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Star Maps (album)

{{other uses|Star map (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Star Maps

| type = Studio album

| artist = Possum Dixon

| cover = Star Maps.jpg

| border = yes

| alt =

| released = January 9, 1996{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ywEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Star+Maps+possum+dixon+1996&pg=RA1-PA43 |title=Reviews |last=Stewart |first=Allison |work=CMJ New Music Monthly |date=March 22, 1996 |publisher=CMJ Network, Inc. |via=Google Books}}

| recorded = Spring 1995, Los Angeles

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Alternative rock

| length = 42:25

| label = Interscope

| producer = Tim O'Heir

| prev_title = Possum Dixon

| prev_year = 1993

| next_title = New Sheets

| next_year = 1998

}}

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score ={{Rating|3|5}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/star-maps-mw0000646802 |title=Star Maps - Possum Dixon | Songs, Reviews, Credits |website=AllMusic}}

|rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last=Larkin |first=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=6 |page=608 |edition=4th |isbn=978-0195313734}}

|rev3 = MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide

|rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |editor-last1=Graff |editor-first1=Gary |editor-last2=Durcholz |editor-first2=Daniel |date=1999 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=888}}

}}

Star Maps is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Possum Dixon.{{Cite web |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/1996-02-16/530584/ |title=JULIE & SHELLEY BENEFIT |website=The Austin Chronicle |date=February 16, 1996}} It was released in 1996 on Interscope Records.

Critical reception

Robert Levine of Trouser Press called the album a "more mature effort [that] lacks some of its predecessor’s raw energy," writing that "though the stylistic expansion is admirable, Possum Dixon can’t disguise the fact that its basic strength remains stripped-down art-punk."{{cite web |title=Possum Dixon |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/possum-dixon/ |last=Levine |first=Robert |website=Trouser Press |access-date=December 22, 2020}} Hobart Rowland of the Houston Press wrote that the album "tears down the Southern California myth with a finality reminiscent of L.A.-bashing works such as X's Los Angeles and the Eagles' Hotel California -- though in a context and style more akin to the tense intellect of the Velvet Underground and early Talking Heads."{{Cite web |url=https://www.houstonpress.com/music/static-6571853 |title=Static |first=Hobart|last=Rowland |date=February 15, 1996 |website=Houston Press}} Rick Reger of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the band "garnishes its unassuming rockers with vibes, electric piano and mellotron to generate some unfashionably fun, tuneful bashing."{{Cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-08-02-9608020131-story.html |title=JAWBOX-ING |first=Rick |last=Reger |website=Chicago Tribune |date=August 2, 1996 }} Allison Stewart of CMJ New Music Monthly felt the album was "more of a good time than revisited new wave usually allows for", noting its "so-dark-they're-funny songs" and concluding that it was "an airless and dark, almost eerily self-contained piece that consistently undersells itself."

Spin included the album on its list of "The 10 Best Albums You Didn't Hear in '96," its annual review of relatively below-the-radar releases.{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGB0iIRXtJEC&dq=Star+Maps+possum+dixon+spin&pg=PA61 |title=The 10 Best Albums You Didn't Hear in '96 |work=Spin |date=January 22, 1997 |publisher=SPIN Media LLC |via=Google Books}}

Track listing

All lyrics by Rob Zabrecky; all music by Zabrecky, except where noted.{{cite AV media notes |title=Star Maps |year=1996 |publisher=Interscope Records |type=CD liner notes |id=92625-2}}

  1. "Go West" – 3:04
  2. "In Her Disco" – 2:43
  3. "Radio Comets" (Zabrecky, O'Sullivan, Chavez) – 4:19
  4. "Party Tonight" – 3:52
  5. "Emergency's About to End" – 2:36
  6. "General Electric" (Zabrecky, O'Sullivan) – 2:39
  7. "Crashing Your Planet" – 3:01
  8. "Personals" – 4:40
  9. "Reds" – 2:07
  10. "Skid Marks" (Zabrecky, O'Sullivan) – 2:18
  11. "Artificial Sunlight" (Zabrecky, O'Sullivan, Chavez) – 3:15
  12. "Apartment Song" (Zabrecky, O'Sullivan, Chavez) – 7:51

Personnel

Credits adapted from CD liner notes.

Possum Dixon

Additional musicians

  • Rich Treuel – drums
  • Josh Freese – drums
  • Byron Reynolds – drums
  • "Sneaky" Pete Tomlinson – additional percussion

Technical

  • Tim O'Heir – producer, engineer
  • Phil Kaffel – additional mixing
  • Chuck Reed – additional mixing
  • Rob Zabrecky – design
  • Robert O'Sullivan – design
  • Kim Holt – design

References

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Possum Dixon albums

Category:1996 albums

Category:Interscope Records albums