The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy

The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy is an album by American rock band The Minus 5. Their final release of new material for Hollywood Records, it was released in 1997. The album was met with positive reception from critics.

The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy
Studio album by The Minus 5
Released	May 5, 1997 (1997-05-05)
Recorded	1996
Studio	Ironwood, Litho, Seattle, Washington, United States John & Stu's, Seattle John Keane Studios, Athens, Georgia, United States LowBeat, Seattle Egg, Seattle Water Music, Hoboken, New Jersey, United States
Genre	Alternative rock pop rock[1]
Length	41:02
Label	Hollywood
Producer	Scott McCaughey
The Minus 5 chronology
The Emperor of the Bathroom (1995) The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy (1997) My Chartreuse Opinion (1997)

Recording and release

The musicians making up The Minus 5 overlapped with the auxiliary touring members of R.E.M. and Tuatara; the musicians recorded The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy alongside Mark Eitzel's West.^[2] The opportunity to record and tour with the material spurred Scott McCaughey to finish off songs that Peter Buck had started writing two years prior.^[3] The revolving door of performers supported all their releases (including Tuatara's Breaking the Ethers)^[4] with The Magnificent Seven Vs. the United States tour in 1997.^[5] This album was the first release from Hollywood Records imprint Malt Records.^[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	A[7]

The album has received positive reviews from critics, with Album of the Year characterizing consensus as a 90 out of 100, based on two reviews.^[8] The editorial staff of AllMusic Guide gave the album four out of five stars, with reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing that it was an improvement over their first full-length, Old Liquidator, with catchy songwriting and "charmingly ragged pop-rock".^[1] The review in No Depression concurred with the charming nature of the songwriting, tying it stylistically to 1960s pop music and concluding that McCaughey's first major label album is deserved.^[9] In Entertainment Weekly, Steven Mirkin compared the sound to Merseybeat acts and gave the album an A for "casually perfect crystalline pop".^[7]

Commercial performance

The album reached 58 on CMJ New Music Monthly's Alternative Radio Airplay in August 1997.^[10] In 2003, McCaughey claimed in an interview that the album had only sold 5,000 copies, compared to the greater commercial success of some of the musicians who played on the album.^[11]

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey, except where noted:

1. "The Rest of the World" – 3:10
2. "Cross Every Line" – 4:01
3. "Empty Room" – 3:42
4. "Wasted Bandage" – 3:04
5. "Boeing Spacearium" (Buck, McCaughey, and Robert Pollard) – 3:27
6. "My Mummy's Dead" (John Lennon) – 2:30
7. "Moonshine Girl" – 3:20
8. "Popsycle Shoppe" – 2:47
9. "Wouldn't Want to Care" – 2:56
10. "Spidery Moon" – 2:42
11. "Bullfight" – 4:15
12. "Hate Me More" – 5:08

Personnel

The Minus 5

• Jon Auer ("Admiral Boot")
• Chris Ballew ("Mr. MacAfee")
• Peter Buck ("Streetsinger") – guitar, associate production
• John Crist ("Calliope Bird")
• Dave Dederer ("Daughter")
• Jason Finn ("The Constable")
• John Keane ("Mr. Dawes, Jr.") – recording at John Keane's Studio
• Barrett Martin ("Santouri")
• Scott McCaughey ("Buck McCoy") – guitar, vocals, production, mixing, mastering, recording at LowBeat
• Mike McCready ("Winthrop")
• Christy McWilson ("Miss Polly")
• Robert Pollard ("Ancient Roomer") – vocals on "Boeing Spacearium", recording in Dayton
• Pony ("Nigel")
• Ken Stringfellow ("Martha")

Additional personnel

• Matt Bayles – engineering at Litho
• Art Chantry – artwork
• Ed Brooks – recording at Litho, mixing, executive production, associate production
• Mark Downey – choreography
• Rob Grenoble – recording at Water Music
• Mark Guenther – mastering
• Hammi Hammerschmidt – layout
• Nadine McCaughey – artwork
• Floyd Reitsma – assistant engineering
• Jason Rowe – engineering at Ironwood
• Todd Rundgren – recording at Location, Neverland
• Robert Seidenberg – choreography
• Kevin Suggs – recording at John & Stu's
• Conrad Uno – recording at Egg
• Kevin Wilson – painting

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy – The Minus 5". AllMusic Guide. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
2. Wilonsky, Robert (June 12, 1997). "Power Trio". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
3. Phalen, Tom (April 28, 1997). "Eclectic Band Tuatara Kicks Off Tour at Crocodile Cafe". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
4. Rosen, Craig (March 1, 1997). "Epic's Tuatara Breaks Boundaries". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 9. p. 16. ISSN 0006-2510.
5. Himes, Geoffrey (May 31, 1997). "The Magnificent Seven: Buck Stops Here". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
6. Newman, Melinda (April 12, 1997). "Fresh Fellow Starts Malt Records; Zombie Has Something to 'Crow' About". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 15. p. 12. ISSN 0006-2510.
7. Mirkin, Steven (May 9, 1997). "The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
8. "The Minus 5 – The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy". Album of the Year. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
9. "Minus 5 – The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy". No Depression. July 1, 1997. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
10. "Top 75". CMJ New Music Monthly (48): 46. August 1997. ISSN 1074-6978.
11. McGuire, Matt (April 11, 2003). "Minus 5 the Sum of Excellent Parts". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 25, 2020.

External links

• Official website
• The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy at Discogs (list of releases)
• The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
• The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy at Rate Your Music