Life in Exile After Abdication

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Life in Exile After Abdication
Studio album by
Moe Tucker
Released1989
RecordedMarch 1988, June – October 1988
StudioNoise New York, West 34th St, New York City; Mirror Image, Gainesville, Florida
GenreAlternative pop, rock, post-punk
Length48:03
Label50 Skidillion Watts[1]
ProducerMoe Tucker
Moe Tucker chronology
Moejadkatebarry
(1987) 		Life in Exile After Abdication
(1989) 		I Spent a Week There the Other Night
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Robert ChristgauB+[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[6]

Life in Exile after Abdication is the second album by Moe Tucker, released in 1989.[7][8]

Production[edit]

Rather than performing all of the instruments herself, as on her debut album, Tucker is accompanied by Lou Reed, Jad Fair, Daniel Johnston, and all four members of Sonic Youth.[9]

Critical reception[edit]

Robert Christgau wrote that "'Work,' 'Spam Again,' and 'Hey Mersh!' are Amerindie knockouts, lived postpunk takes on the grind and release of lower-middle class adulthood, a subject rock and rollers usually leave to Nashville company men."[1] Trouser Press wrote that "Tucker’s loose and unpredictable Life in Exile offers a little of everything, all performed and recorded with ramshackle casualness."[9] The Chicago Reader called the album "a tour de force recording that wedded noisy indie guitar textures to songs of blue-collar rage, fueled by [Tucker's] years as a divorced mother of five trying to support her family on a Wal-Mart paycheck."[10] The Washington Post wrote that "anyone who ever loved Maureen Tucker -- and that surely includes all true Velvet fans -- will find Life in Exile, motley as it is, irresistible."[11] The Spin Alternative Record Guide deemed the album Tucker's "finest solo outing."[6] The New Yorker thought that the album "demonstrated an abiding love for Bo Diddley rock and girl-group pop, played as if by dinosaurs and sung as if by a choirgirl."[12]

Reed selected the album as one of his "picks of 1989".[13]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks written by Moe Tucker except where noted.

  1. "Hey Mersh!" – 3:16
    • Maureen Tucker – vocals, guitar
    • Lou Reed – lead guitar
    • Kate Messer – guitar
    • Hank Beckmeyer – guitar, bass
    • Joe Martinelli – drums
    • Scott Jarvis – drums
  2. "Spam Again" – 5:25
    • Maureen Tucker – vocals, guitar, percussion
    • Jad Fairs – lead guitar, percussion
    • Kate Messer – 12-string guitar, percussion
    • Hank Beckmeyer – slide guitar, percussion
    • Scott Jarvis – drums
    • Kim Gordon – percussion
    • M. C. Kostek – percussion
  3. "Goodnight Irene" (Huddie Ledbetter, John A. Lomax) – 2:29
    • Maureen Tucker – lead vocals, guitar
    • Kate Messer – backing vocals
    • Hank Beckmeyer – backing vocals
    • Joe Martinelli – backing vocals
  4. "Chase" – 8:07
    • Thurston Moore – guitar, arrangement
    • Lee Ranaldo – guitar, arrangement
    • Hank Beckmeyer – guitar, arrangement
    • Kim Gordon – bass, arrangement
    • Maureen Tucker – drums, arrangement
    • Jad Fairs – cymbals, arrangement
    • Kate Messer – congas, arrangement
  5. "Andy" – 5:08
    • Maureen Tucker – vocals, guitar, piano
    • Hank Beckmeyer – guitar
    • Jad Fairs – guitar
    • Kate Messer – acoustic guitar
  6. "Work" – 3:38
    • Maureen Tucker – vocals
    • Hank Beckmeyer – lead guitar, bass
    • Kate Messer – guitar
    • Barry Stock – bass
    • Scott Jarvis – drums
  7. "Pale Blue Eyes" (Lou Reed) – 6:44
    • Maureen Tucker – lead and backing vocals, drums, guitar
    • Lou Reed – lead guitar, backing vocals
    • Hank Beckmeyer – guitar, backing vocals
    • Kim Gordon – bass, backing vocals
    • Jad Fair – backing vocals
    • Kate Messer – backing vocals
    • Scott Jarvis – backing vocals
    • Daniel Johnston – backing vocals
    • Rob Elk – backing vocals
    • Don Fleming – backing vocals
  8. "Bo Diddley" (Ellas McDaniel) – 5:07
    • Maureen Tucker – lead and backing vocals, guitar
    • Kim Gordon – bass, backing vocals
    • Steve Shelley – drums
    • Kate Messer – backing vocals
    • Hank Beckmeyer – backing vocals
    • Scott Jarvis – backing vocals
    • Jad Fairs – backing vocals
  9. "Talk So Mean" – 4:59
    • Maureen Tucker – vocals, guitar
    • Kate Messer – 12-string guitar
    • Ann Marie Ear – piano
    • Kim Gordon – bass
    • Scott Jarvis – drums
  10. "Do it Right" (Jad Fair, Daniel Johnston) – 3:10
    • Maureen Tucker – vocals
    • Daniel Johnston – vocals, piano
Moejadkatebarry Bonus Tacks
  1. "Guess I'm Falling in Love" [Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Moe Tucker)
  2. "Baby What You Want Me To Do" (Jimmy Reed)
  3. "Why Don't You Smile Now?" (Lou Reed, John Cale, Vance, Phillips)
  4. "Hey, Mr. Rain" (Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker)

Personnel[edit]

  • Maureen Tucker: Vocals on all tracks except track 6, guitar on all tracks except 4, 6, 10, percussion on track 2, drums on track 4, 7, piano on track 5
  • Kate Messer: Guitar on tracks 1, 6, 12 string guitar on tracks 2, 9 percussion on track 2, backing vocals on tracks 3, 7, 8, congas on track 4, acoustic guitar on track 5
  • Hank Beckmeyer: Guitar on tracks 1, 4, 5, 7, backing vocals on tracks 3, 7, 8, Bass on tracks 1, 6, Slide Guitar & Percussion on track 2, lead guitar on 6
  • Scott Jarvis: Drums on tracks 1, 2, 6, 9, backing vocals on 7, 8

Guest Musicians[edit]

  • Jad Fair: Lead Guitar & Percussion on track 2, cymbals on track 4, guitar on track 5, backing vocals on 7 - 8
  • Kim Gordon: Percussion on track 2, Bass on track 4, 7, 8, 9, backing vocals on 7, 8
  • Lou Reed: Lead Guitar on 1, 7, backing vocals on 7
  • Joe Martinelli: Drums on 1, backing vocals on 3
  • Daniel Johnston: Backing Vocals on 7, Vocals & Piano on 10
  • M. C. Kostek: Percussion on 2
  • Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo: Guitar on 4
  • Barry Stock: Bass on 6
  • Rob Elk & Don Fleming: Backing vocals on 7
  • Ann Marie Ear: Piano on 9

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Robert Christgau: CG: Moe Tucker". www.robertchristgau.com.
  2. ^ Life in Exile After Abdication at AllMusic
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 282.
  4. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1195.
  5. ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 719–720.
  6. ^ a b Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. pp. 415–416.
  7. ^ "Moe Tucker | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  8. ^ Buckley, Peter (February 10, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843531050 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ a b "Maureen (Moe) Tucker". Trouser Press. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  10. ^ Meyer, Bill. "Moe Tucker". Chicago Reader.
  11. ^ Jenkins, Mark (September 13, 1989). "THE REMAINING HALF OF HALF JAPANESE" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  12. ^ Greenman, Ben. "Moe, Then a Feeling". The New Yorker.
  13. ^ Rolling Stone, March 8, 1990
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