Rites of Spring (album) explained

Rites of Spring
Type:studio
Artist:Rites of Spring
Cover:Rites of Springalbum.jpg
Border:yes
Released:June 1985
Recorded:February 1985
Length:37:32
Label:Dischord
Producer:Ian MacKaye
Next Title:All Through a Life
Next Year:1987

Rites of Spring is the only studio album by American post-hardcore band Rites of Spring. It was recorded at Inner Ear Studios in February 1985 and released on vinyl in June 1985 as Dischord Records #16. The album was produced by Ian MacKaye and contains twelve songs.

The album was re-released on CD and cassette in 1987, with an additional track from the same session, "Other Way Around", as well as the four songs from the Rites' follow-up EP, All Through a Life (track 14–17), recorded January 1986 and released in 1987 (Dischord #22). End on End features the same cover as the debut album.

Production

Guy Picciotto has said of the recording process for the album:

"That record was way closer to the live experience than the first demo. It was recorded with all four of us in one tiny room facing each other with no separation at all. We tracked all the music live in one take in the dark with a strobe going. Later on, I recorded all the vocals for the 13 songs in one take as well, one after the other. There are barely any overdubs at all — just some backups, a few bits of percussion and maybe a guitar part here and there. We played the improv ending on the last song, ‘End On End,’ until the tape ran out and rolled off the reels."[1]

Music

Influenced by The Faith, Rites of Spring continued to combine desperate introspective lyrics with angry melody-tinged songwriting that moved even further from the hardcore punk formula.[2]

Reception

The album was listed at number 30 on Kurt Cobain's top 50 favorite albums.[3] [4] Pitchfork online magazine ranked it number 96 on its list of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.[5] It has appeared on various best-of emo album lists by Consequence of Sound,[6] Kerrang!,[7] LA Weekly,[8] and Rolling Stone,[9] as well as by journalists Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelley in their book Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture (2007).[10] Metal Hammer named the album in their list of "the 10 essential post-hardcore albums."[11]

Kelefa Sanneh described it as, "The first emo album, and still one of the greatest. It was a volatile album, with Picciotto screaming lyrics that a different singer may have chosen to whisper.[12]

Track listing

All songs written by Rites of Spring.

Side one

  1. "Spring" – 2:09
  2. "Deeper Than Inside" – 2:17
  3. "For Want Of" – 3:09
  4. "Hain's Point" – 2:08
  5. "All There Is" – 2:54
  6. "Drink Deep" – 4:54

Side two

  1. "Theme" – 2:19
  2. "By Design" – 2:38
  3. "Remainder" – 2:30
  4. "Persistent Vision" – 2:21
  5. "Nudes" – 2:48
  6. "End On End" – 7:23

Personnel

Rites of Spring

Additional performers

Production

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dugan . John . November 3, 2008 . End on End: RITES OF SPRING: Highlights from The DC Issue . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20101228085050/https://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=1170&page=3 . December 28, 2010 . October 17, 2023 . STOPSMILING.
  2. Web site: Subject to Change 12" EP . August 11, 2012 . Kill from the Heart . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141217021327/https://files.nyu.edu/cch223/public/usa/albums/faith_subjecttochange.html . December 17, 2014 .
  3. Web site: Top 50 by Nirvana [MIXTAPE] ]. March 24, 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141018034220/http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/journal/top-50-by-nirvana/ . October 18, 2014 .
  4. Book: Cross. Charles. Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History. Gaar. Gillian G.. Gendron. Bob. Yarm. Mark. Martens. Todd. 2013. Voyageur Press. 978-0-7603-4521-4. 106.
  5. Web site: November 21, 2002. Top 100 Albums of the 1980s. November 5, 2011. Pitchfork.
  6. Web site: Chelosky. Danielle. March 2, 2020. 10 Emo Albums Every Music Fan Should Own. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200308195234/https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/03/crate-digging-emo/full-post/. March 8, 2020. August 17, 2020. Consequence of Sound.
  7. Web site: De Freitas. Ryan. May 12, 2020. The 20 Best Pre-2000s Emo Albums. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200526132814/https://www.kerrang.com/features/early-emo-albums-best-american-football-saves-the-day/. May 26, 2020. July 5, 2020. Kerrang!.
  8. Web site: October 10, 2013. Top 20 Emo Albums in History: Complete List. live. https://archive.today/20200626155246/https://www.laweekly.com/top-20-emo-albums-in-history-complete-list/. June 26, 2020. June 25, 2020. LA Weekly.
  9. September 4, 2019. 40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190415064338/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/40-greatest-emo-albums-of-all-time-23526/rites-of-spring-rites-of-spring-1985-141812/. April 15, 2019. August 17, 2020. Rolling Stone.
  10. Simon; Kelley 2007, p. 167
  11. Web site: Johnston. Emma. September 28, 2016. The 10 essential post-hardcore albums. December 17, 2020. Metal Hammer.
  12. Book: Kelefa Sanneh . Major Labels . 2021 . Canongate. 9781838855932. 268.

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