The Tape of Only Linda

The Tape of Only Linda
Studio album by
the Loud Family
Released1994
Recorded1994
Genre
Length46:19
LabelAlias[1]
ProducerMitch Easter
The Loud Family chronology
Slouching Towards Liverpool
(1993) 		The Tape of Only Linda
(1994) 		Interbabe Concern
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[4]

The Tape of Only Linda is the second full-length album by the Loud Family, released in 1994.[5][6] The title of the album is a reference to the notorious tape recording of a live performance of "Hey Jude," by Paul McCartney, in which an engineer had isolated Linda McCartney's vocals.[7]

Composition

The Tape of Linda abandons the sound collage aesthetic of the band's debut, Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things (1993), in favor of a relatively more conventional approach, boasting twelve fully-formed songs with live-sounding production. Scott Miller's melodic, Beatles- and Big Star-influenced style of songwriting remains, with heavy usage of oblique wordplay.[8]

Critical reception

Trouser Press wrote that "the sound is sharp, and the quintet rocks out with an epic mélange of amped-up guitars, odd rhythms and insinuating keyboard riffs, but the disappointing end result is neither particularly inventive nor especially tuneful."[9]

Describing the Loud Family as 'art rock with laughs', Stereo Review critic Steve Simels felt that The Tape of Only Linda confirmed the band were "the smartest, most imaginative rock band in America, the closest we Yanks have ever come to a homegrown version of XTC."[8]

Track listing

  1. "Soul Drain" (Miller, Smith, Wieneke)– 4:12
  2. "My Superior" (Smith, Miller)– 4:49
  3. "Marcia and Etrusca" (Miller, Becker, Smith, Wieneke, Poor)– 7:14
  4. "Hyde Street Virgins" (Miller)– 4:02
  5. "Baby Hard-To-Be-Around" (Miller, Becker, Smith, Wieneke, Poor)– 3:32
  6. "It Just Wouldn't Be Christmas" (Miller, Smith, Wieneke, Poor, Becker)– 4:38
  7. "Better Nature" (Wieneke)– 3:25
  8. "Still Its Own Reward" (Miller)– 4:12
  9. "For Beginners Only" (Smith)– 2:41
  10. "Ballet Hetero" (Miller, Poor, Smith)– 7:27

Personnel

  • Jozef Becker - drums, percussion, drum programming
  • Scott Miller - lead vocal, guitar, classical guitar
  • R. Dunbar Poor - bass guitar and backing vocals
  • Zachary Smith - lead guitar, electromagnetic 12-string guitar, pedal effect guitar
  • Paul Wieneke - keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocal on "Better Nature" and "For Beginners Only"

with:

  • "Waxy" Bill Dupp - harmonica
  • Mitch Easter - producer
  • Kid Shaline - backing vocals
  • Ken Stringfellow - guitar, duet vocal on "Still Its Own Reward"

References

  1. ^ "Loud Family". Alias Records.
  2. ^ Deming, Mark. The Tape of Only Linda at AllMusic
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 5. MUZE. p. 335.
  4. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 470.
  5. ^ "Loud Family | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  6. ^ "Keeping the Music in Mind : Scott Miller's Loud Family Goes for the Cerebral--Whether Playing Quietly or Living Up to Its Name". Los Angeles Times. June 22, 1996.
  7. ^ Thompson, Dave (November 3, 2000). Alternative Rock. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9780879306076 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ a b Simels, Steve (March 1995). "The Loud Family: Art Rock with Laughs". Stereo Review: 80.
  9. ^ "Loud Family". Trouser Press. Retrieved 3 November 2020.