Keep It Like a Secret

After feeling burned out from constructing the lengthy songs on his previous album, Perfect from Now On, Doug Martsch made a conscious decision to write shorter, more concise songs for Keep It Like a Secret.{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/article/built-to-spill-13596|title=Built to Spill - Interview|first=David|last= Peisner|date=April 28, 1999|access-date=June 20, 2015|website=The A.V. Club}}

Many of the songs on the album originated from a week's worth of band jam sessions in Boise.{{cite journal |last=Maffeo |first=Lois |year=1999 |title=Built to Spill: Secret Stars |journal=CMJ New Music Monthly |issue=March 1999 |page=22 |publisher=College Media, Inc. |location=New York City|url=http://www.cmj.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980220011510/http://www.cmj.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 20, 1998 |access-date=June 20, 2015 }} During these marathon jam sessions, which could last up to five hours at a time, Martsch used a foot pedal that triggered a tape machine to begin recording. He would later comb through the hours of recorded music and find parts that he liked, methodically building them into songs.{{cite web|url=//www.emplive.org/create/built_to_spill/rehearsing.asp |title=Elements of a Song - In the Studio with Built to Spill |date=May 28, 2006 |access-date=June 20, 2015 |website=Emplive.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060528072352/http://www.emplive.org/create/built_to_spill/rehearsing.asp |archive-date=May 28, 2006 }}

The song "You Were Right" features a collage of famous lyrics from songs by The Rolling Stones ("You Can't Always Get What You Want"), The Doors ("The End"), Jimi Hendrix ("Manic Depression"), Bob Dylan ("A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"), Bob Marley ("No Woman, No Cry"), Neil Young ("Don't Be Denied"), John Mellencamp (Jack and Diane"), Kansas ("Dust in the Wind"), Bob Seger ("Against the Wind"), and Pink Floyd ("Another Brick in the Wall"). "You Were Right" almost didn't make the album due to perceived copyright issues. At the last minute, Warner Bros. Records secured permission for the band to use the lyrics. In a 1999 interview with The A.V. Club, Martsch described how he wrote the song: "...I came up with the chorus, 'You were wrong when you said, 'Everything's gonna be all right,' and then I decided the verse would be, 'You were right when you said...' something more pessimistic. And then I knew immediately that it was going to be a bunch of clichés, and I decided to use other people's clichés."

{{album ratings

| MC = 79/100{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/keep-it-like-a-secret/built-to-spill |title=Reviews for Keep It Like a Secret by Built to Spill |publisher=Metacritic |access-date=June 22, 2016}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/keep-it-like-a-secret-mw0000047768 |title=Keep It Like a Secret – Built to Spill |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=April 22, 2016 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}

| rev2 = The Austin Chronicle

| rev2score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite news |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/1999-03-19/521595/ |title=Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret (Warner Bros.) |work=The Austin Chronicle |date=March 19, 1999 |access-date=May 11, 2016 |last=Hess |first=Christopher}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3score = B{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ew.com/article/1999/03/05/keep-it-secret |title=Keep It Like a Secret |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=March 5, 1999 |access-date=April 22, 2016 |last=Lanham |first=Tom}}

| rev4 = Melody Maker

| rev4score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite journal |title=Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret |journal=Melody Maker |date=May 16, 2000 |page=47}}

| rev5 = NME

| rev5score = 7/10{{cite journal |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19990028171323reviews.html |title=Built To Spill – Keep It Like A Secret |journal=NME |date=January 28, 1999 |access-date=April 22, 2016 |last=Martin |first=Piers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817224046/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19990028171323reviews.html |archive-date=August 17, 2000}}

| rev6 = Pitchfork

| rev6Score = 9.3/10{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1014-keep-it-like-a-secret/ |title=Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret |website=Pitchfork |date=February 23, 1999 |access-date=April 22, 2016 |last=Josephes |first=Jason}}

| rev7 = Rolling Stone

| rev7score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/keep-it-like-a-secret-20030126 |title=Keep It Like A Secret |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=February 18, 1999 |access-date=March 5, 2014 |last=Fricke |first=David |author-link=David Fricke}}

| rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev8Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Built to Spill |last=Randall |first=Mac |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |year=2004 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |editor-last=Brackett |editor-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA118 118–19] }}

| rev9 = Select

| rev9score = 3/5{{cite journal |title=Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret |journal=Select |issue=105 |date=March 1999 |last=Wilkinson |first=Roy |page=78}}

| rev10 = Spin

| rev10score = 9/10{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3R7GZ8ghL8wC&pg=PA140 |title=Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret |journal=Spin |volume=15 |issue=3 |date=March 1999 |access-date=April 22, 2016 |last=Hermes |first=Will |author-link=Will Hermes |page=140}}

}}

Keep It Like a Secret received mostly positive reviews when it was first released. On Metacritic, the album has a score of 79 out of 100, indicating "generally positive reviews."

Pitchfork{{'}}s Jason Josephes praised the album, writing "at the risk of hopping on a cliché wagon, I think I'm gonna tell all my friends about Built to Spill." In another positive review, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Keep It Like a Secret "the most immediate and, yes, accessible Built to Spill record," writing that the band "embraced the sounds of a big studio and focused their sound without sacrificing their fractured indie rock aesthetic." Kim Stitzel of MTV called the album "a great (and different) Built to Spill record, proudly displaying its strengths and reveling in its uniqueness even while making concessions to a changing world."{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/built_to_spill/139109/album.jhtml?exclude=single |title=Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret |publisher=MTV |date=February 23, 2001 |access-date=September 22, 2016 |last=Stitzel |first=Kim |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020223211743/http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/built_to_spill/139109/album.jhtml?exclude=single |archive-date=February 23, 2002 }} Christopher Hess of The Austin Chronicle wrote that Doug Martsch's "guitar vocabulary [...] gives 'Center of the Universe' an intrinsically bright tone, and infuses 'Else' with stunning beauty," while praising Scott Plouf's drumming as being "spot on throughout, providing active punctuation for the multiple layers of guitar." Spin{{'}}s Will Hermes also praised Martsch's guitar playing, writing that "Martsch is still [...] making the most beautiful baroque electric guitar murals in modern rock. Robert Christgau gave the album a two-star honorable mention rating and selected "You Were Right" and "Center of the Universe" as highlights.{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=491 |chapter=Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret |access-date=September 12, 2011 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |year=2000 |isbn=0-312-24560-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/christgausconsum00chri_0 }}

Not all contemporary reviews were positive. Trouser Press called Keep It Like a Secret "pure BTS, but without enough sparkle or rough-hewn beauty to be memorable."{{cite web |url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=built_to_spill |title=Built to Spill|website=Trouser Press |access-date=September 22, 2016 |last=Strauss |first=Neil}} In another mixed review, Q wrote, "Built to Spill sound as if they're trying too hard, and ultimately both The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev do this sort of thing with far more panache."

In 1999, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 41 on their "Top Albums of the 90s" list.{{cite web |url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/top/90s/index6.shtml |title=Top 100 Albums of the 90s |website=Pitchfork |date= |access-date=September 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001001011016/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/top/90s/index6.shtml |archive-date=October 1, 2000}} In a retrospective review published in 2013, Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club called the album "perhaps the best encapsulation of the band's oeuvre and the ever-simmering public response in a single phrase."{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/article/built-to-spills-ikeep-it-like-a-secreti-is-the-sou-102487 |title=Built To Spill's Keep It Like A Secret is the sound of harmony between extremes |website=The A.V. Club |date=September 5, 2013 |access-date=September 23, 2016 |last=MacFarland |first=Kevin}}

All songs written by Built to Spill except "Broken Chairs," which includes lyrics by the poet Uhuru Black.

{{Track listing

| total_length = 46:53

| title1 = The Plan

| length1 = 3:29

| title2 = Center of the Universe

| length2 = 2:43

| title3 = Carry the Zero

| length3 = 5:44

| title4 = Sidewalk

| length4 = 3:51

| title5 = Bad Light

| length5 = 3:22

| title6 = Time Trap

| length6 = 5:22

| title7 = Else

| length7 = 4:09

| title8 = You Were Right

| length8 = 4:45

| title9 = Temporarily Blind

| length9 = 4:48

| title10 = Broken Chairs

| length10 = 8:40

}}

{{tracklist

| total_length = 51:04

| headline = Vinyl edition bonus track

| title11 = Forget Remember When

| length11 = 4:11

}}

• Doug Martsch – lead vocals, guitar, producer
• Brett Nelson – bass
• Scott Plouf – drums

• Sam Coomes – keyboards on "Broken Chairs"
• Jim Roth – guitar

• Phil Ek – producer, engineer
• Steve Fallone – mastering
• Zack Reinig – engineer assistant
• Scott Norton, Juan Garcia – mixing assistant
• Jeff Smith – photography
• Tae Won Yu – design, art direction

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060528072352/http://www.emplive.org/create/built_to_spill/rehearsing.asp Interview about the making of Keep It Like a Secret]

{{Reflist|2}}

{{Built to Spill}}

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Category:1999 albums

Category:Built to Spill albums

Category:Warner Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Phil Ek

Category:Albums recorded at Bear Creek Studio

Category:Dream pop albums by American artists