So Much for the City
The Thrills sitting and standing in a group in a field
Studio album by
Released27 May 2003 (2003-05-27)
RecordedOctober 2002 – March 2003
GenreIndie rock, post-punk revival
Length46:24
LabelVirgin
ProducerTony Hoffer
The Thrills chronology
So Much for the City
(2003)
Let's Bottle Bohemia
(2004)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[3]
The Guardian[4]
The Independent[5]
Los Angeles Times[6]
Pitchfork6.9/10[7]
Q[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
SpinB+[10]
The Village VoiceC[11]

So Much for the City is the debut album of the Irish indie/pop band The Thrills. It was released on 27 May 2003 and quickly achieved success in Ireland, spending 61 weeks in the top 75 of the Irish Albums Chart.[12] The album also won 'Album of the Year' at the national music awards. It gained significant popularity in the UK, debuting at #3 and remaining in the charts for 25 weeks.[13] The single "Big Sur" reached #17 in the UK,[13] which remains their highest charted position in the country to date.

In an interview, lead singer Conor Deasy explained the band's inspiration for the song material:

Those songs are our ways of picking us up because we were kind of miserable. We were dropped by our label. And the towns are put [in the songs] as a way of escapism, as opposed to documenting little tales about what happened when we went there. When we put in a title like "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)," it would literally pick us up a bit.[14]

The album was nominated for the 2003 Mercury Prize but lost to Dizzee Rascal's Boy in da Corner.[15]

Legacy

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[16]

The song "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" was ranked by Q Magazine at number 550 on their list of the 1001 best songs ever made.[17]

The song "Say It Ain't So" appeared on US President George W. Bush's iPod in 2005.[18]

Track listing

  1. "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" – 4:13
  2. "Big Sur" – 3:07
  3. "Don't Steal Our Sun" – 2:50
  4. "Deckchairs and Cigarettes" – 4:58
  5. "One Horse Town" – 3:15
  6. "Old Friends, New Lovers" (feat. string arrangements by David Campbell) – 4:01
  7. "Say It Ain't So" – 2:44
  8. "Hollywood Kids" – 5:33
  9. "Just Travelling Through" – 3:21
  10. "Your Love Is Like Las Vegas" – 2:23
  11. "'Til the Tide Creeps In" / "Plans" (hidden track) – 10:06

Singles

Charts

References

  1. "Reviews for So Much For The City by The Thrills". Metacritic. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  2. Lhote, Morgane. "So Much for the City – The Thrills". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  3. Brunner, Rob (15 August 2003). "Rating the contenders for Britain's top music prize". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  4. Peschek, David (27 June 2003). "The Thrills: So Much for the City". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  5. "Album: The Thrills". The Independent. 27 June 2003. Archived from the original on 30 June 2003. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  6. Hilburn, Robert (26 October 2003). "When Irish eyes are California dreamin'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  7. Petrusich, Amanda (21 July 2003). "The Thrills: So Much for the City". Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  8. "The Thrills: So Much for the City". Q (204): 112. July 2003.
  9. Hoard, Christian (27 November 2003). "The Thrills: So Much For The City". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  10. Wood, Mikael (December 2003). "The Thrills: So Much for the City". Spin. 19 (12): 131–33. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  11. Christgau, Robert (25 May 2004). "Consumer Guide: Anti-Gravitational Boots". The Village Voice. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  12. The Thrills – So Much For The City – Music Charts
  13. 1 2 "The Thrills". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  14. "Interview: Conor Deasy of The Thrills". Livedaily.com. 19 May 2004. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  15. "Rocklist.net...Mercury/Nationwide Music Prize Nominations And Winners". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  16. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
  17. "Rocklist.net... Q - 1001 Best Ever Songs". Q Magazine.
  18. Bumiller, Elisabeth (11 April 2005). "White House Letter:President Bush's iPod". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  19. "Dutchcharts.nl – The Thrills – So Much for the City" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  20. "Lescharts.com – The Thrills – So Much for the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  21. "Irish-charts.com – Discography The Thrills". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  22. "Italiancharts.com – The Thrills – So Much for the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  23. "Norwegiancharts.com – The Thrills – So Much for the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  24. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  25. "Swedishcharts.com – The Thrills – So Much for the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  26. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  27. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2003". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
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