Everclear is the fifth album by San Francisco band American Music Club

American Music Club

American Music Club is a San Francisco-based alternative rock band led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel.-History:Although born in California, Eitzel spent his formative years in Okinawa, Taiwan, Great Britain and Ohio before returning to the Bay Area in 1981...

. Overall, the album received widespread praise, but was criticized for being overproduced, despite having been released on an independent label.

"Sick of Food," a fan favorite, is a turbulent song, sung from the perspective of an AIDS patient whose medications have left him unable to eat. It starts catatonically

Catatonia

Catatonia is a state of neurogenic motor immobility, and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor. It was first described in 1874: Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein ....

, and concludes with Eitzel screaming "Now I wake up and I don't have any gravity/ Feel the whole world drawing away from me/ Now I wake up, so now I wake up/ What good is it?/ Another bright nothing/ Another day."

"Rise" was released as a single via the Rise CD maxi-EP (Alias Records, 1991), which contained the non-album tracks "Chanel #5," "The Right Thing" and an alternate version of "Crabwalk." The music video for "Rise" received minor play on MTV's 120 Minutes

120 Minutes

120 Minutes is a television show in the United States dedicated to alternative music, originally airing on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then on MTV's sister channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003....

 late-night program.

On the strength of this album, Mark Eitzel

Mark Eitzel

Mark Eitzel is a musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club.-History:Eitzel spent his formative years in a military family living in Okinawa, Taiwan, Ohio and the United Kingdom. He moved to America in 1979.He started making music while he was...

 was named Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 magazine's Songwriter Of The Year in 1991. R.S. also placed Everclear in their list of top 5 albums of the year.

From an article in the December 1994 - January 1995 issue of Addicted to Noise

Addicted to Noise

Addicted to Noise was an online music magazine in the early days of the World Wide Web. Founded by ex-Rolling Stone editor and writer Michael Goldberg and online music pioneer Jon Luini, it published its first issue in January 1995 and was the first online magazine to include audio samples along...

:
All music and lyrics by Mark Eitzel.

Track listing

1. "Why Won't You Stay" - 2:59
2. "Rise" - 3:11
3. "Miracle on 8th Street" - 4:07
4. "Ex-Girlfriend" - 2:49
5. "Crabwalk" - 3:33
6. "The Confidential Agent" - 4:10
7. "Sick of Food" - 4:02
8. "The Dead Part of You" - 2:42
9. "Royal Café" - 3:23
10. "What the Pillar of Salt Held Up" - 2:38
11. "Jesus' Hands" - 3:02

Personnel

• Vudi
  Vudi
  Vudi is the nickname of Mark Pankler , guitarist with San Francisco based indie rock band American Music Club. He is also the vocalist and guitarist in San Francisco based indie rock band Clovis de Floret....
  
   - guitar, accordion, bass
• Mark Eitzel
  Mark Eitzel
  Mark Eitzel is a musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club.-History:Eitzel spent his formative years in a military family living in Okinawa, Taiwan, Ohio and the United Kingdom. He moved to America in 1979.He started making music while he was...
  
   - vocals, guitar, keyboards, songwriting
• Dan Pearson - bass, guitar, dulcimer, mandolin, banjo, vocals
• Mike Simms - drums
• Bruce Kaphan
  Bruce Kaphan
  Bruce Kaphan is a musician who has worked on many studio projects, often as a pedal steel player, from 1970 to 2011. In particular he was a member of American Music Club.-Albums:Albums he has worked on include:* Schoolyard Ghosts* Everclear...
  
  - pedal steel, keyboards, bass, percussion, lap steel, dobro, guitar, dulcimer
• All songs produced by Bruce Kaphan/AMC except "Rise" & "The Dead Part Of You" produced by Norman Kerner/AMC
• All songs mixed by Joe Chicarelli except "The Confidential Agent" & "What the Pillar of Salt Held Up", mixed by Bruce Kaphan
• All songs recorded by Bruce Kaphan/Tom Carr at Music Annex Studio A (Menio Park, California) and at Soma Sync Studios (San Francisco), except "Rise" & "The Dead Part of You" recorded by Norman Kerner at Brilliant Studios (San Francisco), and Bruce Kaphan/Tom Carr at Soma Sync Studios
• Second engineer at Soma Sync Studios: Kyle Johnson
• Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk in New York
• Design by Frank Weidemann, Portfolio at: http://www.frankwdesign.com
• Cover painting by Jean Lowe
• Photos by Beth Herzhaft
• All songs written by Mark Eitzel © 1991 I Failed In Life Music BMI, adm. by BUG Music

External links

• 1994 Addicted To Noise article on AMC
• [ AMG analysis of song "Sick of Food"]