Happy Hour (King Missile Album)
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''Happy Hour'' is the fifth
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by
experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
band
King Missile King Missile is an American avant-garde art rock band best known for its 1992 humorous single " Detachable Penis". Vocalist John S. Hall has fronted several disparate incarnations of the group since founding it in 1986. History King Missile ...
, and released on December 15, 1992, by
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
. The album is exactly one hour long, hence its title.


Reception

Ned Raggett of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that "due in part to the return of Kramer to production – or in this case co-production – duties, along with a slew of more immediately memorable songs, ''Happy Hour'' trumps '' The Way to Salvation'' as the peak of the band's high-profile days, an inspired collection of tunes ranging from deranged pop to full-on epic metal stomp." The critic also said "thanks to a catchy arrangement via Rick's clipped, stuttered guitar riff and the sweetly sung title phrase in the background, the result is giddy left-field nonsense." and "it's the blessed liveliness of the whole album – at a premium in the days of full-on grunge when it came out, still rare enough years later – that makes it stand up so well."
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 ...
said " Hall's surreal accounts have the vivid sense of purpose previously absent; he’s not aiming at eliciting wan smiles, he’s trying to provoke intelligent thought" and "meanwhile, the band (drummer Roger Murdock is that new face in the booklet photo) locks into diverse rock grooves that would be worth hearing even without the vocals."
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 ...
chose the band's hit
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
"Detachable Penis" as the album's "choice cut".


Track listing


Personnel

Adapted from the ''Happy Hour'' liner notes. King Missile * John S. Hall – lead vocals,
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...
*
Dave Rick David Matthew Rick is an American guitarist and former member of underground rock bands B.A.L.L.,True Bongwater, King Missile,Strong, p. 390 Phantom Tollbooth, When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water, Wonderama, and Yo La Tengo. H ...
 – guitar, production * Roger Murdock – drums, percussion, keyboards,
Emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...
, production, guitar (17) *
Chris Xefos Christopher Xefos (born January 5, 1964) is an American multi-instrumentalist musician/engineer/ producer and former member of band King Missile. He plays various instruments such as accordion, bass, piano, and synthesizer, among others. He began ...
 – bass guitar, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals, production Additional performers *Mal Rick –
clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
(17) Production and design * Annalisa – photography * Tom Bouman – design * Jola Hesselberth – cover art * Ron Jaramillo – design *
Mark Kramer Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...
 – production,
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
(9), bass guitar (17) * Inge Schaap – art direction * Steve Watson –
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...
, assistant engineering


Charts


Release history


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Happy Hour (King Missile album) King Missile albums Atlantic Records albums 1992 albums Albums produced by Kramer (musician)