University (album) explained

University
Type:studio
Artist:Throwing Muses
Cover:Throwing_Muses_University.jpg
Recorded:October 1993–October 1994, Kingsway Studio, New Orleans, LA
Genre:Alternative rock
Length:48:32
Label:4AD[1]
Sire/Reprise[2]
Producer:Throwing Muses
Prev Title:Red Heaven
Prev Year:1992
Next Title:Limbo
Next Year:1996

University is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band Throwing Muses, released in 1995.[3] [4] It contains the single "Bright Yellow Gun", the band's first national hit.

The album peaked at No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart; it peaked at No. 10 on Billboards Heatseekers Albums chart.[5] [6] Sales were too low for Sire, and the band was dropped from its roster, ending the Muses' major label years.

Production

The album was recorded in the fall of 1993, right before lead Muse Kristin Hersh recorded her first solo album, Hips and Makers. 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell convinced Hersh to release the solo album first, in early 1994; University was delayed until 1995. The band's former roadie, Bernard Georges, played bass on the album.[7]

Critical reception

The Independent called University "a gorgeous album in parts: it's the most tuneful, coherent and least witchy music Hersh has yet delivered in her Muses hat."[8] The Knoxville News Sentinel deemed "Bright Yellow Gun" a "too-traditional rocker." The Boston Globe determined that the album "finds the band and Hersh in good, raw form, mixing up formally inventive songs with sidelong hooks and expressionistic lyrics."[9]

Track listing

All songs by Kristin Hersh.

  1. "Bright Yellow Gun" – 3:43
  2. "Start" – 2:47
  3. "Hazing" – 3:14
  4. "Shimmer" – 3:14
  5. "Calm Down, Come Down" – 1:48
  6. "Crabtown" – 4:20
  7. "No Way in Hell" – 4:44
  8. "Surf Cowboy" – 2:45
  9. "That's All You Wanted" – 3:26
  10. "Teller" – 2:52
  11. "University" – 2:12
  12. "Snakeface" – 3:29
  13. "Flood" – 3:14
  14. "Fever Few" – 6:44

Notes and References

  1. Book: Larkin, Colin. The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. May 27, 2011. Omnibus Press. 978-0-85712-595-8 . Google Books.
  2. Web site: Throwing Muses . Trouser Press . June 22, 2022.
  3. Web site: Throwing Muses Biography, Songs, & Albums. AllMusic.
  4. Web site: Throwing Muses. NPR.
  5. Web site: THROWING MUSES . Official Charts . June 22, 2022.
  6. Heatseekers . Billboard . February 4, 1995 . 107 . 5 . 26.
  7. Book: Segretto, Mike. 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute: A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. July 15, 2022 . Rowman & Littlefield. 978-1-4930-6460-1 . Google Books.
  8. News: Coleman . Nick . Kristin Hersh hoiks her songs from the closets of her unconscious . The Independent . January 13, 1995 . MUSIC/POP . 24.
  9. News: Gilbert . Matthew . THROWING MUSES UNIVERSITY . The Boston Globe . January 19, 1995 . Calendar . 16.