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]

One Sock Missing
Studio album by
Released1993
Recorded1992, The Flower Shop & Easley McCain Recording, Memphis, Tennessee
GenreIndie Rock, lo-fi
Length44:59 (CD)
LabelShangri-La Records
Shangri-La 004
ProducerThe Grifters & Shangri-La Records
Grifters chronology
So Happy Together
(1992)
One Sock Missing
(1993)
Crappin' You Negative
(1994)

Production

edit

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

edit
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
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

edit

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

No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Bummer"Diamond Dave Shouse2:53
2."She Blows Blasts of Static"Diamond Dave Shouse4:04
3."Shark"Slim Taylor4:16
4."Teenage Jesus"Tripp Lampshade3:02
5."Side"Slim Taylor2:50
6."#1"Diamond Dave Shouse1:16
7."Tupelo Moan"Diamond Dave Shouse5:06
8."Wonder"Slim Taylor1:20
9."Corolla Hoist"Diamond Dave Shouse4:02
10."Encrusted"Slim Taylor/Diamond Dave Shouse2:19
11."The Casual Years"Diamond Dave Shouse3:19
12."Sain"Slim Taylor2:28
13."Just Passing Out"Diamond Dave Shouse3:21
14."I Arise"Slim Taylor4:35
Total length:44:59

Album credits

edit

Grifters

edit

credited as

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

Additional musicians

edit

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

edit
  • 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

edit
  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. ^ a b "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.