Call the Doctor

Sleater-Kinney

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 25, 1996)
• Original Release Date: April 29, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chainsaw Records
• ASIN: B00000219M
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,241 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #2 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Riot Grrl
  #6 in	Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative
  #10 in	Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo Fi

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sleater-Kinney's musical manifesto is a wake-up call to not only the old boy network, but to young women who find themselves increasingly at odds with it. Helmed by Corin Tucker (Heaven's To Betsy) and Carrie Brownstein (Excuse 17), this trio is not only furious and formidable, but genuinely significant. On a musical landscape populated by open sewers like The 7 Mary Bush Pilots Idiot-Grunge Revival or Hootie's Home for the Terminally Bland and Sensitive, Tucker's spine-shivering voice shrieking "I wanna be your Joey Ramone / Pictures of me on your bedroom door" cracks through the narcotic haze of mediocrity like a rat tail on a bare bottom. When she declares herself "The Queen of Rock & Roll," I'm inclined to smile and think "If only." Cultural importance aside, this rocks. Their eerily dead-on Sonic Youth snippet in "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" had me checking the credits for a Kim Gordon cameo, while "Little Mouth," "Stay Where You Are" and the incendiary title track are some of the most raging chunks of punk found around these parts since Greg Sage shook the rain off his rubbers. More than recommended: required. --John Chandler

Product Description

Sleater-Kinney's masterful sophomore effort 'Call the Doctor' (Chainsaw) fulfills all the promise of the group's debut and more, forging taut melodicism and jaw-dropping sonic complexity out of barbed-wire emotional potency. Released in 1996, this ain't no sophomore slump record. Includes 'I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone'.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sleater-Kinney's coming of age, both thunderous and textured, August 8, 1999

By	D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Call the Doctor is the blinding work of genius that was the true signifier that Sleater-Kinney had arrived.

This was the band's critical breakthrough and, not surprisingly, also the band's strongest collection of songs until The Hot Rock.

It always pays to put some thought and muscle into your songwriting and this album is proof. Corin doesn't have to scream as much to be heard (when she does, though, on "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone", it arrests your attention because she isn't doing it on every song anymore); arrangements and performances can be subtle (eg. on that simple two-note riff to the bridge of "Call the Doctor", the quiet guitars on the verse to "Joey Ramone", the backing vocals on "Stay Where You Are", the sparse, effective "Hubcap"), and the band shines through with unshowy, rock-solid prowess.

To call this "punk rock" is too simple. Both Call the Doctor and The Hot Rock transcend the punk roots of Sleater-Kinney's individual members into something far more lasting and evocative. For all the yelling and controversy the riot grrls aspired to (eg. Tribe 8's ridiculous, sensationalistic act, Bikini Kill's mouthy Kathleen Hanna, Courtney Love baring her breasts left and right), this is the truly worthy legacy left by the female punk movement: Brilliant music that makes you feel the beating of your own heart; messages that transcend gender lines; full-fledged proof that women are equals to men in rock, without ever having to say anything overt about it. Sleater-Kinney don't mouth off with empty slogans -- it shows you what it means, and convinces you by its undeniable ability.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There are no words..., January 24, 2003

By	"raetotherescue" (Bronx, NY) - See all my reviews

I got this cd, not even a week ago now, and I can't not be listening to it. Even when I'm out to dinner with my friends, the songs are stuck in my head for hours on end. I wasn't sure that I would like it as I'm a devoted fan of The Hot Rock (don't buy the reviews that it's not a phenomenal album, it grows on you like ivy and takes over your entire being). I think at this point my roommate can sing along with me, and she does not enjoy SK to the point that I do. This album is pure heaven. period end of story. I dare you to listen to it and not fall in love.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4½ stars if I could, March 17, 2000

By A Customer

Call the Doctor was the first Sleater-Kinney album I bought, and now I own them all and I've seen them in concert twice. Simply: if you're even considering buying this album, you should do it. It's virtually unparalleled as punk-pop, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a song with more energy than "Little Mouth", or a song that grows on you the way "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" will. If you've never heard Sleater-Kinney, their honesty and energy will blow you away. If you have, this record isn't as polished as The Hot Rock or Dig Me Out, but this album is distinguished from the others by the complete absence of filler -- every one's a keeper, and if a gem like the title track or the ones mentioned above happen to stand out, it's not for lack of competition.