Personal Best (album) explained

Personal Best
Type:studio
Artist:Team Dresch
Cover:Team Dresch - Personal Best Front Cover.jpg
Released:January 23, 1995
Recorded:August 12–16, 1994[1]
Studio:Avast! in Seattle, Washington
Genre:Punk rock, queercore
Length:24:14
Label:Candy Ass, Chainsaw
Producer:John Goodmanson, Team Dresch
Prev Title:Hand Granade
Prev Year:1994
Next Title:Captain My Captain
Next Year:1996

Personal Best is the first studio album by the American queercore band Team Dresch. It was released on January 23, 1995 by both Candy Ass Records and Chainsaw Records.[2] It was reissued on Jealous Butcher Records in May 2019. The label reissued their entire back catalog in order to help reaffirm the band's legacy as queercore icons.[3]

Recording and release

Personal Best was produced by John Goodmanson and the band and recorded at Avast! in Seattle, Washington, from August 12 to August 16, 1994.[4] As the band's first album,[5] it was released in January 1995 on the singer and guitarist Jody Bleyle's label Candy Ass Records and the bass guitarist Donna Dresch's label Chainsaw Records.[6] The album's title and cover are a reference to the 1982 lesbian-themed film, Personal Best.

Reception

Johnny Histon of Spin praised the album's LGBT lyrical themes, writing that they had never been explored before in rock music. He concluded, "Team Dresch knows that simply being itself and making great music is a political act. On Personal Best they do both."[7]

Retrospectively, Jason Ankeny of AllMusic declared the album a "call to arms" that "explodes on contact", writing, "Of all the punk records to come out of the 1990s, Personal Best comes closest to actually recapturing the sheer passion and rage which originally spawned the movement two decades earlier". He praised how the band "never put their politics ahead of their songs — each of these ten tracks is airtight, with melodies as blistering as the lyrics".[8] The Washington Post writer Chris Richards called Personal Best "a fiery, all-but-forgotten punk masterpiece".[9]

Track listing

  1. Fagetarian and Dyke – 2:45
  2. Hate the Christian Right! – 2:35
  3. She's Crushing My Mind – 1:42
  4. Freewheel – 1:39
  5. She's Amazing – 3:03
  6. Fake Fight – 3:07
  7. #1 Chance Pirate TV – 3:04
  8. D.A. Don't Care – 2:21
  9. Growing up in Springfield – 2:19
  10. Screwing Yer Courage – 1:39

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Personal Best . . 1995 . CD booklet . . Seattle, Washington . CHSW11, CAR11.
  2. Book: Inc, CMJ Network . CMJ New Music Monthly . March 1995 . CMJ Network, Inc. . en.
  3. Web site: Portland Riot GRRRL Legends Team Dresch Are Reissuing Their Entire Catalog and Going on Tour . 8 March 2019 .
  4. Personal Best . . 1995 . CD booklet . . Seattle, Washington . CHSW11, CAR11.
  5. . Queercore Punk Rock Ready To Face Market . Brett Atwood . May 6, 1995 . 74–75 . 107 . 18 . March 13, 2018.
  6. . Kicking Against the Pricks . Natasha Stovall . March 1995 . 40 . 10 . 12 . March 13, 2018.
  7. . Personal Best . Johnny Histon . February 1995 . 78–79 . 10 . 11 . March 15, 2018.
  8. Web site: Personal Best . Jason Ankeny . . March 13, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120621192936/https://www.allmusic.com/album/personal-best-mw0000122195 . June 21, 2012 . live.
  9. News: Team Dresch Digs Deep Into Its Playbook . Chris Richards . . June 22, 2007 . March 13, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000005/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102405.html . March 4, 2016 . live.

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