Rites of Spring (album)
| Rites of Spring | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 1985 | |||
| Recorded | February 1985 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:32 | |||
| Label | Dischord | |||
| Producer | Ian MacKaye | |||
| Rites of Spring chronology | ||||
| ||||
Rites of Spring is the only studio album by American post-hardcore band Rites of Spring. It was recorded at Inner Ear Studios in February 1985 and released on vinyl in June 1985 as Dischord Records #16. The album was produced by Ian MacKaye and contains twelve songs.
The album was re-released on CD and cassette in 1987, with an additional track from the same session, "Other Way Around", as well as the four songs from the Rites' follow-up EP, All Through a Life (track 14–17), recorded January 1986 and released in 1987 (Dischord #22). End on End features the same cover as the debut album.
Production[edit]
Guy Picciotto has said of the recording process for the album:
"That record was way closer to the live experience than the first demo. It was recorded with all four of us in one tiny room facing each other with no separation at all. We tracked all the music live in one take in the dark with a strobe going. Later on, I recorded all the vocals for the 13 songs in one take as well, one after the other. There are barely any overdubs at all — just some backups, a few bits of percussion and maybe a guitar part here and there. We played the improv ending on the last song, ‘End On End,’ until the tape ran out and rolled off the reels."[1]
Music[edit]
Influenced by The Faith, Rites of Spring continued to combine desperate introspective lyrics with angry melody-tinged songwriting that moved even further from the hardcore punk formula.[2]
Reception[edit]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
The album was listed at number 30 on Kurt Cobain's top 50 favorite albums.[4][5] Pitchfork online magazine ranked it number 96 on its list of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.[6] It has appeared on various best-of emo album lists by Consequence of Sound,[7] Kerrang!,[8] LA Weekly,[9] and Rolling Stone,[10] as well as by journalists Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelley in their book Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture (2007).[11] Metal Hammer named the album in their list of "the 10 essential post-hardcore albums."[12]
Kelefa Sanneh described it as, "The first emo album, and still one of the greatest. It was a volatile album, with Picciotto screaming lyrics that a different singer may have chosen to whisper.[13]
Track listing[edit]
All songs written by Rites of Spring.
Side one[edit]
- "Spring" – 2:09
- "Deeper Than Inside" – 2:17
- "For Want Of" – 3:09
- "Hain's Point" – 2:08
- "All There Is" – 2:54
- "Drink Deep" – 4:54
Side two[edit]
- "Theme" – 2:19
- "By Design" – 2:38
- "Remainder" – 2:30
- "Persistent Vision" – 2:21
- "Nudes" – 2:48
- "End On End" – 7:23
Personnel[edit]
Rites of Spring[edit]
- Guy Picciotto – vocals, guitar
- Eddie Janney – guitar
- Mike Fellows – bass
- Brendan Canty – drums
Additional performers[edit]
Production[edit]
- Ian MacKaye – production
- Michael Hampton – production
References[edit]
Citations
- ^ Dugan, John (November 3, 2008). "End on End: RITES OF SPRING: Highlights from The DC Issue". STOPSMILING. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
- ^ "Subject to Change 12" EP". Kill from the Heart. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
- ^ Kantor, Matt. "End on End - Rites of Spring | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ "Top 50 by Nirvana [MIXTAPE]". Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
- ^ Cross, Charles; Gaar, Gillian G.; Gendron, Bob; Yarm, Mark; Martens, Todd (2013). Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-7603-4521-4.
- ^ "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. November 21, 2002. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
- ^ Chelosky, Danielle (March 2, 2020). "10 Emo Albums Every Music Fan Should Own". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on March 8, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ De Freitas, Ryan (May 12, 2020). "The 20 Best Pre-2000s Emo Albums". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ "Top 20 Emo Albums in History: Complete List". LA Weekly. October 10, 2013. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
- ^ "40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 4, 2019. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ Simon; Kelley 2007, p. 167
- ^ Johnston, Emma (September 28, 2016). "The 10 essential post-hardcore albums". Metal Hammer. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ Kelefa Sanneh (2021). Major Labels. Canongate. p. 268. ISBN 9781838855932.
Sources
- Simon, Leslie; Kelley, Trevor (2007). Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture. New York City: HarperEntertainment. ISBN 978-0-06-119539-6.
