Lucky Jim (album)

Lucky Jim
Studio album by
the Gun Club
Released1993
RecordedJanuary 1992 – February 1993
StudioBananas Studios, Haarlem, Netherlands; "Blue Monsoons" Studio Zeezicht, Spaarnwoude, Netherlands
Genre
LabelTriple X[1]
New Rose Records[2]
ProducerJeffrey Lee Pierce, Peer Rave
The Gun Club chronology
Divinity
(1991) 		Lucky Jim
(1993) 		Live in Europe
(1993)

Lucky Jim is an album by the American band the Gun Club, released in 1993.[3][4] It was the band's final studio album.[5][6] The album was "dedicated to the cities of Saigon and London, Fall and Winter 1991".

Production

[edit]

The album was recorded in Holland, with the band made up of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Romi Mori and Nick Sanderson.[7] Bart Van Poppel played organ during the recording sessions.[8]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[10]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[11]

Trouser Press called the album "an eerily austere record that displays the more spectral side of Pierce's voice, particularly on the dejected title track and 'Cry to Me' ... the manner in which he replaces post-adolescent rage with full-blown adult emptiness is mighty impressive."[8] Billboard deemed it "a haunting record that reflected Pierce's experiences in Japan and Vietnam, countries to which he traveled several times in the early '90s."[12] The Morning Call noted that "the tempos are slower, the song structures are more dynamic ... and there is an increased attention to melody and texture."[13]

AllMusic wrote that Lucky Jim "didn't just signify the passage of a man, but the disappearance of the only real American rock band left in the world."[9] The Spin Alternative Record Guide concluded that, "if the Gun Club's execution on the elegiac Lucky Jim directly recalls the Delta only once ('Anger Blues'), the album is permeated with a sadness and displacement fundamental to the deep blues."[11] Record Collector deemed the songs "gutbucket blues and melancholy acoustic outings," writing that "Pierce found a new kind of intimate personal blues towards the end."[14]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Jeffrey Lee Pierce; except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Lucky Jim" 3:44
2."A House Is Not a Home" 4:04
3."Cry to Me" 5:56
4."Kamata Hollywood City" 5:09
5."Ride" 3:57
6."Idiot Waltz" 6:44
7."Up Above the World" 4:50
8."Day Turn the Night" 2:56
9."Blue Monsoons"Romi Mori2:53
10."Desire" 5:10
11."Anger Blues" 7:45

Personnel

[edit]
Gun Club

with:

  • Bart Van Poppel - organ on "Cry to Me" and "Anger Blues"
  • Simon Fish - drums on "Blue Monsoons"

References

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  1. ^ Thompson, Dave (October 25, 2000). Alternative Rock. Hal Leonard Corporation.
  2. ^ a b Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4. MUZE. p. 39.
  3. ^ Smith, Mat (Aug 7, 1993). "Lucky Jim by the Gun Club". Melody Maker. Vol. 69, no. 32. p. 33.
  4. ^ Guzmán, Romeo; Fragoza, Carribean; Cummings, Alex Sayf; Reft, Ryan (February 14, 2020). East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte. Rutgers University Press.
  5. ^ "The Gun Club story". Perfect Sound Forever.
  6. ^ Buckley, Peter (October 25, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides.
  7. ^ "The Gun Club Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  8. ^ a b "Gun Club". Trouser Press. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Lucky Jim". AllMusic.
  10. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 514.
  11. ^ a b Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 172–173.
  12. ^ Morris, Chris (Apr 20, 1996). "Recalling the overlooked life of Jeffrey Lee Pierce". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 16. p. 73.
  13. ^ Harry, Rich (Oct 23, 1993). "The Gun Club: Lucky Jim". The Morning Call. p. A68.
  14. ^ "The Life & Times of Jeffrey Lee Pierce & the Gun Club". Record Collector. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
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