Long Sound is an album by the American band the Coctails.[2][3] It was released in 1993, one of the many notable albums to come out of Chicago that year.[4][5][6]
| Long Sound | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1993 | |||
| Studio | Acme Recording | |||
| Genre | Lounge rock, jazz | |||
| Label | Hi-Ball/Carrot Top[1] | |||
| The Coctails chronology | ||||
| ||||
Production
editThe band moved away from its earlier lounge sound by inviting reedman Ken Vandermark and saxophonist Hal Russell to help bring out more jazz elements.[7][8] Dave Crawford, of Poi Dog Pondering, contributed on trumpet and flugelhorn.[9][10] Many of the more guitar-centered tracks recorded during the sessions ended up on the band's next album, Peel.[11]
Critical reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| Robert Christgau |  [13] |
Trouser Press wrote: "While hardly virtuosos, the Coctails play with low-key humor and create a series of soundscapes—by turns muted and buoyant, lush and fractured—that evoke heroes from Billy Strayhorn to Sun Ra."[10] The Chicago Tribune called the album "a beautifully programmed series of jazzy soundscapes, with ringers like Ken Vandermark, Dave Crawford and Hal Russell—in the last recorded performance before his death—adding their distinctive voices."[14]
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praised the "brooding, melancholic, jazzy feel," writing that the band "proved they were more than Blue Note wannabes by constructing a record any jazz aficionado would cite as a Top 10 pick."[15] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution concluded: "Snaky and hypnotic, the tunes amble like a laid-back flip side to Eric Dolphy's classic, Out to Lunch."[16] The Wisconsin State Journal noted that "the band made what it felt was a necessary foray into free-form jazz noodling, with longer songs and mixed results."[17]
AllMusic wrote that "the quartet's sound moved more to jazz and away from the band's poppier efforts on albums like Early Hi-Ball Years."[12] Pitchfork deemed it "a superb album of alternately weird and elegiac jazz."[18]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Steam" | |
| 2. | "China Song" | |
| 3. | "Monkeys and Seals" | |
| 4. | "Stray Horn" | |
| 5. | "Tenement" | |
| 6. | "Twilight for Henry" | |
| 7. | "Waterlogged" | |
| 8. | "Clown's Coffee" | |
| 9. | "Far East" | |
| 10. | "Gripper Bite" |
References
edit- ^ Clark, Rick (Feb 25, 1995). "Give them one good region". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 8. p. 104.
- ^ Staple, Arthur (13 Oct 1995). "It's the Last Call for the Coctails". Lifestyle/Previews. The Record. p. 32.
- ^ Sacharow, Anya (Aug 22, 1994). "Cocktail Nation". New York. Vol. 27, no. 33. p. 41.
- ^ Niimi, J. (December 15, 2005). "Coctails". Chicago Reader.
- ^ "Kitschy cool". SF Weekly. February 22, 1995.
- ^ Kot, Greg (25 July 1993). "In Chicago, It's Really a Battle of Bands!". Arts. Chicago Tribune. p. 5.
- ^ "The Coctails Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
- ^ Reger, Rick (Mar 1996). "Last Call: The Coctails (1990–1995)". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 31. p. 17.
- ^ Adams, Bruce (2022). You're with Stupid: Kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music. University of Texas Press. p. 75.
- ^ a b "Coctails". Trouser Press. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
- ^ Gilstrap, Peter. "Coctail Time". Phoenix New Times.
- ^ a b "Long Sound". AllMusic.
- ^ "The Cocktails". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
- ^ Kot, Greg (26 Aug 1994). "Nothing Manages to Shake Coctails". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. 5.
- ^ Norman, Tony (15 Sep 1994). "Less frothy, Coctails pack a serious kick". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. C5.
- ^ Dollar, Steve (June 10, 1994). "Pop Music – Heavy Rotation". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. P9.
- ^ Thompson, Stephen (March 16, 1995). "Coctails Serve Exciting Sounds". Rhythm. Wisconsin State Journal. p. 9.
- ^ "The Coctails: Popcorn Box". Pitchfork.