Up in It

Afghan Whigs | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 6, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sub Pop
• ASIN: B0000035EF
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,228 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the definite Whigs statement, but still good, January 5, 2003

By 

Jason Panella (Beaver Falls, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up in It (Audio CD)

The Afghan Whigs may not have hit their pinnacle until the release of Gentlemen, but it'd be false to say they didn't have anything going for them before or after that album. Their last few albums before they disbanded found them experimenting a little more, especially with the soulful 1965, but their earlier years were more musically raw than the tracks on Gentlemen. Up In It is a great case in point.

I'd like to think the sound is leaning closer to classic punk and grunge than anything else, but some of the `60s R&B vibe the Whigs were notorious for shine through occasionally.

The album opens with "Retarded," a classic chord-basher with a very Whigs bridge section. "Hated" has a sound I wish would've ended up more on later Whigs album, and is surely one of the best tracks on Up In It (it even has some nice intrumental interplay between guitarist Rick McCollum and singer/guitarist Greg Dulli). Other gems include the melodic "You My Flower," the almost Cheap Trick-ish "Amphetamines and Coffee," and "Hey Cuz," filled with McCollum's neat slide work.

Why three stars, you may ask? Well, while there are some great tracks, some of the tunes are just subpar. Dulli's vocals on "White Trash Party" are more irritating than anything else, "Son of the South" sounds like a bad B-side from Urge Overkill's Americruiser album, and both "Sammy" and "In My Town" sound musically out of place with the rest of the songs. The album is musically a great improvement from the band's debut, Big Top Halloween, a few listens show they still had yet to find themselves.

This is a great album, especially if you're looking to complete your Afghan Whigs collection, but for those looking for an introductory album to the band, this isn't the place to start.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whipped into a fury., August 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Up in It (Audio CD)

Any fan of the late 80's and 90's American punk scene should appreciate this album. If you were amazed at the raw force of Nirvana's Bleach or fell in love with any of The Replacements early releases, you can't go wrong. The CD contains several bonus tracks from The Afghan Whigs out of print, independent release Big Top Halloween.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Raw beginnings, August 17, 2011

By 

B. S. Marlay (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up in It (Audio CD)

`Up In It' (1990) is the Afghan Whigs' second album, the first being 1988's very rare `Big Top Halloween'. In fact, this contains three tracks off BTH.

This is pretty formative stuff for the Whigs, but you can hear both their sense of texture in certain songs (the excellent `Retarded' and also `Son of the South', `I Know Your Little Secret', `In My Town' and `I Am the Sticks') and Greg Dulli's sense of romantic self loathing and inappropriateness in some of the lyrics (`Retarded': Television's gone/ And I'm alone with Lucifer/ What a drag or `Hated': With all your crying I can tell/ That your disease will make me well/ Twist your head so I can witness/ Come and crawl inside my sickness). A number of the songs are pretty much straight forward fast grungy rockers that make it easy to see how they were lumped in with the 90s grunge rock crowd. But it is the afore-mentioned tracks that give you a glimpse of their penchant for soul influences and edgy sexual darkness - the things that would make their future releases brilliant.

If you have `Gentlemen', `Black Love' or `1965' already, this will not assuage your desire for more. It is too immature. But it will give you an insight into their rough and raw beginnings.

Mainly for completists.