''Seven Days in Sammystown'' is the third studio album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Wall of Voodoo Wall of Voodoo was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California who were active from 1977 until disbanding in 1989. Though largely an underground act for the majority of its existence, the band came to prominence when its 1982 single " ...

, released in 1985. This was the first Wall of Voodoo album to include

Andy Prieboy Andy Prieboy (born April 17, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, and author. He was lead singer of the band Wall of Voodoo from 1983 to 1988. Later, he produced solo albums, musicals, and a novel. Life and career Prieboy was born in Los ...

on vocals and Ned Leukhardt on drums—following the departure of frontman

Stan Ridgway Stanard "Stan" Ridgway (born April 5, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, and film and television composer known for his distinctive voice, dramatic lyrical narratives, and eclectic solo albums. He was the original lead singer and a founding ...

and percussionist

Joe Nanini Oliver Joseph Nanini (March 26, 1955 – December 4, 2000) was an American rock drummer, most famous for being the percussionist and a founding member of New wave music, new wave group Wall of Voodoo during their heyday in the 1980s. He was kno ...

—and also features the return of original bassist

Bruce Moreland Bruce "Ravens" Moreland (born January 22, 1959) is an American rock musician and songwriter. He has worked with such bands as Wall of Voodoo (with his brother Marc Moreland), The Weirdos, Nervous Gender, and Concrete Blonde among others. As of ...

. It includes their

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Merle Travis Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born in Rosewood, Kentucky, his songs' lyrics were often about the lives and the economic exploitation of Ameri ...

' "

Dark as a Dungeon "Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in a shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions. The s ...

". The track " Far Side of Crazy" is featured in the 1985 movie ''

Head Office Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

''. The album reached No. 50 on the Australian charts.

Reception

In a retrospective review,

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 ...

's Rudyard Kennedy judged the album's biggest flaw as retaining the Wall of Voodoo name without the distinctive presences of Ridgway and Nanini. Kennedy cited "Business of Love" and "Big City" as examples of failed attempts to imitate the original band, while declaring "Far Side of Crazy", "Room With a View", "Dark as a Dungeon" and "(Don't Spill My) Courage" to all be highlights. ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' said, "The record plays like the sound track to an Eastwood cowboy film where somebody slipped some mescaline into the cast's box lunches. This is haunting, desolate music that's like the theme from ''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (, literally "''The good, the ugly, the bad''") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Cleef as "the Bad", and Eli Wallach a ...

'' performed by the crazies who hang around the bus station in places like Vegas."

Reissues

''Seven Days in Sammystown'' was released on CD in 1989 by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

(USA) on the IRS label and by

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

(Australia). In 2012, the album was remastered and re-released by Australian reissue label

Raven Records Raven Records was an Australian record label that specialised in retrospectives and reissues or recordings by American, British and Australian artists. Raven Records was established in 1979 by Glenn A. Baker, Kevin Mueller and Peter Shillito ...

as part of a double CD set with successive album ''

Happy Planet Happy Planet is a private company in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, known for making organic juices and smoothies. The company was started in 1994 by Randal Ius and Gregor Robertson. They originally started out with one farm producing carr ...

'', live album '' The Ugly Americans in Australia'' and three non album bonus tracks.

Track listing

;Side one #" Far Side of Crazy" (

) – 3:55 #"This Business of Love" (Chas T. Gray) – 4:25 #"

Faded Love "Faded Love" is a Western swing song written by Bob Wills, his father John Wills, and his brother, Billy Jack Wills. The tune is considered to be an exemplar of the Western swing fiddle component of American fiddle. The melody came from an 1856 ...

" (

Bob Wills James Robert "Bob" Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although Spade C ...

, John Wills) – :40 #"Mona" (

) – 4:55 #"Room With a View" (Prieboy) – 2:47 #"Blackboard Sky" (Prieboy) – 4:37 ;Side two #"Big City" (Gray,

Marc Moreland Marc Moreland (January 8, 1958 – March 13, 2002) was an American rock musician. He was the former guitarist for rock band Wall of Voodoo, punk band the Skulls, and rock bands Pretty and Twisted and Department of Crooks. He also released a solo ...

, B. Moreland) – 4:20 #"

" (

) – 4:40 #"Museums" (M. Moreland) – 4:21 #"Tragic Vaudeville" (B. Moreland) – 3:25 #"(Don't Spill My) Courage" (Gray, M. Moreland) – 4:15 *The original LP sleeve contains three errors: "This Business of Love" is listed as "Business of Love"; "Dark as a Dungeon" is listed as "Dark as the Dungeon"; and "Faded Love" is not listed at all. The correct track listing appears on the LP's label, as well as the CD and cassette, although the "Dark as the Dungeon" error can appear on some MP3 listings.

Personnel

Wall of Voodoo *Chas T. Gray – keyboards, vocal backing *

– bass, keyboards *

– vocals, keyboards *Ned Leukhardt – drums, percussion *

– guitars Additional musician * John Parrish – additional percussion ("Museums", "Far Side of Crazy") Technical *

Ian Broudie Ian Zachary Broudie (born 4 August 1958) is an English musician and singer-songwriter from Liverpool. After emerging from the post-punk scene in Liverpool in the late 1970s as a member of Big in Japan, Broudie went on to produce albums (somet ...

– producer *Pete Hammond – remixing ("Far Side of Crazy") *

Gil Norton Gil Norton (born in Liverpool) is an English record producer known for his work with alternative rock bands such as Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen, Foo Fighters, Tribe, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, Feeder, the Distillers, Maxïm ...

– engineer *Dave Powell – engineer *Ray Roberts – cover painting *Scott Lindgren – photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control Wall of Voodoo albums 1985 albums I.R.S. Records albums Albums produced by Ian Broudie