Send "Jawbox " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 The eight-year career of Jawbox could be written as a cautionary tale: indie band signs to a big label, makes two great records that eventually fall out of print, and breaks up. But listening to Jawbox's freshly reissued 1994 major-label debut, For Your Own Special Sweetheart, it's difficult to conclude they made the wrong decision by recording this album for Atlantic. The obvious reason is cold, hard cash: Sweetheart might sound unassumingly direct, but it takes a lot of time and money to make a record this precise and balanced. The other reason is more nebulous, but no less relevant: You don't jump ship from a dogmatically anti-major label like Dischord to a behemoth like Atlantic without understanding that the next thing you do had better be really, really good. While a more naïve band might have diluted its sound to seek fame and fortune, Jawbox cashed in the chips on their shoulders and made their most uncompromising and ferocious record.Sweetheart's return to Dischord reintroduces the album as a win-win prospect: a record with a mid-90s alt-rock budget, but none of that era's corny or diminishing relics. Bob Weston's thoughtful remaster retains the dynamic range of the original while breathing new life into its low end; Zach Barocas' kick drum finally feels like a punch in the chest. The essential B-sides from the Savory EP are included as well. Even the cover art has been revised, the dated sepia toned blow-up doll image of the original replaced by a solidly cast marble figure rendered in high-contrast grayscale. The new cover is apt; FYOSS is downright sculptural in its attention to form and structure. The brilliance of FYOSS lies not in any one melody, guitar line, or drum fill but rather in the interaction between these elements. Every song is a thoughtfully interrelated system, an organic economy of sound, rhythm, and gesture. At times, once-distant guitar parts come together with such effortless strength that you can visualize guitarists J. Robbins and Bill Barbot bending the necks of their instruments in unison. Ted Nicely's impeccable production lends a subtle sheen to the album's pop sensibility but never dulls its harsh edges, revealing a band that is well-versed in both harmony and discord (no pun intended)....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| This just may have been one of the best albums to come out of the Washington DC hardcore punk scene in the early 90’s. Considering fellow Dischord label mates such as Fugazi, Shudder to Think and Minor Threat were also releasing quality albums during that time, that’s saying a lot. The year was 1994 and Jawbox opted to move on from Dischord and sign with Atlantic Records. This left many fans (this writer included) thinking “sell out. Luckily, that wasn’t the case as Jawbox stayed true to its roots and released what would end up being arguably the band’s best album of its somewhat short lived career (1989-1997). This November 24th, Dischord and DeSoto Records (who now owns the rights to the entire Jawbox catalog), will release a remastered version of For Your Own Special Sweetheart. Dischord was able to enlist Bob Weston (bass player for Shellac) as lead engineer for the remastering process. In addition to this, the reissue will also get 3 bonus tracks from the Savory+3 EP which was also released by Atlantic in 1994. The bonus tracks will be included on the CD, but the vinyl version that is released the same day will not initially include them. Instead, the vinyl purchase will include a redeemable coupon that will allow you to digitally download the songs....full text |
| Treblezine |
| The kids are united. They will never be divided. The kids are all right and all that shit. But when Jawbox released their major label debut, For Your Own Special Sweetheart, the punk rock youth expressed an unhealthy bit of cynicism about the first band to jump ship from the then-sanctified hardcore homebase Dischord to greener, major label pastures. Yet the worries of the cynics and the purists were all for naught: the move would result in what would become their best album yet, and a landmark album in indie rock history. What made For Your Own Special Sweetheart stand out at the time was its defiance of all things punk or pop. It was chaotic. It was catchy. It was fun. It was unsettling. It was ugly. It was beautiful. And it maintained this balance without ever teetering too far into either category. Begrudging fans who forgave the band for taking a shot at a wider audience would soon learn how much the band grew since Novelty. While that record was unusual at the time, Sweetheart was absolutely revolutionary when it was released. Beginning with samples of poetry and bass string scraping, "FF=66" launches the album headfirst into the manic rhythms of Zachary Barocas and merciless bass pounding of Kim Coletta. Singer/guitarist J. Robbins screams "This code is cracked/I don't expect whatever I spat out to stick" over the feedback and rumbling, before a split-second transition transforms the song from barely contained cacophony to rock anthem, Robbins and guitarist Bill Barbot harmonizing "Reified and refined/blurring every line". In just that line, the band seemed to have summed up the record — a new version of the band, refusing to be pigeonholed and standing apart from both traditional hardcore and radio-friendly alternative rock....full text |
Jawbox lyrics
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