Underachievers Please Try Harder

Underachievers Please Try Harder
Studio album by Camera Obscura
Released August 31, 2003
Genre Indie pop
Label Merge
Producer Geoff Alan, Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura chronology

Biggest Bluest Hi Fi
(2001)		 Underachievers Please Try Harder
(2003)		 Let's Get Out of This Country
(2006)

Underachievers Please Try Harder is the second LP from the indie band Camera Obscura, released in 2003. The album was released in Australia by Popfrenzy.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Robert Christgau [2]
Pitchfork Media (8.0/10) [3]
Rolling Stone [4]

Writing for Allmusic, critic Tim Sendra praised the album, again comparing the group to Belle and Sebastian and writing that "the band manages the rare feat of sounding full and rich without jamming every possible frequency with sound. It also throws in loads of imaginative little hooks that keep things lively".[1] Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork Media wrote "Their honest, wide, and adult approach to heartbreak, romantic liaisons, and escapism is extended to the subtle range of influence — most of which is shown off on the tracks sung by John Henderson".[3]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Tracyanne Campbell. 

No. Title Length
1. "Suspended from Class"   3:45
2. "Keep It Clean"   3:13
3. "A Sisters Social Agony"   3:58
4. "Teenager"   3:39
5. "Before You Cry"   2:58
6. "Your Picture"   3:08
7. "Number One Son"   4:06
8. "Let Me Go Home"   3:34
9. "Books Written for Girls"   5:12
10. "Knee Deep at the NPL"   5:09
11. "Lunar Sea"   4:55
Total length:
 43:37

US edition bonus tracks

  1. "I Don't Want to See You"
  2. "Footloose and Fancy Free"

Australian edition bonus tracks

  1. "San Francisco Song"
  2. "Amigo Mio"

Japanese edition bonus tracks

  1. "I Don't Want to See You"
  2. "Footloose and Fancy Free"
  3. "SF Song"
  4. "Amigo Mio"

Personnel

Production notes:

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sendra, Tim. "Underachievers Please Try Harder > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Underachievers Please Try Harder > Review". Robert Christgau. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Plagenhoef, Scott. "Underachievers Please Try Harder' > Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Underachievers Please Try Harder > Review". Rolling Stone.