Sound Of Lies

Album: Sound Of Lies (1997)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the title track of Alt Country band The Jayhawks fourth album. It was their first release following the departure of Mark Olson, after which Gary Louris became the band's principal songwriter. In our 2012 interview with Louris, he described the experience of being the main songsmith as "difficult." He added: "It was kind of liberating in a way that you just said f--k it; people will love it or hate it. But then I always felt like every record was going to be a last record and who cared. At this point, I'm just going to do what I feel is what I want to do, and if people love it, cool. If not, that's the end of my career. [Laughs]"
  • Though Sound Of Lies failed commercially, peaking at #112 on the Billboard 200, many critics raved over the album. Paul Lester of Uncut magazine described the set as having "the full sonic force of The Replacements at their most blistering" adding it, "is one of the finest albums of electrified angst since (Big Star's much-admired 1974 LP) Radio City. Louris told us in 2012: "It was some people's favorite record, but it sold the least. But then there were other aspects to that. The record company was in disarray, they didn't promote it. A major shift in our image led to it. But to this day there are many people, that's their favorite record. And it's probably the most, I don't want to say depressing, but it's the most heavy record that we ever did."

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