The Known Universe (album)

The Known Universe is the fourth studio album by Cincinnati-based indie rock band Ass Ponys, released in April 1996 on A&M Records. It was the band's second album for A&M (after 1994's Electric Rock Music), and was produced by the Afghan Whigs' John Curley.^[1]

Critical reception

The Known Universe received favorable reviews from Spin, Rolling Stone, and Details upon its release.^[2] Trouser Press, however, was less favorable, writing of the album that "Sounding like slapdash country kin of the Barenaked Ladies, the Ass Ponys retread familiar soil, relying on exhausted film jokes ("God Tells Me To") and mild outrage ("Cancer Show"), all the while belaboring clichés like "I could rule the world if..." (a self-mocking line Tin Huey used to better effect fifteen years earlier) and real-life oddities like the oft-derided "Satin lives in hell" graffiti."^[3]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[4]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[5]
CMJ	(favorable)[6]
Entertainment Weekly	A–[7]
Los Angeles Times	[8]
Spin	7/10[9]

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Alletzhauser, Randy Cheek, Chuck Cleaver, and David Morrison, except where noted.

1. Shoe Money
2. Under Cedar And Stars (Alletzhauser, Cheek, Cleaver, Jack Ison, Morrison)
3. God Tells To Me
4. Blow Oskar
5. Cancer Show
6. Dead Fly The Birds
7. And She Drowned
8. Redway
9. French Muscleman
10. It's Summer Here
11. John Boat
12. Hagged
13. Some Kind Of Fun

Personnel

• Ass Ponys – producer
• John Curley – engineer, producer
• Steve Girton – engineer
• Jack Ison – keyboards

References