Pacer (album)

Pacer is an album released in October 1995 by the Amps, led by Kim Deal. The album was recorded as a side project to her group the Breeders. She recruited new musicians and naming the group the Amps, recorded Pacer at several studios in the US and Ireland, with different engineers, including Steve Albini, Bryce Goggin, and John Agnello.

Pacer
Pacer album cover
Studio album by
The Amps
ReleasedOctober 1995
Recorded1995
GenreAlternative rock, lo-fi
Length33:47
Label4AD (UK), Elektra (US)

The album received mixed reviews. Despite radio airplay for its single, "Tipp City", Pacer did not sell well. The Amps toured in 1995 and 1996 with Sonic Youth, Guided by Voices, and Foo Fighters. In 1996, Deal changed the band's name back to the Breeders, making Pacer the Amps' only album.

Background

Kim Deal's band the Breeders released Last Splash in August 1993;[1] the album was very successful, and its release was followed by much touring.[2] The Breeders then took an extended break from activity.[2] One reason was that Deal's sister Kelley, who was also in the group, was arrested on drug charges in November 1994.[3] Member Josephine Wiggs likewise took time away from the band, although Wiggs and Deal have different memories of the circumstances surrounding this.[4] Wiggs recalls offering to be involved if Deal's next album was going to be a Breeders record, but having the impression that Deal wanted to do a solo release;[4][5] Deal remembers Wiggs declining to be part of any immediate Breeders' recording, but offering to be on the one after that.[4]

Regardless, Deal envisioned her next album as a solo effort, and intended to play all instruments herself.[6] Back at her home in Dayton, Ohio, she practiced the drums and initially prepared six songs for recording. Around the same time, she produced some tracks for Guided by Voices at Easley Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.[3] While there, Deal used a portion of the studio time to record demos for some of her new songs.[3] As an attempt to distract her sister from her drug problems, Deal recruited Kelley to play on three songs at this initial recording session.[3][6] Kelley's involvement changed Deal's mind about playing all the instruments herself, and she began to conceptualize the album as a band project.[6]

After the Easley recording session, Deal returned to Dayton.[3] She asked Breeders' drummer Jim Macpherson to play drums in the new project, and Dayton musicians Luis Lerma and Nate Farley to play bass and guitar, respectively.[3][7] Deal adopted a stage persona for herself named Tammy Ampersand, and called the band "Tammy and the Amps"; this later evolved into simply "the Amps".[6] The group began by performing at small shows,[6] and learned the songs well to prepare for recording the album.[3] At some point during the recording sessions, Kelley's drug difficulties and rehabilitation prevented her from continuing as a member of the band.[6][8]

Recording
John Agnello was one of several engineers who helped to record Pacer.

Pacer was recorded at seven studios in total,[3] with different engineers each time.[9] The track "Tipp City" was used from the original session at Easley Studios,[3][10] recorded in February 1995 and engineered by Doug Easley and Davis McCain.[10] The Amps' next session was with engineer Steve Albini at his Chicago studio.[3][n 1] Deal had previously worked with Albini on the Pixies' Surfer Rosa and the Breeders' Pod releases.[12][13] The Amps and Albini recorded songs including further versions of "Tipp City", which are unreleased, and "Hoverin";[3] an earlier version of the latter song had previously been released on the Breeders' "Divine Hammer" single in October 1993.[14] Other recording sessions, whose various engineers included Bryce Goggin and John Agnello, took place at studios in Long Island and Woodstock, New York, as well as Dayton, Los Angeles, and Dublin, Ireland.[9]

In a 1996 interview, Deal said that for Pacer, she focused on the vocals: "Usually, I tend to spend more time with the instruments. Last Splash had quite a few instrumentals and quite a few songs where I might say five words. [On Pacer, the] songs are all vocal-heavy. The vocal leads, and if you take the vocal away, you don't have much of a song."[6] The sound of the album has been described as "lo-fi".[15]

Release

Pacer was released in late October 1995.[16][17] It was promoted with a full-page advertisement in NME in the UK,[18] where it peaked at No. 60 on the UK Albums Chart,[19] and No. 29 on the American Heatseekers Album chart.[20] "Tipp City" was released as the album's single and included an alternate version of "Empty Glasses", as well as a cover of the Tasties' "Just Like a Briar".[10] The single received some radio airplay in the USA,[21] and reached No. 61 on the UK Singles Chart,[19] but Pacer did not sell well.[6][n 2]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
Entertainment WeeklyC+[23]
NME7/10[24]
Rolling Stone[25]
Spin (1996)7/10[26]
Spin (2008)[27]
The Village VoiceB+[28]

Critical appraisal of Pacer has been mixed. Reviewing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes the album as "exciting, gut-level rock & roll".[16] The Rough Guide to Rock calls Pacer "satisfyingly lo-fi".[15] In Spin magazine, reviewer Joy Press writes that the album includes "a half-dozen gems" but that its overall "foggy sound" and "indecipherable lyrics" prevent the listener from fully embracing the work.[26] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau considers the album's songs to be "definitely slight" and "uneven" but praises the vocals, stating that "speedy or dreamy, Kim Deal sounds so sane, so unpretentious, so goddamn nice that you want to take her home and give her a shampoo".[28] In The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock, critic Ira Robbins writes that "Other than the fine title track and a few others, the performances are forced and lackluster; the production varies between flat and colorless."[29] The New Rolling Stone Album Guide similarly praises the title song while dismissing the rest of the album as "forgettable".[30]

Pacer is a favorite album of actor Elijah Wood, who said "I think Pacer has everything. It's kind of experimental; there's a lot of vocal experimentation on the record. I love the recording. [...] The drums are very abrasive and raw, and it has everything. There's an incredible mix of pop songs and weird, kind of abrasive almost punk rock songs, and there's real beauty I think on this record."[31]

Aftermath
Kim Deal playing guitar with the Amps in 1995

The Amps toured in 1995 and 1996, supporting Guided by Voices, Sonic Youth, Helium,[32] and Foo Fighters.[6] Later in 1996, they recruited Carrie Bradley (who had played on Pod), and Deal changed its name back to the Breeders.[2][32] The band's lineup continued to evolve, and within a few years, Deal was the only of the former Amps left in the group.[2][32] Pacer is the sole album that the Amps released.[32]

A number of artists have covered songs from Pacer. The Muffs included a version of "Pacer" on their compilation albums Hamburger[33] and Kaboodle.[34] On Gigantic: A Tribute to Kim Deal, released on American Laundromat Records, the German Art Students covered "Bragging Party" and Tara King Theory, "Tipp City".[35] Musician Girl Talk included a sample of "Tipp City" on "Touch 2 Feel" on his album Unstoppable.[36] The Breeders themselves released a new version of "Full on Idle" on Title TK (2002)[37] and over the years have sometimes performed Amps' songs at their concerts.[n 3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kim Deal, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Pacer" 2:31
2."Tipp City" 2:08
3."I Am Decided"Robert Pollard, Kim Deal[9][n 4]2:28
4."Mom's Drunk" 1:42
5."Bragging Party" 4:32
6."Hoverin'" 2:46
7."First Revival" 2:53
8."Full on Idle" 2:18
9."Breaking the Split Screen Barrier" 3:07
10."Empty Glasses" 2:39
11."She's a Girl" 1:50
12."Dedicated" 4:12

Chart positions
Chart (1995) Peak
position
UK Album Chart 60[19]
US Heatseekers Album Chart 29[20]

Notes
  1. The Pacer liner notes list the engineer for this session as "Fluss".[9] AllMusic writer Mark Derning notes that this was the name of Albini's cat, and that Albini sometimes used this name for his engineering and production work.[11]
  2. The New York Times reported in 2002 that the album had sold 25,000 copies.[22]
  3. Reviews of Breeders' concerts in 1997,[38] 2000,[39] 2001,[40] 2002,[41] 2008,[42][43] 2009,[44][45] 2010,[46] and 2017[47][48] have noted the inclusion of Amps' songs in the band's set lists.
  4. Former Guided by Voices bassist James Greer notes that the Amps' "I Am Decided" was an amalgamation of two Guided by Voices songs: "I Am Decided" and "Are You Faster", both of which Deal was given permission to use.[49] The Guided by Voices versions later appeared on the compilation Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow, where they are credited to band songwriter Robert Pollard.[50]

Footnotes
  1. Phares: Last Splash Review
  2. Erlewine: The Breeders Biography
  3. Moore 1996
  4. Petrusich 2013
  5. Aston 2013, p. 481
  6. Gettelman 1996
  7. Ashare 1995
  8. Aaron 1995, pp. 86–88
  9. Pacer liner notes
  10. "Tipp City" single liner notes
  11. Derning
  12. Surfer Rosa Credits
  13. Pod Credits
  14. The Breeders: Divine Hammer
  15. Buckley 2003, pp. 136–137
  16. Erlewine: Pacer Review
  17. The Amps: Pacer (4AD)
  18. Pacer (advertisement), p. 2
  19. Amps: Singles/Albums
  20. The Amps: Chart History (Billboard)
  21. Borzillo 1995
  22. Smith 2002
  23. Browne 1995
  24. Kessler 1995, p. 53
  25. Appleford 1998
  26. Press 1996, pp. 82–83
  27. Kandell 2008, p. 74
  28. Christgau 1996
  29. Robbins 1997, pp. 115–116
  30. Brackett 2004, p. 104
  31. Graham 2016, p. 8
  32. Phares: The Amps Biography
  33. Mason
  34. Kaboodle Overview
  35. Gigantic: A Tribute to Kim Deal Overview
  36. Stewart 2004
  37. Bryant 2002
  38. Outhier 1997, p. SHOW 10
  39. Freek 2000
  40. Klein 2001
  41. Dentler 2002, p. 9
  42. Schroeder 2008
  43. Herrera 2008
  44. Stryker 2009
  45. Dosanjh 2009)
  46. Horn 2010
  47. Blackcondorguy 2017
  48. iChris 2017
  49. Greer 2011
  50. Bealmear

References

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