copies by the end of the 1990s.[8]
Production
The album was produced by Earle Mankey and Possum Dixon, with Mankey encouraging the band to use older instruments in the studio.[9][10][11] Some songs from the band's early releases were rerecorded for Possum Dixon.[12]
Robert Levine noted in the Los Angeles Times that the album contained "dark tales of everyday life in the working world with a hard-hitting power-pop sound that makes the edgy frustration catchy."[13] "Nerves" is about low-paying work, while "Executive Slacks" is about bosses.[13][14] All of the songs were written by frontman Rob Zabrecky, on his own or with other members of the band.[15]
In Trouser Press, Robert Levine wrote that, though Zabrecky "sometimes takes his twentysomething angst too seriously, 'Nerves' and other numbers do a fair job of capturing what it's like to be young, poor and alienated in the City of Angels."[10] Steve Hochman of the Los Angeles Times opined, "Throw skinny ties on these guys and it'd be just a tad too close to new-wave redux," but admired "the propulsive energy" of the album.[21] Alex Hecht of the Houston Press deemed the album "catchy party rock music with nerdy vocals telling funny stories about girls and other nervous habits."[22]
Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post determined that "songs such as 'In Buildings' and 'She Drives', in which singer, bassist and songwriter Robert Zabrecky tempers his attitude and record-collector erudition with a solid melody and a steady beat, are as rollicking as the work of much dumber bands."[23] James Muretich of the Calgary Herald praised the "punkish energy [and] irreverence."[17] Scott Bacon of The Indianapolis Star stated that the guitarists shuffle "easily through a diversity of styles—be it ska, surf or just good ol' jangly guitar rock."[19]
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