Pristine Smut


Pristine Smut is the second studio album released by American alternative pop band The Murmurs; it was released in 1997 on MCA. The album was produced by Larry Klein and k.d. lang and all tracks on the album were written by The Murmurs members Heather Grody and Leisha Hailey. The track "Squeezebox Days" featured on the soundtrack to the 1997 film All Over Me. The track "Sleepless Commotion" was written by Heather, about the murder of her mother, who was killed by her husband.

Release and reception

The album was poorly promoted by the band's label, MCA Records, who were going through staff changes at the time.
In a review for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave Pristine Smut a star rating of four out of five. He noted that the album had a rhythm section added to the "folk pop" of its predecessor, 1994's Murmurs. He praised producers Klein and Lang for steering the band towards "adult alternative rock" but said that the sound was "clean and pristine... shined and polished and now ready for radio". He said, however, that the songs on Pristine Smut were stronger than those of the previous album.
Robert Christgau gave the album an A- rating and praised it as an improvement on their previous album. He said of Pristine Smut, "not since Liz Phair's "Flower", Janet's "Throb", and Madonna's Erotica has pop softcore attended so sweetly to the erogenous zones." In a review for The Advocate, Barry Walters also noted the "rockin' rhythm section" of the second album. He described the tracks produced by Lang as "punk" and "Nirvana-esque" and the ones produced by Klein as "like Suzanne Vega before dance beats discovered her".
It was nominated for an award for Album of the Year at the Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards in 1998.

Track listing

  1. "Big Talker"
  2. "I'm a Mess"
  3. "Toy"
  4. "Underdog"
  5. "About Nothin'"
  6. "Genius"
  7. "Squeeze Box Days"
  8. "Don't Lie"
  9. "Sucker Upper"
  10. "Country Song"
  11. "Sleepless Commotion"

    Personnel

;Music
;Production
;Design