Bread and Jam for Frances

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Bread and Jam for Frances
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 16, 1997
Genre
Length41:15
LabelCleopatra Records
ProducerSwitchblade Symphony
Switchblade Symphony chronology
Scrapbook
(1997)
Bread and Jam for Frances
(1997)
The Three Calamities
(1999)


Bread and Jam for Frances is the second studio album by Switchblade Symphony. It was recorded at Brilliant Studios in San Francisco and Private Island Trax in Hollywood and mastered at Private Island Trax. The original CD artwork erroneously listed 15 tracks, with "Harpsichord" at track 7, though that song was not on the CD and later pressings corrected the error. The positions of "Dirty Dog" and "roller Coaster" are also switched.[2] The album peaked at #119 on the CMJ Radio Top 200.[3]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Dean Carlson for AllMusic praised the album for taking the "darkwave pretensions of Switchblade Symphony's previous material and pushed it through an even more stylized electronic filter."[1]

Mark Jenkins for the Washington Post said the album sounded similar to Siouxie and the Banshees but praised the instrumentals of Susan Wallace, nothing that "She incorporates hip-hop scratching, industrial rhythms and found sound into the band's music, giving tracks like "Roller Coaster" and "Harpsichord" a clattering vitality that belies their voice-from-the-grave ambience."[4]

Track Listing[edit]

The graphic design of the album's back cover caused all major websites to list the tracks in the wrong order. It is meant to be read horizontally, not vertically. Following is the correct order[citation needed]:

  1. Witches – 4:18
  2. Insect – 4:22
  3. Dirty Dog – 2:49
  4. Rampid – 0:56
  5. Roller Coaster – 5:01
  6. Situation #9 – 3:01
  7. Situation #58 – 5:27
  8. Sheep – 3:42
  9. Soldiers – 3:04
  10. Fractal – 0:42
  11. Sleep – 4:24
  12. Sick Mary – 1:45
  13. Funnel – 0:58
  14. Episode G15 – 0:46

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Carlson, Dean. "Switchblade Symphony - Bread and Jam for Frances". AllMusic.
  2. ^ "Discogs: Switchblade Symphony-Bread and Jam for Frances". Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  3. ^ Helms, Colin (22 December 1997). "CMJ Radio Top 200" (PDF). CMJ New Music Report. 52 (550). Great Neck, NY: College Media, Inc.: 5–6. ISSN 0890-0795. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  4. ^ Jenkins, Mark (1997-11-14). "SWITCHBLADE SYMPHONY "BREAD AND JAM FOR FRANCES" CLEOPATRA". The Washington Post.