| Win This Record! | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | David Lindley |
| Cover: | Win This Record!.jpg |
| Released: | 1982 |
| Label: | Asylum |
| Producer: | David Lindley, Greg Ladanyi |
| Prev Title: | El Rayo-X |
| Prev Year: | 1981 |
| Next Title: | El Rayo Live |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
Win This Record! is an album by the American musician David Lindley, released in 1982.[1] [2] He is credited with his band, El Rayo-X.[3] It was a commercial disappointment, and his final album for Asylum Records.[4] [5]
The album was produced by Lindley and Greg Ladanyi. Lindley tried to avoid adding too many additional musical ideas to his original conceptions of the songs.[6] As with other albums, Lindley used cheap guitars and parts and instruments he found in junk shops.[5] Booker T. Jones guested on organ.[7] "Something's Got a Hold on Me" is a cover of the Etta James song. "Ram-a-Lamb-a Man" is a tribute to condoms.[8] "Premature" is a cover of the Toots and the Maytals song.[9]
The Globe and Mail wrote: "Lindley's brand of California reggae grows stronger with each listening. The rhythms are amazing, and his guitarwork first class."[10] The Sun Sentinel called the album "filled with upbeat, gritty and reggae-flavored covers and originals," writing that "Talk to the Lawyer" "should have been a hit."[11] Billboard deemed it "another exercise in classic rock and reggae/pop."[12] The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that "the lyrics are more acute and the playing has a bristling energy that belies the laid-back tempo of most of the songs." The Commercial Appeal considered it "a carefully careless rendering of music rooted in the four corners of the world."[13]
AllMusic stated: "A rambling, fun record, Win This Record is one of the finest rock records of the '80s." The State labeled the album "innovative rock 'n' reggae."[14] The Palm Beach Post listed Win This Record! among the 13 "great records you may have missed in the '80s," writing that Lindley is "a musical virtuoso who can play anything with strings."[15] The San Diego Union-Tribune also considered the album to be among the best of the 1980s.[16]