The Instigator is the second studio album by American country/rock band performer, Rhett Miller, lead singer of the Old 97's. Miller's first album came more than a decade earlier. Miller is joined by idol Robyn Hitchcock on "Point Shirley" and the album's title comes from the song "The El."

The Instigator
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 24, 2002
GenrePop rock, adult alternative
Length40:47
LabelElektra
ProducerJon Brion
Rhett Miller chronology
Mythologies
(1989)
The Instigator
(2002)
The Believer
(2006)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Austin Chronicle[3]
Pitchfork6.9/10[4]
Rolling Stone[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
The Village VoiceA−[7]

Track listing

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All songs written by Rhett Miller, unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Our Love" – 3:32
  2. "This Is What I Do" – 3:10
  3. "Come Around" – 3:41
  4. "Things That Disappear" (Miller, Jon Brion) – 3:23
  5. "World Inside The World" – 3:45
  6. "Point Shirley" – 3:09
  7. "Four-Eyed Girl" – 2:28
  8. "Hover" – 2:50
  9. "The El" – 3:09
  10. "Your Nervous Heart" – 3:47
  11. "I Want To Live" – 3:40
  12. "Terrible Vision" – 4:06
Japan-only bonus tracks
  1. "Erica the Beautiful"
  2. "This Is What I Do (Too)"

Personnel

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Primary Musicians

  • Rhett Miller - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar on "Our Love", "The El"
  • Jon Brion - backing vocals, electric guitar, bass, drums, piano, acoustic guitar, dobro on "Point Shirley", upright piano on "Four Eyed Girl", "Hover", B-3 organ on "Four Eyed Girl", vibraphone on "Hover", baritone guitar on "The El", "Your Nervous Heart", "talentmaker" on "World Inside the World"
  • Josh Freese - drums
  • Lenny Castro - percussion

Additional Musicians

  • Robyn Hitchcock - backing vocals, electric guitar on "Point Shirley"
  • Jim Keltner - drums on "Point Shirley", "Terrible Vision", percussion on "Terrible Vision"
  • David Garza - backing vocals, bass on "Four Eyed Girl", "distorto" guitar on "The El"
  • John Doe - backing vocals on "The El"
  • Dan McCaroll - drums on "The El"
  • Chrissy Guerrero - backing vocals on "Terrible Vision"
  • Karen Kilgarriff - backing vocals on "Terrible Vision"

References

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  1. ^ "The Instigator by Rhett Miller". Metacritic. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  2. ^ Johnson, Zac. "Rhett Miller - The Instigator". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  3. ^ Caligiuri, Jim (October 11, 2002). "Rhett Miller: The Instigator Album Review". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  4. ^ Tangari, Joe (2003-03-12). "Rhett Miller: The Instigator". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  5. ^ Kemp, Mark (2002-10-22). "Rhett Miller - The Instigator". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  6. ^ Harris, Keith (2004). "Old 97's". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780743201698.
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert (2002-12-31). "Don't Call It a Comeback". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2019-11-18.