Coaster (album)
| Coaster | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by NOFX | ||||
| Released | April 28, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | November 2008 – February 2009 at Motor Studios, San Francisco, CA | |||
| Genre | Punk rock | |||
| Length | 32:48 | |||
| Label | Fat Wreck Chords | |||
| Producer | Bill Stevenson | |||
| NOFX chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Frisbee | ||||
 Vinyl cover. |
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk.net | (85%) link |
| Allmusic |   link |
| AngryMusic | link |
| Bombshellzine.com | link |
| DecoyMusic.com | link |
| Punktastic | link |
| Rock Sound | [1] |
| Robert Christgau |  link |
Coaster (released on vinyl as Frisbee[2]) is the eleventh studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on April 28, 2009 through Fat Wreck Chords.
Writing and production
Writing and recording sessions for Coaster took place from November 2008[3] to February 2009.[2] The band worked with Bill Stevenson, who produced Wolves in Wolves' Clothing (2006) and Self Entitled (2012).
Release
The album was the first new Fat Wreck Chords release priced under $10 in the US under the label's new promise that all CDs from the label would cost under $10, with many priced less than $8.[4] Regarding the label's new pricing model, NOFX lead singer and Fat Wreck Chords owner Fat Mike stated the following:
| “ | This is not a sale. This is how much this CD costs.... We make less profit, but bands hopefully will sell more CDs to more people, which is why we started doing this in the first place. | ” |
Some of those who preordered the album through the Fat Wreck Chords website also received a limited edition, hand-numbered CD with two bonus tracks.
The album was simultaneously released on vinyl under the title Frisbee with alternative artwork.[2] As with the CD release, vinyl preorders came with a bonus 7-inch single with the same two bonus tracks. The vinyl release also came with a free MP3 download of the album.
The vinyl release features an alternative intro to the opening track "We Called it America". The song 'Creeping Out Sara' is about meeting Sara Quin of indie band Tegan and Sara. The vinyl edition of the album has an alternate version called 'Creeping Out Tegan' which has alternate lyrics and is about a meeting with Sara's identical twin sister and bandmate Tegan Quin. The vinyl release also features an alternate trumpet solo and organ intro on the track 'Best God in Show.'
A few songs not included on the album that were written and recorded during the Coaster sessions were released on the Cokie the Clown EP in November 2009.
Artwork
The covers of both Coaster and Frisbee are in a style reminiscent of graphic design from the 1970s. The lyric booklet included with Coaster also includes photos of the band members from that time period.
The cover art of Coaster shows a compact disc being used as an alcoholic drink coaster with the disc art side facing down (data side facing up). The rear cover shows various older NOFX albums also being used as coasters with the disc art facing up. The disc art itself declares "Absorbing Alcohol Since 1983" (the year the band formed).
The alternate Frisbee artwork depicts guitarist Eric Melvin catching a vinyl record as he would a frisbee.
Chart positions
| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Billboard 200 | 36 |
| Rock Albums | 9 |
| Independent Albums | 4 |
| Digital Albums | 36 |
| Alternative Albums | 7 |
| Tastemakers | 6 |
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Fat Mike.| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "We Called it America" (Opens with an Alec Baldwin(CD) or Jack Lemmon(Vinyl) quote from the film Glengarry Glen Ross) | 2:07 | |
| 2. | "The Quitter" | 1:52 | |
| 3. | "First Call" | 2:33 | |
| 4. | "My Orphan Year" | 2:59 | |
| 5. | "Blasphemy (The Victimless Crime)" | 2:54 | |
| 6. | "Creeping Out Sara" (Appears as "Creeping Out Tegan" on Frisbee) | 2:45 | |
| 7. | "Eddie, Bruce and Paul" | 3:53 | |
| 8. | "Best God in Show" | 3:29 | |
| 9. | "Suits and Ladders" | 2:25 | |
| 10. | "The Agony of Victory" (Side note in album booklet reads "Note: This is not a NOFX song. This is a song that we covered from a yet to be released soundtrack album. Stay tuned for more details...") | 2:07 | |
| 11. | "I Am an Alcoholic" | 2:36 | |
| 12. | "One Million Coasters" | 3:08 | |
Total length: |
32:48 | ||
| Bonus CD or 7" tracks (pre-order bonus with Coaster or Frisbee respectively) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "I've Become a Cliché" | 3:13 | ||||||||
| 2. | "The Quitter" (Demo) | 1:46 | ||||||||
Total length: |
4:59 | |||||||||
Personnel
- Fat Mike – vocals, bass, keyboard on tracks 5 and 6
- Eric Melvin – guitar, vocals
- El Hefe – guitar, vocals, trombone on track 8
- Erik Sandin – drums
Additional musicians
- Aaron Novik – bass clarinet on track 11
- Jason Freese – keyboard on track 8
- Karina Denike, Spike Slawson – backing vocals on "lots of things"
Production
- Bill Stevenson, Jason Livermore, Fat Mike - producers
- Bill Stevenson, Jason Livermore, Jamie McMann — engineers
- Andrew Berlin, Felipe Patino — additional engineers
Artwork
- Ryan Harlin — graphic design
- Lisa Eriksson — additional layout
References
- ↑ Robertson, Oli (June 2009). "NOFX – Coaster." Rock Sound (123): 86.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "NOFX promise Coaster." Punknews.org. February 24, 2009.
- ↑ "Bill Stevenson working on new NOFX record." Punknews.org. November 21, 2008.
- ↑ "Fat Wreck Chords cuts CD prices to under $10 in the US." Punknews.org. April 29, 2009.
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