All the Nations Airports

Archers of Loaf | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 24, 1996)
• Original Release Date: September 24, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002HNJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,009 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Strangled By The Stereo Wire

2. All The Nations Airports

3. Scenic Pastures

4. Worst Defense

5. Attack Of The Killer Bees

6. Rental Sting

7. Assassination On X-Mas Eve

8. Chumming The Ocean

9. Vocal Shrapnel

10. Bones Of Her Hands

11. Bumpo

12. Form And File

13. Acromegaly

14. Distance Comes In Droves

15. Bombs Away

Editorial Reviews

This band's movement from small releases to major-label distribution turned out quite well -- like a lot of other brilliant pop bands, they managed to make their sound cleaner and more focused without compromising any of the quirks which made it interesting. It would be an oversight to talk about this album (or this band) without mentioning Pavement, Guided by Voices, and Sonic Youth -- All the Nation's Airports does a spectacular job of taking appealing melodies and hooks and slanting them into angular, off-kilter indie -- but Archers of Loaf have the skill and intelligence to never actually sound like the above-mentioned bands. ~ Nitsuh Abebe, All Music Guide --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Archers album and one of the best albums ever, January 8, 2001

By 

Charles S. Hague (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All the Nations Airports (Audio CD)

This is without a doubt the shining hour for the Archers of Loaf. They nail a certain mood perfectly on this cd -- Eric Bachman's ruined voice lends a melancholic quality to the music, which is more varied than previous outings. Most importantly, the bands also rocks quite hard; the lack of said rocking was the problem I had with their last record, White Trash Heroes. What is great about the album is the catchy vocal lines melded to AOL's trademark two-guitar attack. I don't know how some of these songs manage to be pretty and biting at the same time; it's hard to describe until you've heard it. In particular, scenic pastures and form & file push the envelope for guitar-based rock. AOL was a highly underrated band and I wish very much that they were still around.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a must have album for 90's indie rock, October 28, 2004

By 

V. Hoffman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All the Nations Airports (Audio CD)

This album was the first that I ever heard of the Archers of Loaf. As soon as I listened to it, they hooked me with the incredible melodies, versatility, and Eric Bachmann's crooning voice. I soon bought up all of their albums - Vee Vee, The Speed of Cattle, Icky Mettle, and White Trash heroes...all of which are excellent albums and have great songwriting. I've also seen AoL a few times live and Bachmann's new project, Crooked Fingers - great live shows. I've had all of these other albums in regular rotation over the last 7 years and just last week I happened upon the first album that turned me onto them, All the Nations Airports. It was like hearing AoL for the first time, it truly is an amazing album. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A concept album, of sorts, November 21, 2001

By 

Ludwig J. Pluralist "avantepopgospeler" (Beacon, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All the Nations Airports (Audio CD)

The Spin Alt.Rock guide describes the Archers as "steeped in countrified classic rock and gleeful noise, with Crazy Horse and the Grateful Dead no less equal predecessors than the Clash and the Dead Boys." The Trouser Press guide describes them as creating "a provocative guitar rock with distinctive, if collegiate, melodic dissonance." Here, after such worthy earlier recordings like "Icky Mettle" and "Vee Vee," the Archers offer something slightly different: a concept album, of sorts. Like Rush's "2112" sci-fi concept album, All the Nation's Airports is cinematic, like a suspense film about terrorists as directed by Costa-Gavras, conveying a feeling of both exhilaration and foreboding, with tuneful songs that rock and that ring in your ears for hours afterward.