''Chain'' is the third studio album by the American rock band
Pylon, released in 1990.
It was released after a seven-year hiatus.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
had lobbied the band to record again, suggesting that Pylon could use R.E.M.'s practice space.
Critical reception
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
thought that Pylon's "low registers, deliberate silences, and inexorably unmechanical beat all feed a muscular musical solidity with no real parallels—10 years after, the only band that sounds remotely similar is the Gang of Four."
''
Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...
'' wrote: "While retaining the band's traditional bite, ''Chain'' gets more melody and texture from
anessaBriscoe-Hay's singing and Randy Bewley's sharp guitar jabs."
[ '']Newsday
''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...
'' noted the "monomaniacal infatuation with thick bass notes and a steady, pneumatic beat."The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' determined that "there's still plenty of bounce in the band's sleek, steel-springed sound."
Track listing
*All songs written and arranged by Pylon.
#"Look Alive" – 4:19
#"Catch" – 3:37
#"B-Complex" – 2:25
#"Sugarpop" – 3:25
#"There It Is" – 3:32
#"Springtime" – 3:38
#"This / That" – 3:02
#"Go" – 3:57
#"Crunch" – 3:39
#"Very Right" – 3:49
#"Metal" – 2:50
#"Outside" – 2:47
#"Sloganistic" – 2:36
Personnel
* Vanessa Ellison – vocals
*Randy Bewley – guitars
*Michael Lachowski – bass
*Curtis Crowe – drums
References
{{Authority control
Pylon (band) albums
1990 albums
Albums produced by Scott Litt