Bricks Are Heavy is the third studio album by American rock band L7, released on April 14, 1992 by Slash Records. The album peaked at number 160 on the US Billboard 200[1] and number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart.[2]
Production
Produced by the band and Butch Vig, musically the album is heavier and dirtier than the band's previous recordings and described as "catchy tunes and mean vocals on top of ugly guitars and a quick-but-thick bottom of cast-iron grunge" by Entertainment Weekly.[3]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide | A[5] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [6] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A[3] |
| Los Angeles Times | [7] |
| MusicHound Rock | 4.5/5[8] |
| Q | [9] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [11] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10[12] |
In a contemporary review for Playboy, Robert Christgau regarded Bricks Are Heavy as an "object lesson in how to advance your music by meeting the marketplace halfway", though he believed it would not sell as much as it deserved. He said Vig helped L7 produce grunge-metal featuring "intense admixtures of ditty and power chord" that "never quite gathers Nirvana's momentum, but it's just as catchy and a touch nastier."[13] Greg Kot was less enthusiastic in the Chicago Tribune, writing that there were not many good songs such as "Slide" and "the performances-while certainly ferocious-aren't sufficiently varied enough to make up the difference."[14]
NME listed it as the 39th best album of 1992.[15] It was ranked at number 4 on The Village Voice's "Pazz & Jop: Dean's List",[16] as well as number 32 on their "Pazz & Jop: Critics Poll".[17] In 2015, Spin placed it at number 249 on the "300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985-2014)" list.[18]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Wargasm" | Donita Sparks | 2:40 |
| 2. | "Scrap" | Sparks, Brett Gurewitz | 2:53 |
| 3. | "Pretend We're Dead" | Sparks | 3:53 |
| 4. | "Diet Pill" | Sparks | 4:21 |
| 5. | "Everglade" | Jennifer Finch, Daniel Ray | 3:18 |
| 6. | "Slide" | Suzi Gardner, Sparks | 3:37 |
| 7. | "One More Thing" | Finch | 4:07 |
| 8. | "Mr. Integrity" | Sparks | 4:06 |
| 9. | "Monster" | Gardner | 2:56 |
| 10. | "Shitlist" | Sparks | 2:55 |
| 11. | "This Ain't Pleasure" | Gardner, Phil Caivano | 2:42 |
| Total length: | 37:28 | ||
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
- L7
- Donita Sparks – guitar, lead vocals (on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 10)
- Suzi Gardner – guitar, lead vocals (on tracks 6, 9 and 11)
- Jennifer Finch – bass, lead vocals (on tracks 5 and 7)
- Demetra Plakas – drums, backing vocals (on track 3)
- Additional musician
- Paul Ryan – bongos
- Production
- Butch Vig – production, engineering, mixing
- Howie Weinberg – mastering
- Steve Marker – engineering
- Mr. Colson – engineering
- Elizabeth Hale – art direction
- Jeff Price – art direction
- Randall Martin – artwork
- Vicki Berndt – photography
- Arlan E. Helm – photography
- Damion Romero – photography
Charts
References
- ^ a b "L7 - Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ a b "L7 - Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ a b Arnold, Gina (June 19, 1992). "Bricks Are Heavy". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Bricks Are Heavy – L7". AllMusic. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (2000). "L7: Bricks Are Heavy". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. p. 185. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "L7". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
- ^ Gold, Jonathan (May 3, 1992). "L7, 'Bricks Are Heavy', Slash". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). "L7". MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
- ^ "L7: Bricks Are Heavy". Q (67): 76. April 1992.
- ^ Berger, Arion (September 17, 1992). "L7: Bricks Are Heavy". Rolling Stone: 94. Archived from the original on November 12, 2007. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ Harris, Keith (2004). "L7". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 500. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "L7". Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (June 1992). "L7, Roches, Yo Yo, Rosie Flores". Playboy. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- ^ Kot, Greg (May 7, 1992). "L7: Bricks are Heavy (Slash)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- ^ "Albums And Tracks Of The Year: 1992". NME. October 10, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ "Pazz & Jop 1992: Dean's List". Robert Christgau. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ "The 1992 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Robert Christgau. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985-2014)". Spin. May 11, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ "L7". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ "L7". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ "L7 Discography". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
- ^ "L7". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
External links
- Bricks Are Heavy at Discogs (list of releases)