Boys & Girls (Alabama Shakes album)

Boys & Girls
Studio album by Alabama Shakes
Released	April 9, 2012 (2012-04-09)
Recorded	2011
Studio	The Bomb Shelter (Nashville, Tennessee)
Genre	Southern rock roots rock blues rock soul garage rock
Length	38:37
Label	ATO (US) Rough Trade (UK)
Producer	Alabama Shakes Andrija Tokic
Alabama Shakes chronology
Alabama Shakes (2011) Boys & Girls (2012) Sound & Color (2015)
Singles from Boys & Girls
"Hold On" Released: February 6, 2012 (2012-02-06)

Boys & Girls is the debut studio album from American rock band Alabama Shakes. It was released on April 9, 2012. The album peaked at number 6 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number 3 on the UK Albums Chart.

The vinyl LP version of the record was pressed by United Record Pressing in Nashville, TN.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(76/100)[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The A.V. Club	B–[3]
The Guardian	[4]
The Independent	[5]
Los Angeles Times	[6]
Paste	(8.6/10)[7]
Pitchfork	(7.8/10)[8]
PopMatters	[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Slant Magazine	[11]

Critical reception

The album has been well received by critics. Gavin Haynes of NME gave Boys & Girls a positive review, stating, "In many ways Boys & Girls it is as note-perfect an album as you'll hear all year, yet it's also often perfectly inert. Their new bestie Jack White flagrantly copied vast chunks of the past, but in so doing he also stripped it down and rebuilt it in his own image. Despite their obviously vast talent, still less than a year after they first read about themselves on the internet, the stellar rise and rise of Alabama Shakes possibly hasn't afforded them quite enough time to find out who they really are."^[12] Los Angeles Times also gave the album a positive review stating, "The Alabama Shakes’ first album, "Boys & Girls," is an electric jolt that anyone who loves blues-based rock music should track down immediately. Consisting of three men and one young explosion named Brittany Howard on vocals and guitar, the group, which formed in northern Alabama in 2009, offers stripped down truth, minus any affectation, histrionics or irony."^[13]

The album was listed at #34 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012.^[14]

Commercial performance

The album debuted in the United States at number sixteen on the Billboard 200. On April 12, 2012 the album entered the Irish Albums Chart at number thirteen.^[15] The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number three,^[16] and also topped the inaugural Official Record Store Chart.^[17] As of April 2015, the album has sold 744,000 copies in the U.S.^[18]

Track listing

• All songs written by Alabama Shakes

Personnel

Alabama Shakes:

• Zac Cockrell – bass, backing vocals, guitar
• Heath Fogg – guitar, backing vocals, percussion
• Brittany Howard – lead vocals, guitar, piano, percussion
• Steve Johnson – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Additional musicians:

• Paul Horton – Farfisa and Rhodes on "Rise to the Sun", piano and organ on "I Ain't the Same"
• Micah Hulscher – piano and organ on "I Found You" and "Hang Loose"
• Mitch Jones – organ on "Heartbreaker"
• Ben Tanner – piano and organ on "Be Mine"

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Release history

References