So Much for the City
The Thrills sitting and standing in a group in a field
Studio album by
The Thrills
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. ^ a b "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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