Wide Swing Tremolo

{{Infobox album

| name = Wide Swing Tremolo

| type = Album

| artist = Son Volt

| cover = Wide_Swing_Tremolo.jpg

| alt =

| released = October 6, 1998

| recorded = Jajouka Studio

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Alternative country

| length = 45:34

| label = Warner Bros.

| producer = Son Volt

| prev_title = Straightaways

| prev_year = 1997

| next_title = Okemah and the Melody of Riot

| next_year = 2005

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/wide-swing-tremolo-mw0000043188|title=Wide Swing Tremolo - Son Volt | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}

| rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=7 |page=600}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3Score = B+{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/1998/10/30/wide-swing-tremolo/|title=Wide Swing Tremolo|website=EW.com}}

| rev4 = Los Angeles Times

| rev4Score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-10-ca-31012-story.html|title=Album Review / Pop|date=October 10, 1998|website=Los Angeles Times}}

| rev5 = MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide

| rev5score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=1049}}

| rev6 = Pitchfork Media

| rev6Score = 7.3/10{{Cite web|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21875-wide-swing-tremolo|title=Son Volt: Wide Swing Tremolo: Pitchfork Record Review|date=April 27, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080427025958/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21875-wide-swing-tremolo|archive-date=2008-04-27}}

| rev7 = Rolling Stone

| rev7Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/301435/review/5944042/wide_swing_tremolo|title=Wide Swing Tremolo : Son Volt : Review : Rolling Stone|date=February 24, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224020132/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/301435/review/5944042/wide_swing_tremolo|archive-date=2009-02-24}}

| rev8 = The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev8score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=2004 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=759}}

| rev9 = Wall of Sound

| rev9score = 82/100{{Cite web |last=Durchholz |first=Daniel |date= |title=Wall of Sound Review: Wide Swing Tremolo |url=http://wallofsound.go.com/archive/reviews/stories/4030_74Index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010415151933/http://wallofsound.go.com/archive/reviews/stories/4030_74Index.html |archive-date=2001-04-15 |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=Wall of Sound}}

}}

Wide Swing Tremolo is the third studio album by alternative country band Son Volt.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/son-volt-mn0000753833/biography|title=Son Volt | Biography & History|website=AllMusic}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/500929/son-volt-turn-it-up-with-tremolo/|title=Son Volt Turn It Up With Tremolo|website=MTV News}}{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} It was released in 1998 on Warner Bros. Records.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uikEAAAAMBAJ&q=Wide+Swing+Tremolo+son+volt+1998&pg=PA31|title=Distant Rumblings|work=CMJ New Music Monthly|date=November 11, 1998|publisher=CMJ Network, Inc.|via=Google Books}}

The album peaked at No. 93 on the Billboard 200.{{Cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/son-volt/chart-history/tlp/|title=Son Volt|website=Billboard}}

Production

The album was recorded in Millstadt, Illinois, at the band's rehearsal space.{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1998/09/25/son-volts-rural-rock/5cd9bb1e-55bb-4f0d-9418-f230f4ea60bc/|title=SON VOLT'S RURAL ROCK|first=Geoffrey|last=Himes|date=September 25, 1998|via=www.washingtonpost.com}} It was produced by the band and engineered by David Barbe.{{Cite web|url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/americana-no-depression-whatever-6359652|title=Americana, No Depression, Whatever|first=Michael C.|last=Harris|date=October 1, 1998|website=Miami New Times}}

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly wrote that "many of the songs ... return to the power and purity of the band’s brilliant 1995 debut, Trace. Trouser Press called the album "genuinely mediocre," writing that "the flourishes that had initially made Son Volt uncanny had transgressed into stale formula."{{cite web |title=Son Volt |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/son-volt/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=11 February 2021}} The Tucson Weekly wrote that "the songs retain Farrar's downcast approach, but they're extremely well-written this time around; and the band seems to have been reinvigorated, putting a little more into their performances than the cultivated ennui we've become accustomed to."{{Cite web|url=https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/10-22-98/sbites.htm|title=Tucson Weekly: Soundbites (October 22 - October 28, 1998)|website=www.tucsonweekly.com}}

Track listing

All songs written by Jay Farrar.

"Straightface" - 3:02
"Driving the View" - 2:57
"Jodel" - 0:41
"Medicine Hat" - 4:12
"Strands" - 5:06
"Flow" - 2:18
"Dead Man's Clothes" - 2:46
"Right on Through" - 3:08
"Chanty" - 1:27
"Carry You Down" - 3:28
"Question" - 4:00
"Streets That Time Walks" - 5:24
"Hanging Blue Side" - 3:41
"Blind Hope" - 3:17

Personnel

Jay Farrar - guitars, lead vocals, Chamberlin organ, acoustic and electric pianos, dulcimer, harmonica
Dave Boquist - guitars, lap steel guitar, fiddle, viola
Jim Boquist - bass, backing vocals, slide guitar (4), piano (7)
Mike Heidorn - drums, percussion
Eric Heywood - pedal steel guitar (13, 14)
Dave Barbe - Kenyan rattle (13)

References

Category:Son Volt albums

Category:1998 albums

Category:Warner Records albums