Miami
Studio album by
The Gun Club
ReleasedSeptember 20, 1982
RecordedJune 1982
StudioBlank Tape Studios, New York
GenrePunk blues[1]
LabelAnimal Records
ProducerChris Stein
The Gun Club chronology
Fire of Love
(1981)		 Miami
(1982)		 Death Party EP
(1983)

Miami is the second studio album by American rock band the Gun Club, released in 1982.[2] It was released on Animal Records, founded by guitarist Chris Stein of Blondie.[3] Stein also produced the album.

Debbie Harry, also of Blondie, appears as a backing singer on various tracks on the album under the pseudonym "D.H. Laurence Jr." The album front cover photograph doesn't include bassist Rob Ritter who had already left the band. Before leaving, Ritter first taught all the bass-lines to Patricia Morrison, his replacement in the Gun Club and former bandmate in the Bags.[4]

Billy Idol had met up with Pierce in an L.A. bar around the time of Miami and later revealed his commercial hit "White Wedding" had been an attempt to emulate "Mother of Earth" from the album.[5] The song was covered by alt-country band the Sadies on their 2001 album Tremendous Efforts and also by Swedish band bob hund, but with lyrics in Swedish, as “Mamma din jord” on their 2019 album 0-100.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
American Songwriter[1]
Classic Rock7/10[7]
Mojo[8]
Q[9]
Record Collector[10]
Sounds[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[12]
Uncut[13]

Miami was ranked among the top fifty "Albums of the Year" for 1982 by NME.[14]

In a 1982 article about the band, Scott Isler described their approach as "nostalgic revivalism" which is "unique...in overhauling country blues for a bloodcurdling contemporary impact. Far from camping it up, Pierce respects the elemental power of his inspiration; his eerie semi-coherent imagery are in line of descent." Isler says that the band's "understated accompaniment is similarly effective with its less-is-more minimalism. A potent, unstable blend." According to Pierce, "[e]ven though we idolized an older style of music, none of us were good enough to play it! What we came up with is our own version. I find myself writing about the feeling of being lost."[15]

Track listing

All songs written by Jeffrey Lee Pierce; except as indicated.

Side one
  1. "Carry Home" - 3:14
  2. "Like Calling Up Thunder" - 2:29
  3. "Brother and Sister" - 2:57
  4. "Run Through the Jungle" (John Fogerty) - 4:07
  5. "A Devil in the Woods" - 3:05
  6. "Texas Serenade" - 4:40
Side two
  1. "Watermelon Man" (Ward Dotson, Jeffrey Lee Pierce) - 4:11
  2. "Bad Indian" - 2:37
  3. "John Hardy" (Traditional; arranged by Jeffrey Lee Pierce) - 3:21
  4. "Fire of Love" (Jody Reynolds, Stordivant Sonya) - 2:14
  5. "Sleeping in Blood City" - 3:29
  6. "Mother of Earth" - 3:21

Personnel

The Gun Club

  • Jeffrey Lee Pierce - vocals, guitar, piano, background vocals on "Watermelon Man", lead guitar on "Run Through the Jungle", "John Hardy" and "Mother of Earth"
  • Ward Dotson - lead guitar, background vocals on "Watermelon Man"
  • Rob Ritter - bass
  • Terry Graham - drums

Additional musicians

  • D.H. Laurence, Jr. - backing vocals
  • Walter Steding - fiddle on "Watermelon Man"
  • Chris Stein - producer, bongos on "Watermelon Man"
  • Mark Tomeo - steel guitar on "Texas Serenade" and "Mother of Earth"

Production

  • Joe Arlotta - session engineer
  • Butch Jones - mixing engineer
  • Chris D. - cover photographs, original design

"Special thanks to: Bob Singerman, Linda Cuckovich, Chris D., Robyn Weiss, Lois Graham, Lux Interior, Ivy Rorschach, Kid Congo, Linda Jones, Chris Stein and D.H. Laurence, Jr."

References

  1. 1 2 Horowitz, Hal (December 2, 2020). "Warm Up With An Expanded Reissue Of The Gun Club's Scorching Idiosyncratic Punk-Blues Classic 'Miami'". American Songwriter. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  2. ↑ Green, Jim; Sprague, David (2007). "Gun Club". Trouser Press. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Animal Records". Discogs.
  4. ↑ "The Gun Club story in detail". www.furious.com.
  5. ↑ Wardle, Drew. "Six definitive songs: The ultimate beginner's guide to Jeffrey Lee Pierce". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  6. ↑ Jurek, Thom. "Miami – The Gun Club". AllMusic. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  7. ↑ Martin, Gavin (February 2010). "The Gun Club: Miami / The Las Vegas Story". Classic Rock. No. 141. p. 89.
  8. ↑ "The Gun Club: Miami". Mojo. p. 114. [P]arts of Miami are ferocious.
  9. ↑ "The Gun Club: Miami". Q. p. 131. [The album] was perhaps their most coherent, 'Bad Indian' and 'Like Calling Up Thunder' coming on like a prototypical White Stripes.
  10. ↑ "The Gun Club: Miami". Record Collector. p. 83. Produced by Blondie's Chris Stein, it streamlined the sound of Gun Club's debut Fire of Love...
  11. ↑ Pouncey, Edwin (September 18, 1982). "Gun Club: Miami (Animal)". Sounds. Retrieved December 8, 2020 – via Rock's Backpages.
  12. ↑ Anderson, Steve (1995). "Gun Club". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 172–73. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  13. ↑ "The Gun Club: Miami". Uncut. p. 149. Jeffrey Lee Pierce never sounded more possessed...
  14. ↑ "Albums and Tracks of the Year". NME. 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  15. ↑ Isler, Scott (December 1982). "Gun Club". Trouser Press. Vol. 9, no. 10. New York. p. 12. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
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