Tracks

1. Introduction

2. Running Out Of Time

3. Goodnight Goodnight

4. Ladies And Gentlemen

5. You Owe Me A Iou

6. No Jojes - Fact

7. Jingle Jangle

8. Pickin It Up

9. Island Of The Honest Man

10. Middle Of Nowhere

11. Dirty Mouth

12. Soldier In A Box

13. Shame On You

14. Elevatator

Performer Notes

Contains an untitled track of noise on track #13.
Personnel: Steve Bays (vocals, piano, organ); Paul Hawley (guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, percussion); Dante DeCaro (guitar, drums); Dave Sardy (guitar, percussion); Luke Paquin (guitar); Dustin Hawthorne (bass guitar).
Audio Mixer: Dave Sardy.
Recording information: Larrabee East, Los Angeles, CA (2004); Sound City, Los Angeles, CA (2004).
Editors: Ryan Castle; Warren Huart.
Photographer: Phil Knott.
Hot Hot Heat's breakout album was a model of economy, packing a huge amount of ideas and energy into a svelte ten-song track listing. Elevator, Hot Hot Heat's Sire Records debut, is also pretty speedy, burning through 15 tracks in just under 38 minutes. Tracks like "Goodnight Goodnight" and "Jingle Jangle" are nearly as wiry and witty as the band's debut, and there are flashes of Hot Hot Heat's breathless pop brilliance: the panicky opener "Running Out of Time" and pouty single "You Owe Me an IOU" are just as hooky and smart as Hot Hot Heat's previous bests. With its choppy verses and sunny choruses, "Island of the Honest Man" opens up the band's sound and is one of the few tracks (along with "Elevator" itself) that makes good use of the album's expansive production. Elevator kicks further into gear on its second half, where a string of moody almost-ballads like "Middle of Nowhere," "Dirty Mouth," "Soldier in a Box," and the title track add edge and focus. ~ Heather Phares

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.68) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "[ELEVATOR] contains some of the finest pure pop-rock songs of the year so far; it's a fourteen-track, thirty-seven-minute rush of pleasure..."

Spin (pp.101-102) - "Bays fully understands that new-wave vocals are about percussion and repetition, and he sings his like a caffeinated cognitive scientist." - Grade: B+

Entertainment Weekly (No. 814, p.62) - "[T]hey're still fixated on the [late 1970s and early '80s], but BREAKDOWN's suggestions of rainy-afternoon electro-pop are mostly gone, replaced by guitar-driven pogo-pop..." - Grade: B

Uncut (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 - "ELEVATOR resonates more with every spin...'Ladies And Gentlemen' channels Blur and Joe Jackson to great effect."