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Attractive Nuisance

 
Album Review: Attractive Nuisance

  • Artist: Loud Family
  • Rating: StarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: February 22, 2000
  • Total Time: 50:09
  • Genre: Rock

Review

While Scott Miller devoted a considerable amount of time on most of Loud Family's albums to slicing and reassembling his songs as if he were running them through some sort of smart-pop Veg-O-Matic, the group's fifth album, Attractive Nuisance, found Miller taking a step back and letting his songs play themselves out in real time for a change. Attractive Nuisance was Loud Family's most straightforward album since The Tape of Only Linda, and while that set found the group edging into a rock-oriented guitar-heavy attack that was something of a departure from Miller's best-known work, Attractive Nuisance was a wickedly arch slice of intelligent power pop whose alternately bracing and pensive melodies, angular guitar figures, and superb keyboard textures harked back to the best work of Miller's previous band, Game Theory. Anyone who longs for the smart, energetic hooks, and emotionally compelling melodies of The Big Shot Chronicles and Lolita Nation will be glad to know that they're very much in evidence on Attractive Nuisance, and the album found Miller and his band playing at the top of their form. Drummer Gil Ray and bassist Kenny Kessel are a subtle, solid, and inventive rhythm section, Alison Faith Levy's keyboard work fits these tunes perfectly (and she sounds great on the two lead vocals she contributes), and Miller's guitar work and singing are, as always, spot on. Stylistically, Attractive Nuisance does less to call attention to itself than anything in Loud Family's catalog, but in terms of presenting great songs played well, it may well be the strongest thing they've released since Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
720 Times Happier Than the Unjust Man Scott Miller Loud Family (3:46)
One Will Be TH Highway Scott Miller Loud Family (3:42)
Save Your Money Gil Ray, Kenny Kessel, Scott Miller Loud Family (4:06)
Nice When I Want Something Scott Miller Loud Family (5:32)
Years of Wrong Impressions Scott Miller, Kenny Kessel, Gil Ray Loud Family (3:19)
Blackness, Blackness Kenny Kessel, Gil Ray, Scott Miller Loud Family (4:46)
Backward Century Scott Miller Loud Family (4:11)
Soul D.C. Scott Miller, Gil Ray, Kenny Kessel Loud Family (5:12)
The Apprentice Loud Family (3:06)
No One's Watching My Limo Ride Kenny Kessel Loud Family (3:06)
Controlled Burn, Pts. 1-2 Gil Ray, Scott Miller Loud Family (4:57)
Motion of Ariel Gil Ray, Scott Miller Loud Family (4:26)

Credits

Cole Gerst (Design), Gil Ray (Drums (Snare)), Mike Keneally (Guitar), Jeff Byrd (Engineer), Scott Miller (Producer), Gil Ray (Percussion), Cole Gerst (Art Direction), Kenny Kessel (Bass), Robert Toren (Photography), Gil Ray (Guitar), Scott Miller (Group Member), Alison Faith Levy (Vocals), Gil Ray (Synthesizer), Scott Miller (Synthesizer), Alison Faith Levy (Keyboards), Scott Miller (Guitar), Jozef Becker (Cover Art Concept)
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Wikipedia: Attractive Nuisance
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The legal doctrine is at Attractive nuisance doctrine.
Attractive Nuisance
Studio album by The Loud Family
Released Feb 22, 2000
Recorded 1999
Genre Rock
Length 50:09
Label Alias Records
Producer Scott Miller
Professional reviews
The Loud Family chronology
Days for Days
(1998)
Attractive Nuisance
(2000)
From Ritual to Romance
(2002)

The Loud Family's fifth full length album, featuring the same line-up as on 1998's Days for Days. At the time of its release, it was announced as the final Loud Family album. In fact, the title of the last song, "The Motion of Ariel," is a reference to Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest.

The title of the album refers to a legal concept: specifically, an attractive nuisance is something dangerous that is likely to be attractive, especially to children, and so is likely to entice them into a hazardous situation. In fact, the cover image - which looks rather like a swimming pool drained of water (instead, it's full of leaves) - depicts an "attractive nuisance."

Track listing

All songs written by Loud Family

  1. "720 Times Happier Than the Unjust Man" - 3:46
  2. "One Will be the Highway" – 3:42
  3. "Save Your Money" – 4:06
  4. "Nice When I Want Something" – 5:32
  5. "Years of Wrong Impressions" - 3:19
  6. "Blackness, Blackness" – 4:46
  7. "Backward Century" – 4:11
  8. "Soul D.C." – 5:12
  9. "The Apprentice" - 3:06
  10. "No One's Watching My Limo Ride" – 3:06
  11. "Motion of Ariel" – 4:26

Personnel

From the CD sleeve...

  • Scott Miller - lead vocals on all songs except 5 and 9, guitar, some of synthesizer on 1 and 11, backing vocals on 9
  • Kenny Kessel - bass, backing vocals on 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12
  • Alison Faith Levy - lead vocals on 5 and 9, piano, synthesizer and sampled instruments, backing vocals on 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12
  • Gil Ray - drums, percussion, guitar on 11, some of synthesizer on 11

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Attractive Nuisance" Read more