The Roches (album)

1979 studio album by the Roches

The Roches

Studio album by

the Roches

Released| June 16, 1979[1]
Recorded| September–November 1978
Studio| The Hit Factory, New York City
Genre| Folk
Length| 39:53
Label| Warner Bros.
Producer| Robert Fripp
The Roches chronology
| Seductive Reasoning
(1975)  | The Roches
(1979)  | Nurds
(1980)

|
|

The Roches is the debut album by the Roches, released on the Warner Bros. Records in April 1979. The album was produced and features electric guitar parts by Robert Fripp; also playing on the album are percussionist Jimmy Maelen and Fripp's future King Crimson bandmate Tony Levin.

## Background

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Paul Simon had encountered Maggie and Terre Roche earlier, and asked them to sing on the song "Was a Sunny Day" on his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon. Despite further support, the Roches disliked the involvement of Simon's record company, particularly their advice that the sisters "wear hipper clothes." Terre Roche later said:

> We were humiliated... We wanted to get out of the whole situation. We had a friend in Hammond, Louisiana, who was running a kung fu school. We gave up our apartment and told the record company, ‘We’re not going to promote the record anymore; we’re going away for a while.’ This was two weeks after the record came out. Maggie wrote the "Hammond Song" about the whole experience.[2]

## Reception

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Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [3]
Pitchfork| 9.5/10[4]
Rolling Stone| [5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide| [6]
Spin Alternative Record Guide| 10/10[7]
The Village Voice| A[8]

The album was well received by contemporary critics. John Rockwell of The New York Times called it "... the best pop record of 1979 thus far. In fact, it's so superior that it will be remarkable if another disk comes along to supplant it as best album of the year."[9] Rockwell subsequently picked it as the best album of that year, stating that it was "... also the scariest record, because the Roches probe emotions and even fears that most pop — most art, even — does not approach."[10] Jay Cocks of Time called it "startling, lacerating and amusing".[11] The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said that "Robert Fripp's austere production of this witty, pretty music not only abjures alien instrumentation but also plays up the quirks of the Roches' less-than-commanding voices and acoustic guitars. Thus it underscores their vulnerability and occasional desperation and counteracts their flirtations with the coy and the fey. The result is not a perfect record, but rather one whose imperfections are lovingly mitigated."[8] It was voted #11 for the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.[12]

Retrospective assessments have also been positive. AllMusic characterized it as a "mischievous and highly original folk blend".[3] Rating the album 10/10 in the Spin Alternative Record Guide, Ann Powers praised Fripp's guitar accompaniment and spare "audio vérité" production but noted his efforts "would be merely a gorgeous surface if not for the songs themselves. Suzzy and Terre each contribute winners, but it's Maggie whose genius dominates."[7] The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave it five stars, calling it an "unprecedented thrill" and a Greenwich Village folk parallel to the New York punk explosion.[6]

## Cover versions and samples

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"The Married Men" was covered by Phoebe Snow on her 1979 album Against the Grain.[13]

"Hammond Song" was covered by the Colourfield on their 1985 debut album Virgins and Philistines and by Whitney on their 2020 album Candid.[14] It was also covered by salyu x salyu on the 2012 album s(o)un(d)beams+.[citation needed]

The Avalanches sampled "Hammond Song" on "We Will Always Love You", the first single from their 2020 album of the same name.[15]

## Track listing

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1. "We" (Suzzy Roche, Terre Roche, Margaret Roche) – 2:35
2. "Hammond Song" (Margaret Roche) – 5:46
3. "Mr. Sellack" (Terre Roche) – 4:03
4. "Damned Old Dog" (Margaret Roche) – 4:07
5. "The Troubles" (Suzzy Roche, Terre Roche, Margaret Roche) – 3:27
6. "The Train" (Suzzy Roche) – 3:30
7. "The Married Men" (Margaret Roche) – 4:32
8. "Runs in the Family" (Terre Roche) – 3:29
9. "Quitting Time" (Margaret Roche) – 4:19
10. "Pretty and High" (Margaret Roche) – 4:05

## Personnel

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### Musicians

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* Suzzy Roche – vocals, guitar
* Maggie Roche – vocals, guitar, synthesizer (on "Quitting Time")
* Terre Roche – vocals, guitar
* Robert Fripp – electric guitar, Fripperies (on "Hammond Song")
* Tony Levin – bass guitar
* Jim Maelen – triangle, shaker
* Larry Fast – synthesizer programmer

### Production

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* "Produced in Audio Verite by Robert Fripp"
* Engineer: Ed Sprigg
* Assistant Engineer: Jon Smith
* Recorded at The Hit Factory in New York City during September, October and November 1978

### Other credits

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* Art direction: Peter Whorf
* Design: Brad Kanawyer
* Photography: Gary Heery

## Charts

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Year  | Chart  | Peak
position

|
|

1979  | US Billboard 200 | 58

## References

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1. ^ https://elpee.jp/album/The Roches/The Roches/
2. ^ "Maggie Roche: The Hidden Heart of The Roches". pastemagazine.com. January 24, 2017.
3. ^ a b Cook, Stephen. The Roches at AllMusic. Retrieved 4 December 2005.
4. ^ Cush, Andy (November 27, 2022). "The Roches: The Roches Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
5. ^ "The Roches > Album Review". Rolling Stone. No. 292\. May 31, 1979.[dead link]
6. ^ a b Soults, Franklin (2004). "The Roches". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 694–695. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
7. ^ a b Powers, Ann (1995). "The Roches". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 334–335\. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
8. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (April 30, 1979). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
9. ^ Rockwell, John (April 1, 1979). "The Roches—A Highly Promising Pop Trio". The New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
10. ^ Rockwell, John (December 21, 1979). "Pop Life: A Critic Picks top 10 For '79". The New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
11. ^ Cocks, Jay (May 7, 1979). "Valentines from the Danger Zone". Time. p. 64\. Archived from the original on January 21, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
12. ^ "The 1979 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. January 28, 1980. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
13. ^ Pareles, Jon (January 21, 2017). "Maggie Roche, Who Harmonized With Her Singing Sisters, Dies at 65". The New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
14. ^ "Whitney Announce New Album Candid, Share Cover of the Roches' "Hammond Song": Listen". Pitchfork. July 15, 2020.
15. ^ "'We Will Always Love You' [ft. Blood Orange]". Pitchfork. February 21, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2022.

## Further reading

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* Tamm, Eric (2003) [1990], "Chapter eight: Out of retirement—'The Drive to 1981': 'Linguotronics': Fripp as writer", Robert Fripp: From crimson king to crafty master (Progressive Ears ed.), Faber and Faber (1990), ISBN 0-571-16289-4, Zipped Microsoft Word Document, archived from the original on March 3, 2012, retrieved October 26, 2011

## External links

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* "Hammond Song" on YouTube \- provided to YouTube by Warner Records

* v
* t
* e

The Roches

Albums|

* The Roches (1979)
* Nurds (1980)
* Keep On Doing (1982)
* Another World (1985)
* No Trespassing (1986)
* Speak (1989)
* We Three Kings (1990)
* A Dove (1992)
* Will You Be My Friend? (1994)
* Can We Go Home Now (1995)
* The Collected Works of the Roches (2003)
* Moonswept (2007)

Related albums|

* Seductive Reasoning (Maggie and Terre Roche, 1975)
* Songs from an Unmarried Housewife and Mother, Greenwich Village, USA (Suzzy Roche, 2000)
* Zero Church (Suzzy and Maggie Roche, 2002)
* Lucy (Lucy Wainwright Roche, 2010)

Related|

* Suzzy Roche
* Four Bitchin' Babes
* Lucy Wainwright Roche
* Loudon Wainwright III
* Sloan Wainwright

* v
* t
* e

Robert Fripp

Studio albums|

* Exposure
* God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners
* The Gates of Paradise

Live albums|

* Let the Power Fall: An Album of Frippertronics

With Giles, Giles and Fripp|

* The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp

With King Crimson|

* King Crimson discography

With Fripp & Eno|

* (No Pussyfooting)
* Evening Star
* The Equatorial Stars
* Beyond Even (1992–2006)

With The League of Gentlemen|

* The League of Gentlemen

With Andy Summers|

* I Advance Masked
* Bewitched

With David Sylvian|

* Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities
* Gone to Earth
* The First Day
* "Jean the Birdman"
* Darshan
* Damage: Live
* Approaching Silence

With Sunday All Over the World|

* Kneeling at the Shrine

Collaborative albums|

* FFWD
* A Scarcity of Miracles

Related articles|

* Discography
* Frippertronics
* Discipline Global Mobile
* New standard tuning
* Guitar Craft
* California Guitar Trio
* Toyah Willcox
* David Singleton
* The Vicar
* G3
* Globus

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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