Track Listing

1. Life on a Chain
2. Strange Condition
3. Just Another
4. Black
5. Lose You
6. For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)
7. Murray
8. June
9. Sense
10. Closet
11. On Your Side
12. Sleep Better
13. EZ
14. Simonize

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3210 in Music
• Brand: YORN,PETE
• Released on: 2001-03-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Album Description
Originally released in 2001 this version includes 4 bonus tracks 'Knew Enough To Know Nothing At All', 'Dancing In The Dark', 'China Girl' & 'New York City Serenade'.

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
The phonograph crackling that opens Pete Yorn's debut album is an appropriate gesture for an artist hailed as the best thing to come out of South Jersey since Bruce Springsteen. Actually, Yorn doesn't sound a thing like Springsteen, but he does possess a classic pop craftsmanship shared by tradition-minded singer-songwriters such as Neilson Hubbard and Elliot Smith. On the cool, infectious "Life on a Chain," Yorn's relaxed crooning evokes the spirit of Bruce Cockburn, while "Simonize," ostensibly a love song penned by Jack the Ripper, calls to mind Big Star-period Alex Chilton. Rhythmically, the part-time drummer and multi-instrumentalist (he scored the Farrelly brother's movie Me, Myself and Irene and plays most of the instruments here himself) leans toward the drone lilt of early New Order and Joy Division, resulting in a smooth fusion of American and Anglo influences that make Yorn a new artist well worth watching. --Bill Forman

Customer Reviews

A Perfect Pop Album Once Again!
I buy somewhere in the range of 100 CDs a year. Call it an addiction, my wife does! But, I'm in search of the perfect album. The album I can't stop listening to. I don't want one or two songs, I want the whole bleeping album to shine.

I'm was fairly amazed with last year's Badly Drawn Boy, Travis, and Coldplay album's. This year, Radiohead came back with a beautiful sleeper that will go down as one of the better albums of this decade... and now for the next great album!

Pete Yorn has somehow crafted a dramatically wistful piece of rock entertainment that has a balanced mix of rock, pop, and insightful lyrics that can quite possibly be compared to a blend of Bob Dylan and the Beatles. I don't want to sound overdramatic about this guy, but I see great things ahead for him. This album struck me! It struck me!

Take a few listens. Feel the songs, the melodies. Hear what Pete has to say. This album may not have a breakout hit. Maybe it won't be as huge as it should be. That's OK! Buy it! Listen to it! Tell your friends! They'll have new respect for you.

Pure Pop
It's not accurate to loop together Pete Yorn and John Mayer. I own both of their "debut" albums. Here's the difference: on my grouchiest days, I find myself cutting out nearly all of Mayer's tracks, but Yorn on his worst day never drops below the jeweled quintet of "Strange Condition," "Black," "Just Another," "On Your Side," and "Sleep Better."

Where the heck did this guy come from? I heard his catchy Smithereens-like "Strange Condition" on a Boston alt-rock station, liked it, got over my distrust of all the pretty-boy-rockstar photos on the CD, and bought it used...and suddenly "Strange Condition" was only my fifth and sometimes sixth favorite song on this knockout debut album.

Folks, this guy makes pared-down rhythm-guitar-driven rock'n'roll ditties, or lushly melodic entrancing pop stuff. The key thing here is catchy melodies and irresistible hooks. The guy's voice is rough & quirky & confident and plays off perfectly against the melodic ear candy. It's completely buy-able. I keep thinking of who to compare him with, and it bodes well for Yorn's career, cuz he doesn't really sound like somebody's echo.

Oh, on track 14, the quirky "Simonize" goes silent at 2:50, but if you let it run and wait till 4:30, there's another little pop chestnut ("Girl Like You"...?).

AN AMAZING RELEASE FROM A FRESH NEW ARTIST!!
I first heard "Strange Condition" about 2 years ago and was instantly hooked to Pete Yorn. I've had the advance cd of "musicforthemorningafter" for a few months and it's one of the best cd's I've heard in a long time. With so much fluff cluttering the music racks these days, it was nice to have a CD that I didn't have to skip over every other song. Yorn's voice is reminiscent of J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. with a touch of Dylan. He's got an amazing debut on his hands and I hope he gets his due respect for his talent. There's just something about this CD that you can come back to so often and just go "this is pretty damn neat." Check it out for yourself.