CRACKER
''SUNRISE IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY''
MAY 5 2009
39:46
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1 Yalla Yalla (Let's Go) 03:16
2 Show Me How This Thing Works 02:50
3 Turn On Tune In Drop Out With Me 04:11
4 We All Shine A Light (Featuring John Doe) 03:38
John Doe - Vocals
Craig Harmon - Keyboards
5 Hand Me My Inhaler 01:32
6 Friends 04:14 (Johnny Hickman)
Patterson Hood - Vocals
7 I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right 04:51
Craig Harmonn - Keyboards
8 Time Machine 02:05
9 Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is) 04:52
10 Darling One( Featuring Adam Duritz) 04:43 (David Lowery, Mark Linkous, Susanna Hoffs)
Backing Vocals - Adam Duritz, Brooke Fauver, Kristin Hood, Shannon Worrell
Banjo, Steel Guitar (Pedal), Guitar (Additional) - Alan Weatherhead
Bass, Guitar (Additional), Backing Vocals - David Immergluck
Drums, Percussion - Miguel Urbiztondo-Rodriguez
Guitar (Additional) - Kevn Kinney, Matt Nicholls
Keyboards - Bryan Walthall
11 Sunrise In The Land Of Milk and Honey 03:26
Tracks By David Lowery & Johnny Hickman, Except As Indicated
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Sal Maida/Bass Guitar
Frank Funaro/Drums, Percussion
Johnny Hickman/Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica, Keyboards
David Barbe/Percussion
David Lowery/Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
********************
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Deming
Of all the bands that enjoyed a flirtation with fame and fortune during the alternative rock boom of the 1990s, few success stories seemed more of a fluke than Cracker. While David Lowery and Johnny Hickman were (and are) talented songwriters and the band could play tight, accessible rock & roll in a manner that startled many fans of Lowery's earlier band Camper Van Beethoven, it was clear from the outset that Cracker were only willing to set aside a certain number of their eccentricities in favor of a shot at the big time, and the longer they went on, the loopier their music became, which pleased the hardcore fans who appreciated their off-kilter humor and musical eclecticism but ensured that albums like Forever and Countrysides would never spawn a hit like "I Hate My Generation" or "Low." Now that 17 years have elapsed following the release of their first album and with the band safely removed from the intrusive eyes of the major labels, Cracker's ninth studio album, Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey, is as engaging and enjoyable as anything they have released since Kerosene Hat in 1993. Though the feel of the material is loose and easygoing, this edition of Cracker -- Lowery and Hickman on guitars and keyboards, Sal Maida on bass, and Frank Funaro on drums -- plays with an efficiency and force that make the ambling, beer-soaked country of "Friends" work just as well as the straight-ahead '70s-style hard rock of "We All Shine a Light" and the L.A. punk gestures of "Hand Me My Inhaler" (which borrows an obvious riff from X's "Los Angeles") and "Time Machine" (whose lyrics mention listening to Black Flag cassettes before opining "I think I liked 'em better with Dez Cadena"). But just when "Darling One" and "Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out with Me" have you convinced that Cracker have made an album for the masses again, Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey throws in tunes like "Yalla Yalla (Let's Go)" (which is overrun with wink-and-nudge phallic references), "Show Me How This Thing Works" (in which Lowery is befuddled by some nameless gadget from outer space), and the title tune (one of several vaguely apocalyptic messages that dot the album), and you realize that Cracker are as slyly weird as ever. Cracker are better than they've ever been at honoring both the straight and the twisted sides of their musical personality, and Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey balances them with an acrobatic skill that's impressive and a lot of fun to hear.
********************
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Greg Prato
During Cracker's heyday in the 1990s, the Virginia-based band molded elements of alternative pop/rock and country into several irreverent, buzzworthy anthems. Singer/guitarist David Lowery made no attempt to mask his affinity for traditional roots music, but his own background was far from traditional, as he spent the '80s fronting the quirky alternative outfit Camper Van Beethoven. Shortly after Camper Van Beethoven embarked on a long hiatus in 1990, Lowery began demoing new material with guitarist Johnny Hickman and bassist Davey Faragher. The three musicians named the project Cracker (although several of those early demos would later surface under the title David Lowery Demo Mixes) and set up their headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. By 1991, the band had signed a recording contract with Virgin Records and enlisted the help of several drummers (Jim Keltner, Rick Jaeger, and Phil Jones), all of whom helped shape the sound of Cracker's debut album.
Kerosene Hat
Cracker released their self-titled debut in 1992. Filled with guitar-driven rock songs and gravelly vocals, the album established Cracker's presence in the rock arena, and "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)" became a number one modern rock single. A year later, the sophomore effort Kerosene Hat spawned another popular MTV/radio hit with "Low," which charted in the U.K. and also cracked the pop charts in America. The album went platinum as a result. By the time Golden Age arrived in 1996, however, the band's hitmaking lineup had begun to splinter. Bassist Faragher was replaced by Bob Rupe, while the drum spot was occupied by a trio of players: Charlie Quintana, Eddie Bayers, and Johnny Hott.
Golden Age spun off another hit with "I Hate My Generation," and the band toured in support of its release. After returning home from the road, Lowery began focusing on his Richmond-based recording studio, Sound of Music, where he produced such artists as Joan Osborne, Lauren Hoffman, Magnet, Fighting Gravity, and Sparklehorse. He also co-produced the Counting Crows along with former Camper Van Beethoven producer Dennis Herring. Lowery's work wasn't limited to the music world, however, as he co-starred in director Eric Drilling's independent film River Red (also composing the film's score) and appeared in another film, director Matt Leutwyler's This Space Between Us.
Gentleman's Blues
By the end of the decade, Cracker seemed to have settled on a somewhat permanent lineup comprised of drummer Frank Funaro, keyboardist/accordion player Kenny Margolis, and the preexisting core of Lowery, Hickman, and Rupe. This version of the band issued 1998's Gentleman's Blues, a more reflective album that saw the musicians paying homage to Southern rock and blues. Camper Van Beethoven unexpectedly re-formed shortly thereafter, and Lowery began splitting his time between both bands, whose other members frequently joined whichever group was on the road.
Forever
Cracker (along with select musicians from CVB) issued a live album, 2001's Traveling Apothecary Show & Revue, and Cracker followed its release with Forever (2002) and a rowdy set of country covers called Countrysides in 2003. The latter album also marked Cracker's first effort as an independent band, as they had recently left the Virgin roster. Three years later, Cracker returned (this time via the U.K.-based indie label Cooking Vinyl) with Greenland, which featured help from guest artists David Immerglück and Mark Linkous. Another concert release, Live in Berlin, December 2006, arrived in 2008, and the studio effort Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey, which cracked Billboard's Top 200 chart, followed one year later. That same year the band went on a tour of Iraq, playing for U.S. troops while working on the "Yalla Yalla" video, which was produced by compiling YouTube videos of American soldiers stationed overseas. Public radio network NPR profiled the tour on their weekly series The Show. A year later, the band played a series of sold-out shows with Camper Van Beethoven dubbed the 2010 Traveling Apothecary Tour.
Berkeley to Bakersfield
In 2014, the core Cracker trio of Lowery, Hickman, and Faragher returned to the recording studio, joined by drummer Michael Urbano and keyboardist Thayer Sarrano. By the year's end, the group had released an ambitious two-disc set, Berkeley to Bakersfield, with the "Berkeley" disc devoted to Cracker's trademark brand of alternative rock and the "Bakersfield" chapter finding the band once again digging into their country influences with the help of a handful of guest musicians.
********************
WEBSITE
********************
TO THE TOP
********************
''SUNRISE IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY''
MAY 5 2009
39:46
********************
1 Yalla Yalla (Let's Go) 03:16
2 Show Me How This Thing Works 02:50
3 Turn On Tune In Drop Out With Me 04:11
4 We All Shine A Light (Featuring John Doe) 03:38
John Doe - Vocals
Craig Harmon - Keyboards
5 Hand Me My Inhaler 01:32
6 Friends 04:14 (Johnny Hickman)
Patterson Hood - Vocals
7 I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right 04:51
Craig Harmonn - Keyboards
8 Time Machine 02:05
9 Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is) 04:52
10 Darling One( Featuring Adam Duritz) 04:43 (David Lowery, Mark Linkous, Susanna Hoffs)
Backing Vocals - Adam Duritz, Brooke Fauver, Kristin Hood, Shannon Worrell
Banjo, Steel Guitar (Pedal), Guitar (Additional) - Alan Weatherhead
Bass, Guitar (Additional), Backing Vocals - David Immergluck
Drums, Percussion - Miguel Urbiztondo-Rodriguez
Guitar (Additional) - Kevn Kinney, Matt Nicholls
Keyboards - Bryan Walthall
11 Sunrise In The Land Of Milk and Honey 03:26
Tracks By David Lowery & Johnny Hickman, Except As Indicated
********************
Sal Maida/Bass Guitar
Frank Funaro/Drums, Percussion
Johnny Hickman/Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica, Keyboards
David Barbe/Percussion
David Lowery/Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
********************
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Deming
Of all the bands that enjoyed a flirtation with fame and fortune during the alternative rock boom of the 1990s, few success stories seemed more of a fluke than Cracker. While David Lowery and Johnny Hickman were (and are) talented songwriters and the band could play tight, accessible rock & roll in a manner that startled many fans of Lowery's earlier band Camper Van Beethoven, it was clear from the outset that Cracker were only willing to set aside a certain number of their eccentricities in favor of a shot at the big time, and the longer they went on, the loopier their music became, which pleased the hardcore fans who appreciated their off-kilter humor and musical eclecticism but ensured that albums like Forever and Countrysides would never spawn a hit like "I Hate My Generation" or "Low." Now that 17 years have elapsed following the release of their first album and with the band safely removed from the intrusive eyes of the major labels, Cracker's ninth studio album, Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey, is as engaging and enjoyable as anything they have released since Kerosene Hat in 1993. Though the feel of the material is loose and easygoing, this edition of Cracker -- Lowery and Hickman on guitars and keyboards, Sal Maida on bass, and Frank Funaro on drums -- plays with an efficiency and force that make the ambling, beer-soaked country of "Friends" work just as well as the straight-ahead '70s-style hard rock of "We All Shine a Light" and the L.A. punk gestures of "Hand Me My Inhaler" (which borrows an obvious riff from X's "Los Angeles") and "Time Machine" (whose lyrics mention listening to Black Flag cassettes before opining "I think I liked 'em better with Dez Cadena"). But just when "Darling One" and "Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out with Me" have you convinced that Cracker have made an album for the masses again, Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey throws in tunes like "Yalla Yalla (Let's Go)" (which is overrun with wink-and-nudge phallic references), "Show Me How This Thing Works" (in which Lowery is befuddled by some nameless gadget from outer space), and the title tune (one of several vaguely apocalyptic messages that dot the album), and you realize that Cracker are as slyly weird as ever. Cracker are better than they've ever been at honoring both the straight and the twisted sides of their musical personality, and Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey balances them with an acrobatic skill that's impressive and a lot of fun to hear.
********************
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Greg Prato
During Cracker's heyday in the 1990s, the Virginia-based band molded elements of alternative pop/rock and country into several irreverent, buzzworthy anthems. Singer/guitarist David Lowery made no attempt to mask his affinity for traditional roots music, but his own background was far from traditional, as he spent the '80s fronting the quirky alternative outfit Camper Van Beethoven. Shortly after Camper Van Beethoven embarked on a long hiatus in 1990, Lowery began demoing new material with guitarist Johnny Hickman and bassist Davey Faragher. The three musicians named the project Cracker (although several of those early demos would later surface under the title David Lowery Demo Mixes) and set up their headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. By 1991, the band had signed a recording contract with Virgin Records and enlisted the help of several drummers (Jim Keltner, Rick Jaeger, and Phil Jones), all of whom helped shape the sound of Cracker's debut album.
Kerosene Hat
Cracker released their self-titled debut in 1992. Filled with guitar-driven rock songs and gravelly vocals, the album established Cracker's presence in the rock arena, and "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)" became a number one modern rock single. A year later, the sophomore effort Kerosene Hat spawned another popular MTV/radio hit with "Low," which charted in the U.K. and also cracked the pop charts in America. The album went platinum as a result. By the time Golden Age arrived in 1996, however, the band's hitmaking lineup had begun to splinter. Bassist Faragher was replaced by Bob Rupe, while the drum spot was occupied by a trio of players: Charlie Quintana, Eddie Bayers, and Johnny Hott.
Golden Age spun off another hit with "I Hate My Generation," and the band toured in support of its release. After returning home from the road, Lowery began focusing on his Richmond-based recording studio, Sound of Music, where he produced such artists as Joan Osborne, Lauren Hoffman, Magnet, Fighting Gravity, and Sparklehorse. He also co-produced the Counting Crows along with former Camper Van Beethoven producer Dennis Herring. Lowery's work wasn't limited to the music world, however, as he co-starred in director Eric Drilling's independent film River Red (also composing the film's score) and appeared in another film, director Matt Leutwyler's This Space Between Us.
Gentleman's Blues
By the end of the decade, Cracker seemed to have settled on a somewhat permanent lineup comprised of drummer Frank Funaro, keyboardist/accordion player Kenny Margolis, and the preexisting core of Lowery, Hickman, and Rupe. This version of the band issued 1998's Gentleman's Blues, a more reflective album that saw the musicians paying homage to Southern rock and blues. Camper Van Beethoven unexpectedly re-formed shortly thereafter, and Lowery began splitting his time between both bands, whose other members frequently joined whichever group was on the road.
Forever
Cracker (along with select musicians from CVB) issued a live album, 2001's Traveling Apothecary Show & Revue, and Cracker followed its release with Forever (2002) and a rowdy set of country covers called Countrysides in 2003. The latter album also marked Cracker's first effort as an independent band, as they had recently left the Virgin roster. Three years later, Cracker returned (this time via the U.K.-based indie label Cooking Vinyl) with Greenland, which featured help from guest artists David Immerglück and Mark Linkous. Another concert release, Live in Berlin, December 2006, arrived in 2008, and the studio effort Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey, which cracked Billboard's Top 200 chart, followed one year later. That same year the band went on a tour of Iraq, playing for U.S. troops while working on the "Yalla Yalla" video, which was produced by compiling YouTube videos of American soldiers stationed overseas. Public radio network NPR profiled the tour on their weekly series The Show. A year later, the band played a series of sold-out shows with Camper Van Beethoven dubbed the 2010 Traveling Apothecary Tour.
Berkeley to Bakersfield
In 2014, the core Cracker trio of Lowery, Hickman, and Faragher returned to the recording studio, joined by drummer Michael Urbano and keyboardist Thayer Sarrano. By the year's end, the group had released an ambitious two-disc set, Berkeley to Bakersfield, with the "Berkeley" disc devoted to Cracker's trademark brand of alternative rock and the "Bakersfield" chapter finding the band once again digging into their country influences with the help of a handful of guest musicians.
********************
WEBSITE
********************
TO THE TOP
********************