A Guided Tour of Chicago

A Guided Tour of Chicago is a punk rock album by the Chicago, Illinois band The Lawrence Arms, released in 1999 by Asian Man Records. It was the band's first album, notable for the fact that the band had not previously released any EPs or 7" singles (traditionally, punk rock bands begin their careers with these types of short, low-budget releases before moving on to full-length studio albums). At this early point in their career several of the band's songs were political in nature (such as "Kevin Costner's Casino"), something they would later tone down in favor of more introspective lyrics. Also of note is the fact that singer/bassist Brendan Kelly handles the majority of lead vocals on the album, while on later works he and singer/guitarist Chris McCaughan would split vocal duties almost equally, and eventually begin to share lead vocals in an almost duet style.

[edit] Track listing

"intro"
"An Evening of Extraordinary Circumstance"
"Kevin Costner's Casino"
"A Guided Tour of Chicago"
"Take One Down and Pass it Around"
"Someday We're All Gonna Weigh 400 lbs."
"The Northside, the L&L, and Any Number of Crappy Apartments"
"Smokestacks"
"Detention"
"Uptown Free Radio"
"Eighteen Inches"

[edit] Performers

[edit] Album information

Record label: Asian Man Records
Recorded spring of 1999 by Mike Giampa and Andy
Photographs by Heather Hogan, Rachel Burns, Grant Quick, Brendan Kelly and Neil Hennessy
Logo by Chris Bach
Drawing by Marc Z