1965 (album)

1965 is the sixth studio album by American rock band The Afghan Whigs. It was released on October 27, 1998, by Columbia Records.[1]

1965
Studio album by
The Afghan Whigs
ReleasedOctober 27, 1998
StudioKingsway Studios, New Orleans, Louisiana
GenreRock
Length41:35
LabelColumbia
ProducerGreg Dulli
The Afghan Whigs chronology
Black Love
(1996)		 1965
(1998)		 Unbreakable: A Retrospective 1990–2006
(2007)
Singles from 1965
  1. "Somethin' Hot"
    Released: October 13, 1998
  2. "66"
    Released: March 30, 1999

Writing and recording

The album was written and recorded after Greg Dulli, the band's lead singer and rhythm guitarist, underwent treatment for clinical depression.[2] The Afghan Whigs recorded primarily at Daniel Lanois' Kingsway Studios in New Orleans,[3] with additional recording done at Ocean Way and Larrabee North in Los Angeles, The American Sector in New Orleans, and London Bridge in Seattle.[4] Dulli produced the album and wrote wrote most of its songs.[4] For the cover, a photograph was used showing astronaut Ed White on the first American space walk as part of the Gemini 4 flight.[5]

Music and lyrics

The album incorporates jazz,[6] R&B, and soul music influences in its mainly rock sound.[7] The lyrics feature erotic narratives and paeans to sexuality.[8][9] Music journalist David Stubbs writes that the album's subject matter "reconciles lust for women with respect for women", abandoning the "ironic self-loathing" of the band's 1993 album Gentlemen (1993) and the "down in the dumps" lyrics of Black Love (1996).[9]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Entertainment WeeklyA[8]
The Guardian[11]
Houston Chronicle[12]
Los Angeles Times[13]
NME9/10[9]
Pitchfork7.5/10[14]
Q[15]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[2]
Spin7/10[16]

Reviewing for the Los Angeles Times in November 1998, Marc Weingarten regarded songs like "Somethin' Hot" and "Neglekted" as "the ugliest sort of come-ons, full of innuendo and whispered imprecations", but concluded that "Dulli's velvety vocals and the band's sharp, punchy melodies win you over every time."[13] Entertainment Weekly reviewer Matt Diehl called Dulli "one of rock’s finest lyricists: His noir vignettes read like a Jim Thompson novel, their erotic narratives expertly skewering the male psyche."[8] Stubbs, in NME, hailed 1965 as "a triumph against the grain of post-grunge",[9] while Jason Ankeny of AllMusic called it "the gritty soul record just always out of [The Afghan Whigs'] reach — seamlessly integrating the R&B aspirations which have textured the band's sound since the beginning".[10]

Some reviewers were less receptive. Robert Christgau assigned 1965 a "neither" () grade in Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s (2000), indicating an album that "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't."[17] In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Joe Gross considered the album's upbeat tone and healthier thoughts on sexual relationships to be "a mild letdown from the previous trilogy's relentlessness".[2]

Track listing

All tracks written by Greg Dulli except where noted.[4]

  1. "Somethin' Hot" – 2:58
  2. "Crazy" – 4:04
  3. "Uptown Again" – 3:11
  4. "Sweet Son of a Bitch" – 0:23
  5. "66" – 3:23
  6. "Citi Soleil" – 5:06
  7. "John the Baptist" – 5:34
  8. "The Slide Song" (Dulli, McCollum) – 3:54
  9. "Neglekted" (Dulli, McCollum) – 4:01
  10. "Omertà" (Dulli, McCollum) – 5:40
  11. "The Vampire Lanois" (Dulli, McCollum, Horrigan, Curley) – 3:21

Personnel

Credits for 1965 adapted from liner notes.[4]

Charts
Chart (1998) Peak
position
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[18] 38
US Billboard 200[19] 176

References
  1. Musician, Issues 242-245, p. 17.
  2. Gross, Joe (2004). "Afghan Whigs". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 9–10. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  3. Hughes, Kim (November 5, 1998). "Afghan Whigs discover their soul in N'Awlins". NOW. Toronto: Now Communications. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  4. 1965 (CD liner). The Afghan Whigs. Columbia Records. 1998. CK 69450.CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2010-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Jackson, Chris (September 27, 2005). "The Afghan Whigs - 1965 (album review)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  7. Helms, Chris (November 1998). "Review: 1965". CMJ. College Media: 19.
  8. Diehl, Matt (November 6, 1998). "1965". Entertainment Weekly. No. 457. New York. p. 88. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  9. Stubbs, David (September 22, 1998). "The Afghan Whigs – 1965". NME. London. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  10. Ankeny, Jason. "1965 – The Afghan Whigs". AllMusic. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  11. Cox, Tom (October 23, 1998). "The Afghan Whigs: 1965 (Columbia)". The Guardian. London.
  12. Vaziri, Aidin (October 25, 1998). "Afghan Whigs, 1965, Columbia". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  13. Weingarten, Marc (November 21, 1998). "Afghan Whigs, '1965,' Columbia". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  14. Fowler, Shan (1998). "Afghan Whigs: 1965". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on February 1, 2003. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  15. "The Afghan Whigs: 1965". Q. No. 147. London. December 1998. p. 114.
  16. Lim, Dennis (November 1998). "The Afghan Whigs: 1965". Spin. Vol. 14 no. 11. New York. p. 140. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  17. Christgau, Robert (2000). Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the 90s. St. Martin's Griffin. pp. xvi, 2. ISBN 0312245602.
  18. "The Afghan Whigs - 1965". ULTRATOP & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  19. "1965 - The Afghan Whigs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
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