Lived to Tell
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Lived to Tell
| type = studio
| artist = Eleventh Dream Day
| cover = Lived to Tell.jpg
| alt =
| released = 1991
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = Rock
| length =
| label = Atlantic
| producer = Paul McKenna
| prev_title = Borscht
| prev_year = 1990
| next_title = Two Sweeties
| next_year = 1992
}}
Lived to Tell is an album by the American alternative rock band Eleventh Dream Day, released in 1991.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/eleventh-dream-day-mn0000167770/biography|title=Eleventh Dream Day | Biography & History|website=AllMusic}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QurB9YiFO9QC&pg=PA75|title=Spins|magazine=SPIN|date=March 1, 1991|publisher=SPIN Media LLC|via=Google Books}} Like the band's other two Atlantic Records albums, Lived to Tell was a commercial disappointment.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tgWco-s-Zp4C&pg=PT83|title=It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music|first=Amanda|last=Petrusich|date=August 19, 2008|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|via=Google Books}} The band supported the album with a North American tour.{{cite news |last1=Abbott |first1=Jim |title=New Tix |work=Orlando Sentinel |date=1 Feb 1991 |department=Calendar |page=3}}
Production
Produced by Paul McKenna, the album was recorded in Cub Run, Kentucky, in a studio that had been built in an old barn. All four band members contributed to the songwriting.{{cite news |last1=Robins |first1=Wayne |title=Four Dream Day Believers |work=Newsday |date=27 Jan 1991 |department=Part II |page=15}}
Critical reception
{{music ratings
|rev1 = AllMusic
|rev1score = {{rating|4.5|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/lived-to-tell-mw0000691709|title=Lived to Tell - Eleventh Dream Day | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}
|rev2 = Austin American-Statesman
|rev2score = {{rating|3.5|4}}{{cite news |last1=McLeese |first1=Don |title=Eleventh Dream Day offers musical catharsis |work=Austin American-Statesman |date=31 Jan 1991 |department=Onward |page=18}}
|rev3= Calgary Herald
|rev3score = B+{{cite news |last1=Muretich |first1=James |title=Recent Releases |work=Calgary Herald |date=3 Feb 1991 |page=F5}}
|rev4 = Robert Christgau
|rev5 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev5score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=3 |pages=254–255}}
|rev6 = Entertainment Weekly
|rev6score = B{{Cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1991/02/15/lived-tell/|title=Lived to Tell|magazine=Entertainment Weekly}}
|rev7 = MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide
|rev7score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=384}}
|rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
|rev8score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |page=223}}
}}
Entertainment Weekly wrote that the band "sport a wild instrumental attack, oblique lyrics, and a sturdy, unflinching belief in the healing effects of a silky, soaring guitar." Robert Christgau thought that "a notable guitar sound evolves into an undeniable band sound, roots/trad sonics (steel and slide under lead) and rhythms (buried hints of r&b strut and shuffle) just barely keeping their balance." Trouser Press opined that some songs "waver instead of stampede; for the first time, the band seems to know where they’re going, and that takes some joy out of the ride."{{cite web |title=Eleventh Dream Day |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/eleventh-dream-day/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=1 August 2021}}
The New York Times wrote: "When the tempos are fast and the guitarists strum at top speed, the songs emerge in a passionate rush. But when songs grow more leisurely, collegiate pretensions emerge; songs called 'Daedalus' and 'It's All a Game' are just the clichés their titles promise."{{cite news |last1=Pareles |first1=Jon |title=Recordings View: Gazing Into an Opaque Crystal Ball |work=The New York Times |date=17 Feb 1991 |page=A26}} The Chicago Tribune deemed Lived to Tell "an album that ranks as one of the best ever made by a Chicago band."{{cite news |last1=Kot |first1=Greg |title=Eleventh Heaven |work=Chicago Tribune |date=31 Jan 1991 |department=Tempo |page=9}} The Boston Globe concluded that "the band's cleverly oblique lyrics are often lost in the guitar din, but for pure energy, you won't find a hotter new band."{{cite news |last1=Morse |first1=Steve |title=Recordings |work=The Boston Globe |date=31 Jan 1991 |department=Calendar |page=10}}
AllMusic wrote that "[Rick] Rizzo and Beveridge Bean make a fantastic pair of front singers, strong without being overbearing, on joint harmonies hitting something not far off from the brilliant combination of X's John Doe and Exene Cervenka."
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing =
| title1 = Rose of Jericho
| length1 = 3:42
| title2 = Dream of a Sleeping Sheep
| length2 = 3:15
| title3 = I Could Be Lost
| length3 = 3:38
| title4 = It's Not My World
| length4 = 4:58
| title5 = You Know What It Is
| length5 = 3:41
| title6 = Frozen Mile
| length6 = 4:22
| title7 = Strung Up and/or Out
| length7 = 3:14
| title8 = North of Wasteland
| length8 = 3:16
| title9 = It's All a Game
| length9 = 4:32
| title10 = Trouble
| length10 = 2:41
| title11 = There's This Thing
| length11 = 4:00
| title12 = Daedalus
| length12 = 3:41
| title13 = Angels Spread Your Wings
| length13 = 2:54
| total_length =
}}
Personnel
- Janet Beveridge Bean - drums, vocals
- Baird Figi - guitar
- Douglas McCombs - bass
- Rick Rizzo - guitar, vocals