| Marcy Playground | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 25, 1997 (1997-02-25) | |||
| Recorded | 1996–1997 | |||
| Studio | Sabella Recording Studio (Roslyn, New York) | |||
| Genre |
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| Length | 34:37 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | John Wozniak | |||
| Marcy Playground chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Marcy Playground | ||||
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Marcy Playground is the eponymous debut studio album by American alternative rock band Marcy Playground, released on February 25, 1997, on EMI.[2] It was reissued later that year on October 7 on Capitol Records with a large amount of promotion for the single "Sex and Candy," which became the band's breakthrough single, spending a then-record 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The album also includes the singles "St. Joe on the Schoolbus" and "Sherry Fraser" both of which received moderate radio and MTV2 airplay.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide |  [4] |
| NME | 7/10[5] |
| Pitchfork | 7.6/10[6] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [7] |
Marcy Playground garnered a mixed reception from music critics. Ronan Munro of NME said that, "What is surprising is how enjoyable this window on Wozniak's soul is: his lazy drawl and gentle melodies coating his misery in a pop sheen... the mood remains resolutely downbeat but the angst is not imposing."[5] James P. Wisdom of Pitchfork stated that Marcy Playground was "the most soothingly mellow and pleasant thing [he] had heard in a long time."[6] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that "only a handful" of the album's tracks are as memorable as "Sex and Candy", while adding that "those moments are what make Marcy Playground a promising, albeit imperfect, debut."[3]
Robert Christgau graded the album as a "dud",[4] indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."[8] Chuck EddyofRolling Stone heavily panned the album for its subpar musicianship, saying that it "sets icky new standards for commercial-post-alternative callowness."[9] Dan Weiss of LA Weekly deemed it the twelfth-worst album of the 1990s, opining that aside from the singles "Sex and Candy" and "Saint Joe on the School Bus," the album is "folksy, opiate-obsessed bullshit".[10]
All tracks are written by John Wozniak, except where noted
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Poppies" | 2:49 |
| 2. | "Sex and Candy" | 2:53 |
| 3. | "Ancient Walls of Flowers" (John Wozniak, Sherry Fraser) | 3:16 |
| 4. | "Saint Joe on the School Bus" | 3:20 |
| 5. | "A Cloak of Elvenkind" | 2:59 |
| 6. | "Sherry Fraser" | 2:50 |
| 7. | "Gone Crazy" | 2:45 |
| 8. | "Opium" | 3:07 |
| 9. | "One More Suicide" | 2:39 |
| 10. | "Dog and His Master" | 2:12 |
| 11. | "The Shadow of Seattle" | 2:48 |
| 12. | "The Vampires of New York" | 2:55 |
Credits adapted from liner notes.[11]
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Marcy Playground
Additional musicians
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Production
Additional personnel
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Weekly charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[20] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[21] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
