Gun Shy, Trigger Happy

Gun Shy, Trigger Happy is the second (and, to date, final) album by Boston musician Jen Trynin.[4][5] It was released in 1997 on Squint/Warner Bros. Records.[6] It was listed as Entertainment Weekly's album of the year for 1997 and topped many other critic's lists.

Gun Shy, Trigger Happy
Studio album by
Jen Trynin
ReleasedAugust 12, 1997
Recorded1997
GenreAlternative rock
LabelSquint/Warner Bros.
ProducerMike Dennen[1]
Jen Trynin chronology
Cockamamie
(1994)		 Gun Shy, Trigger Happy
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment WeeklyA[3]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[1]

Recording and promotion

Trynin wrote the songs for the album on an acoustic guitar in her living room, following the tour for her debut album Cockamamie.[7]

An EP was originally planned to precede the album, due to Trynin's concerns that the more polished Gun Shy would be jarring to fans; after officially signing Trynin, Danny Goldberg ordered instead that the album be released.[8] The song "February" was chosen as the first single from the album. Since Warner Bros. Records were going to release it in the summer, they forced her to change the song's name to "Getaway" (on the album itself it is listed under both titles).[9]

A music video was shot for the song to help promote it, however it has never been released. In her 2006 book Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be, Trynin recalled that everyone "[hated] the rough cut of the "Getaway (February)" video, because it's super-hip and happening and no one knows what the hell is going on in it."[9]

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the album. He wrote in his review that "Cockamamie, Jennifer Trynin's accomplished debut, got lost in the shuffle of all the post-alternative female singer-songwriters of the mid-'90s. Many of those songwriters were less talented than Trynin but were more commercially savvy and, therefore, successful. Perhaps this is the reason her second album, Gun Shy Trigger Happy, has a slicker production than Cockamamie, but even with the polish, Trynin remains one of the better adult-alternative songwriters of the late '90s."[2]

A review from People published on September 22, 1997, calls it "one of 1997’s strongest and most mature discs."[10] The review states that "Her 1994 debut, Cockamamie, showed admirable grrrlish spunk and a few knockout songs, but promising as that release was, it barely hinted at the giant leap forward this 33-year-old Bostonian takes on her dazzling follow-up. Gun Shy Trigger Happy is a musical tour de force—13 meticulously produced cuts that feature Trynin’s hypnotic vocals, gritty guitar playing and grown-up lyrics about faltering relationships and lost innocence."[10]

The Washington Post wrote: "An aggressive electric guitarist, [Trynin]'s as likely to make her case with a sharp riff as a keen phrase."[11] The Chicago Tribune called the album "another dose of sharp hook-slinging."[12] The Tulsa World wrote that Trynin "can wax nostalgic and ache with regret at the same time ('Writing Notes') or walk calmly and cooly right out of your life, leaving you with the check ('I Don't Need You')—all without a single moment of ranting."[13]

Track listing

All songs written by Jen Trynin.

  1. "Go Ahead"
  2. "Getaway (February)"
  3. "If I"
  4. "Writing Notes"
  5. "Everything"
  6. "Bore Me"
  7. "Love Letter"
  8. "Washington Hotel"
  9. "I Resign"
  10. "I Don't Need You"
  11. "Around It"
  12. "Under the Knife"
  13. "Rang You & Ran"

Personnel
Musicians
  • Chris Foley – drums, percussion
  • Mike Denneen – keyboards, programming
  • Jennifer Trynin – guitar, vocals
  • Ed Valauskas – bass
Production
  • Danny Clinch – photography
  • Mike Denneen – engineer, mixing, producer
  • Richard Marr – mixing
  • Susie Tallman – production coordination
  • Roberto Toledo – mixing
  • Jonathan Wyner – mastering

References
  1. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1171.
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Gun Shy, Trigger Happy at AllMusic
  3. "Gun Shy Trigger Happy". EW.com.
  4. "Jennifer Trynin | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  5. "Books that rock, clubs that chill". February 2, 2006.
  6. "Best New Music". CMJ New Music Monthly. CMJ Network, Inc. September 10, 1997 – via Google Books.
  7. "Mike's Liners for Jen's Album". web.archive.org. April 22, 1999.
  8. Goodman, Fred (July 13, 2010). "Fortune's Fool: Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music, and an Industry in Crisis". Simon and Schuster – via Google Books.
  9. Trynin, Jennifer (2006). Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be. Harcourt Press.
  10. "Picks and Pans Review: Gun Shy Trigger Happy". PEOPLE.com.
  11. Jenkins, Mark (February 6, 1998). "JEN TRYNIN" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  12. Reger, Rick. "TRADITION, TRADITION -- AND MORE". chicagotribune.com.
  13. Conner, Thomas. "A desert Oasis". Tulsa World.



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