Track Listing

1. My Black Ass
2. Pull The Cup
3. Admiral
4. Crow
5. Song Of The Minerals
6. Minute
7. Idea Of North
8. Dog And Pony Show
9. Boche's Dick
10. Il Porno Star

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63883 in Music
• Released on: 2007-01-01
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
Featuring indie rock anti-Svengali Steve Albini, the more organically minded Bob Weston and tumultuous timekeeper Todd Trainer, this is Shellac's long awaited first album. Shellacmakes the complex simple using churning, melodic guitar licks and Albini's signature speak-sing-yell voice. On "Song ofthe Minerals", the squawking vocal, "It's all right if it makes you feel better", is repeated over a roiling bass line,interjected with a saw-like, circular guitar pedal-induced noise. Most of the songs are similarly constructed, the words fitting like puzzle pieces in a grand rock scheme.
Retro-technical themes are conveyed in the music, and also in Shellac's packaging--the compact discs sport pro-vinyl messages, and the vinyl sleeves are intricately packaged and designed. Titles, like those of the previous three releases, RUDE GESTURE: A PICTORAL HISTORY, URANUS, and BIRD IS THE MOST POPULAR FIGURE, all seven-inch vinyl singles, hint at humor asartistic expression. With a heavy, linear sound, Shellac manages to be both nerdy and head banging.

Customer Reviews

Uneasy listening with the ultimate power trio
I first heard this album on John Peel's show - he played the first three tracks back to back and I was blown away by the energy and power of the music. Starting with Steve Albini's fantastically abrasive guitar riffs, then in comes Todd Trainer's crashing, booming drums (think Ringo Starr meets King Kong), Steve Weston with the most evil bass sound ever, and then Albini's shouting "Gotta eat what I pick, and I hope ya choke on it!", like he's about to explode. The rest of side one keeps up the energy, through the instrumental 'Pull The Cup', and particularly 'Crow' - lyrical insights into a twisted relationship set to rumbling bass and lopsided drums, the tension built with scabarous feedback dischords from Albini's guitar. Side two varies the pace and intensity, with the changing tempos of 'A Minute', the calm intro of 'The Idea Of North' like an oasis in the middle of a scrapyard, the sheer vitriol of 'Dog & Pony Show' and the dry humour of 'Il Porno Star'.

Recorded live in the studio, the arrangements are quite minimal and sparse but there's the genuine tension and energy which can only be generated by live performance, and it has the trademark Albini sound quality, making use of the room acoustics and purist analogue recording techniques. It's great to hear all the sophisitication and sweetening of modern music production stripped away, leaving a raw, stark recording in which nothing blunts the impact of the music.

PURE, SIMPLE, BRILLIANT
I first heard Shellac at the tender age of 12. At the time i was immersed in the trite, purile and over-produced garbage of youth targeted pop. I suddenly realised, with that first hand-sweep up the fret board that precedes the first track, that a different world lay beyond the sacharine-sweet ramblings i heard on the radio. A world where some acoustic, thundering drums, some pulsing trebly bass and razor sharp guitar could produce the most formidable sound imaginable.
At action park is Shellacs finest hour. Not long after thier self-discovery 7" eps, where Albini was cutting his productive teeth and not too long before they had firmly established their formula.
Right from the thundering MY BLACK ASS to the more pondering IDEA OF NORTH, this album radiates energy and reminds us all that simplicity is the key.....focus is the concern....power is the reward.
Long live SHELAC.

All Rock Musicians Should be Forced to Listen to this Album
Albini's ubiquitous influence in modern music is as much to do with this album as his terrifyingly large engineering credits.

At Action Park is without doubt the finest article in the Shellac catalogue, each track a tightly honed rock gem. It took me a couple of listens to get into this when my friend introduced me but...after those listens I've come to realise that this represents a benchmark in modern music and is a clear manifesto of what makes great rock music.

Post-rock in its attitude, math-rock in its delivery, AAP should be in every rock musician's library as a refresher course in what the point of rock music really is.