So Long, Astoria is the fourth full-length album released by The Ataris

The Ataris

The Ataris are a rock band from Anderson, Indiana. They have released five studio albums, and their most recent E.P. was released on November 25, 2010 on the Gainesville, Florida based label, Paper + Plastick. It contained the brand new tracks "All Souls' Day" and "The Graveyard of The Atlantic"...

 on March 4, 2003.

This is The Ataris' first album on Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

, having previously been signed to independent punk label Kung Fu Records

Kung Fu Records

Kung Fu Records is an American independent record label founded in 1996 by Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald of the punk rock band The Vandals. Founded in order to release a record by the Riverside, California band Assorted Jelly Beans, the label soon grew to include a roster of notable artists...

. It peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified gold status. The album's title song alludes to the 1985 film The Goonies

The Goonies

The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure-comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The premise surrounds a band of pre-teens who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon hoping to save...

, which is set in Astoria, Oregon

Astoria, Oregon

Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...

.

Reception

Initial critical response to So Long, Astoria was very average. At Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, which assigns a normalized

Standard score

In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...

 rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average

Weighted mean

The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...

 score of 57, based on seven reviews.

Track listing

All songs written by Kris Roe, except where noted.

1. "So Long, Astoria" – 3:22
2. "Takeoffs and Landings" – 3:56
3. "In This Diary
   In This Diary
   "In This Diary" is the title of a song recorded by American alternative rock group The Ataris. It was released in February 2003 as the lead single from their fourth album So Long, Astoria. It peaked at number 11 on the U.S...
   
   " – 3:54
4. "My Reply" – 4:14
5. "Unopened Letter to the World" – 2:38
6. "The Saddest Song
   The Saddest Song
   "The Saddest Song" is a single by The Ataris from their fourth album, So Long, Astoria. It reached #27 on the US Modern Rock Tracks.This song was written by singer Kris Roe about being away from his daughter, Starla. He also cites his own broken childhood.The accompanying music video shows the band...
   
   " – 4:15
7. "Summer '79" – 3:57
8. "The Hero Dies in This One" (Roe, Mike Davenport
   Mike Davenport
   Michael Sean Davenport is a musician. Davenport was bass guitarist, for The Ataris, joining the band in 1995 prior to the album Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits in which Davenport co-wrote the song "In Spite Of the World". He also played bass on the album End is Forever and the EP Look...
   
   , John Collura and Chris Knapp) – 4:07
9. "All You Can Ever Learn is What You Already Know" (Roe, Davenport, Collura and Knapp) – 3:31
10. "The Boys of Summer" (Don Henley
    Don Henley
    Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
    
     and Michael Campbell) – 4:18
11. "Radio #2" – 3:20 (featuring backing vocals by Mike Herrera
    Mike Herrera
    Michael Arthur Herrera is an American musician most widely known as the vocalist and bass guitarist for the pop punk band MxPx, as well as being the front-man of his new band Tumbledown.-Early life:...
    
     of MxPx
    MxPx
    MxPx is a pop punk band from Bremerton, Washington with connections to the Christian punk scene. The band has recorded eight studio albums, four EPs, four compilation albums, a live album, a VHS tape, a DVD and released 20 singles....
    
    )
12. "Looking Back on Today" – 3:53
13. "Eight of Nine" – 3:30
14. "I Won't Spend Another Night Alone" – 3:50 (hidden track)
15. "The Saddest Song (Acoustic)" – 4:09 (hidden track)
16. "Beautiful Mistake" - 3:13 (Japanese release)
17. "Rock 'N' Roll High School" - 2:17 (Japanese release)

Radio #2 is in reference to an earlier Ataris track "Radio Still Sucks" from the Let It Burn split with Useless ID

Useless ID

Useless ID is a four-piece punk rock band, formed in Haifa, Israel in 1994. Known as one of the most successful Israeli punk bands worldwide.-History:...

.