Strategem was the fourth studio album by Colorado rock band Big Head Todd and the Monsters, released in 1994.[2] It was the band's second Giant Records release, following their platinum Sister Sweetly released the year before. While the album failed to match the sales and popularity of the band's previous effort,[3] several individual tracks were positively received by reviewers, including "Kensington Line"[4] and "Neckbreaker".[5] Several verses on the album were inspired by Buddhist koans.[6]
| Strategem | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 27, 1994 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 47:15 | |||
| Label | Giant | |||
| Producer | Andy Torri, Big Head Todd and the Monsters | |||
| Big Head Todd and the Monsters chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
The band recorded the album in an empty theater in Boulder, Colorado and attempted to return to a more indie music sound in the wake of their more commercial-sounding effort in "Sister Sweetly".[7]
"Strategem" was a deliberate misspelling by the band of "stratagem", used in the album title and also found in the song title "Strategem", and in the lyrics of that song: "Here I stand by lovely strategem."[8][9][10]
Track listing
editAll songs written by Todd Park Mohr
- "Kensington Line" – 3:19
- "Strategem" – 4:25
- "Wearing Only Flowers" – 4:43
- "Neckbreaker" – 3:57
- "Magdelina" – 4:55
- "Angel Leads Me On – 5:01
- "In the Morning" – 3:56
- "Candle 99" – 4:28
- "Greyhound" – 2:56
- "Poor Miss" – 4:25
- "Shadowlands" – 5:10
Personnel
edit- Todd Park Mohr – vocals, guitar, piano
- Rob Squires – bass, background vocals
- Brian Nevin – drums, percussion, background vocals
- Nick Forster – steel guitar, slide guitar
- Al Laughlin – organ
- Hazel Miller – background vocals
- Big Head Todd and the Monsters – producers, engineers
- Andy Torri – producer, engineer
- Andy Wallace – mixing
- Howie Weinberg – mastering
- Steve Sisco – mixing assistant
- Kevin Clock – "transfers"
- Mickey Houlihan – "sounds"
- Janet Levinson – design
- Stephen McNamara – digital editing
- Jeff Shuey – digital editing, "transfers"
- Simeon Soffer – photography
References
edit- ^ "Strategem – Big Head Todd & the Monsters | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
- ^ Big Head Todd and the Monsters. "Strategem". Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ Allmusic.com. "Strategem". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ Larry Flick, ed. "Single Reviews". Billboard, Dec. 3, 1994. p.79.
- ^ Sinclair, David. "The Critics' Choice". Billboard, Dec. 24, 1994. p.26.
- ^ Budnick, Dean. "Jam Bands". ECW Press. 1998. pp.28–29.
- ^ "Picks and Pans Reviews: Strategem". People, vol. 42, no. 23. December 5, 1994.
- ^ Cohen, Jason and Michael Krugman. "Hippies al Dente". Spin, Aug. 1995. p.24. "Todd misspelled the album title on purpose!"
- ^ Colin Larkin The Guinness encyclopedia of popular music Volume 1 1995– Page 395 "Big Head Todd And The Monsters Formed at high school in Boulder, Colorado, USA, in 1986, the band put together two albums ... Strategem (deliberately misspelled) unveiled further gritty displays of rural blues rock, particularly 'Neckbreaker' (inspired by 14th Century mystic St John Of The Cross) and 'Angel Leads Me On'. "
- ^ Larkin The Virgin encyclopedia of nineties music Muze UK Ltd – 2000– Page 44 "Strategem [sic] was disappointing, despite unveiling further gritty displays of rural blues rock on tracks such as 'Neckbreaker' (inspired by fourteenth-century mystic St. John Of The Cross) and 'Angel Leads Me On'. "