| Sound ... Goodbye to Your Standards | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | the Mighty Lemon Drops |
| Cover: | Sound ... Goodbye to Your Standards.jpg |
| Released: | 1991 |
| Genre: | Alternative rock |
| Label: | Sire/Reprise |
| Producer: | Andy Paley |
| Prev Title: | Laughter |
| Prev Year: | 1989 |
| Next Title: | Ricochet |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
Sound ... Goodbye to Your Standards is an album by the English band the Mighty Lemon Drops, released in 1991.[1] [2]
The album's first single was "Unkind", which peaked at No. 28 on Billboards Modern Rock Tracks chart.[3] [4] The band supported the album by touring with Sister Double Happiness; they were also part of the ill-fated 1991 festival A Gathering of the Tribes.[5] [6] [7]
The album was produced by Andy Paley.[8] About half of the songs were written by guitar player David Newton. The album was recorded live in the studio, in about two weeks.[9] Most of its songs are about relationship issues.
Trouser Press wrote: "Stumbling through faint stabs at blues, beat-era rock'n'roll and ravedelia, the group sounds lost and bored, a plight exacerbated by the dire production, which is not only flat and sloppy but inconsistent at that."[10] Spin panned the "excessive echo, non-distinct, nondescript vocals, and inefficient layers of guitar."[11] The Indianapolis Star opined that "the Drops nearly redeem the lackluster material with some sterling performances."[12]
The St. Petersburg Times determined that "dream-like melodies, stoked by '60s-flavored rhythms, steal effective moments in cuts such as 'Unkind', 'My Shadow Girl' and 'Too High'."[13] The Los Angeles Times deemed the album "perhaps the group's best effort, due to pop-master Andy Paley's production and musical collaboration."[14] The Calgary Herald stated: "Soft and accessible, it's also too safe and a little bit too familiar."
AllMusic wrote that "Sound is a reminder of how most alternative rock, in the months before Nirvana broke, was just as boring and predictable as anything in the mainstream."