| World So Bright | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Adam Schmitt |
| Cover: | World So Bright.jpg |
| Released: | 1991 |
| Studio: | Chicago Recording Company, Chicago, additional recording at Private Studios in Urbana and Schmitt's house in Champaign |
| Genre: | Pop, power pop[1] |
| Length: | 44:58 |
| Label: | Reprise |
| Producer: | Greg Edward, Adam Schmitt |
| Next Title: | Illiterature |
| Next Year: | 1993 |
World So Bright is the debut album by the American musician Adam Schmitt, released in 1991.[2] [3] Schmitt supported the album by opening for the BoDeans on a North American tour.
Recorded at Chicago Recording Company and in Schmitt's Champaign, Illinois, basement, the album was produced by Greg Edward and Schmitt.[4] [5] [6] It contains contributions from Lisa Germano, Kenny Aronoff, John Richardson, and Jay Bennett. "Scarlet Street" addresses the problem of homelessness in the United States.[7]
Trouser Press thought that the "well-crafted songs are mega-tuneful guitar-driven gems with hooks galore and lyrics that rise above the prosaic 'boy meets girl/boy loses girl/boy misses girl/boy goes looking for another girl' fodder."[8] The Chicago Tribune determined that "the album's dozen songs resound with the innate humability that informs the best work of Squeeze, XTC and the dB's."
The Palm Beach Post wrote: "A hopeful romantic, [Schmitt] infuses love song after love song with memorable hooks. A tough, heartfelt delivery gives them an added edge."[9] The Republican concluded that "it's pop alright, but the hooks don't hook and the thing don't swing." Rolling Stone called it "more than a promising debut, it's a confident piece of work from a canny singer-songwriter who's going to be around for a good long while."[10]
AllMusic wrote that "things are less impressive when the amps get cranked too high ('River Black'), but fortunately that's not a frequent mistake, and one that's more than redeemed by songs like the wistful, touching ballad 'Elizabeth Einstein'." MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide deemed the album "a flawless disc," writing that the title track is a "symmetrical diamond."[11] In 2001, Goldmine labeled World So Bright "a pop manifesto to the max, brimming with catchy tunes delivered in a classic pop style."[12]
Additional musicians
Production
. John M. Borack. Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide. 2007. Not Lame Recordings. 978-0-9797714-0-8.