''Sticks and Stones'' is the ninth

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 the American

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

, Moe. It was released on January 22, 2008, by Fatboy Records, almost one year to the day after the release of their last studio album, ''

The Conch ''The Conch'' is the eighth studio album by the United States, American rock band Moe (band), Moe. It was released on January 23, 2007, by Fatboy Records. ''The Conch'' was Moe's first studio release in four years. History Since 2004, the band ...

''. It was the first Moe album to also be released on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

History

In the fall of 2007, Moe rented an old

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in the

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area where they could record new material at their leisure. This is a departure for the band since on their last two previous studio albums, ''The Conch'' (2007) and '' Wormwood'' (2003), the band had performed their new songs for a live audience extensively and even used audio recordings from the shows to mix with the studio recordings. The seven songs not previously displayed for the album were "wrote and recorded ... in about three weeks" according to guitarist

Al Schnier Al Schnier (born January 9, 1968) is a musician most noted for being one of two guitarists for the American jam band Moe. History Schnier was born on January 9, 1968, in Syracuse, New York. He attended New Hartford Central High School in Onei ...

. Allaire Studios provided final mixing while the mastering was done by

Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...

. Guest appearances by Allie Kral,

Umphrey's McGee Umphrey's McGee, sometimes stylized as UM, is an American rock band originally from South Bend, Indiana. The band experiments with many musical styles, including rock, metal, funk, jazz, blues, reggae, electronic, bluegrass, country, and ...

, Swampadelica's Nadine LaFond and others were included on ''Sticks and Stones''.

Reception

The album received mostly positive reviews. Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Glide magazine all rated the album 3.5 stars out of 5. The album also received a very positive review at Jambase, which states that "...the result is moe.'s most concise and well-written album to date," and, "The ten tunes on Sticks And Stones are short and to the point, with the focus on moe's skill as songwriters rather than their collective and considerable musical prowess" Based on 16 customer reviews at

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, 10 people gave it 4 stars or better. Most common criticisms of the album included the lack of extended solos, and that the songs could have used some better development by testing them out on the road more (only "Conviction Song" and "All Roads Lead to Home" had been previously performed live). Overall, the album fared about the same as their previous studio album,

, on the ''

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'' Music charts.

Track listing

# Cathedral – 3:56 # Sticks and Stones – 3:36 # Darkness – 2:50 # Conviction Song – 5:04 # Z0Z (Zed Nought Zee)* – 4:38 # Deep This Time – 4:15 # All Roads Lead to Home – 3:16 # September – 3:48 # Queen of Everything – 6:13 # Raise a Glass – 2:59

Personnel

Chuck Garvey Chuck Garvey is one of two guitarists for the American rock band moe. His playing has been influenced by Frank Zappa, Mick Ronson, David Bowie, Pete Townshend, Andy Summers, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He lives in the Cincinnati, Ohio ...

– lead

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Rob Derhak Robert Derhak, also known simply as Rob, is the bass guitar player and a founding member of the American jam band moe. History Derhak's earliest known time performing as a member of a band was on Halloween 1989, playing at a party with guita ...

– lead

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Vinnie Amico –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, percussion, vocals *

– lead vocals,

, keyboards, mandolin, accordion * Jim Loughlin –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, marimba, vibraphone, vocals

Credits

* John Siket – producer

Chart performance

Album

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sticks and Stones Moe (band) albums 2008 albums