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Album Details

• Artist: Portastatic
• Album: Autumn Was A Lark
• Label: Merge
• Year of Release: 2003
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-12-19

It surprising to see another Portastatic release this soon after Summer Of The Shark. Mac McCaughan's best moment as Portastatic was that last album and he may be riding high on that fact. Or, it may be time for Superchunk to take a much deserved hiatus. Who knows. What was stated in the bio that accompanied Autumn Was A Lark stated that Mac assembled a band and rehearsed once a week for a month at a Chapel Hill location preparing for the first ever extensive tour as Portastatic. In order to keep things interesting, they learned a bunch of covers. Autumn Was A Lark was meant to be an EP but things got out of hand, throwing many solo performances by Mac, together with the covers. The CD was kept an EP price. The title track is indeed one of the most rocking Portastatic tracks to ever be laid down. Some of the covers include Badfinger's "Baby Blue", Bruce Springsteen's "Growin Up", and Ronnie Lane's "One For The Road". "In The Lines" is a track taken from Summer of the Shark, recorded here in a slightly different arrangement. The rest of the album is rounded out by Mac doing a solo thing, just him and his guitar. It sounds good but McCaughan sounds best with a backing band. It's hard to follow up a brilliant album such as Summer Of The Shark. This may not be the right answer although hardcore Mac McCaughan fans will eat this up with his solo performances.

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