So Much for the City

So Much for the City
Studio album by The Thrills
Released	May 27, 2003
Recorded	October 2002 – March 2003
Genre	Indie rock
Length	46:24
Label	Virgin
Producer	Tony Hoffer
The Thrills chronology
So Much for the City (2003) Let's Bottle Bohemia (2004)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	72/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[3]
The Guardian	[4]
The Independent	[5]
Los Angeles Times	[6]
Pitchfork Media	6.9/10[7]
Q	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Spin	B+[10]
The Village Voice	C[11]

So Much for the City is the debut album of the Irish indie/pop band The Thrills. It was released in May 2003 and quickly became the number one in the Republic of Ireland where it spent 61 weeks in the top 75,^[12] and also won 'Album of the Year' at the national music awards. It was also very successful in UK, debuting at #3, remaining in the charts for 25 weeks,^[13] and gave them some attention in Europe, with the single "Big Sur" reaching #17 in the UK,^[13] which remains as their highest charted position in that country to date.

In an interview, lead singer Conor Deasy explained the band's inspiration for the song material:

“

Those songs are our ways of picking us up because we were kind of miserable. We were dropped by our label. And the towns are put [in the songs] as a way of escapism, as opposed to documenting little tales about what happened when we went there. When we put in a title like "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)," it would literally pick us up a bit.[14]

”

The album was nominated for the 2003 Mercury Prize but lost to Dizzee Rascal's Boy in da Corner.^[15]

Legacy

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[16]

Track listing

1. "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" – 4:13
2. "Big Sur" – 3:07
3. "Don't Steal Our Sun" – 2:50
4. "Deckchairs and Cigarettes" – 4:58
5. "One Horse Town" – 3:15
6. "Old Friends, New Lovers" (feat. string arrangements by David Campbell) – 4:01
7. "Say It Ain't So" – 2:44
8. "Hollywood Kids" – 5:33
9. "Just Travelling Through" – 3:21
10. "Your Love Is Like Las Vegas" – 2:23
11. "'Til the Tide Creeps In" / "Plans" (hidden track) – 10:06

Singles

• "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" (November 11, 2002)
• "One Horse Town" (March 10, 2003)
• "Big Sur" (June 9, 2003)
• "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" (re-issue) (August 25, 2003)
• "Don't Steal Our Sun" (November 24, 2003)

References

1. "Reviews for So Much For The City by The Thrills". Metacritic. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
2. Lhote, Morgane. "So Much for the City – The Thrills". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
3. Brunner, Rob (15 August 2003). "Rating the contenders for Britain's top music prize". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
4. Peschek, David (27 June 2003). "The Thrills: So Much for the City". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
5. "Album: The Thrills". The Independent. 27 June 2003. Archived from the original on 30 June 2003. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
6. Hilburn, Robert (26 October 2003). "When Irish eyes are California dreamin'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
7. Petrusich, Amanda (21 July 2003). "The Thrills: So Much for the City". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
8. "The Thrills: So Much for the City". Q (204): 112. July 2003.
9. Hoard, Christian (27 November 2003). "The Thrills: So Much For The City". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
10. Wood, Mikael (December 2003). "The Thrills: So Much for the City". Spin. 19 (12): 131–33. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
11. Christgau, Robert (25 May 2004). "Consumer Guide: Anti-Gravitational Boots". The Village Voice. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
12. The Thrills - So Much For The City - Music Charts
13. "The Thrills". Chart Stats. Archived from the original on 2012-07-29. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
14. "Interview: Conor Deasy of The Thrills". Livedaily.com. 2004-05-19. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
15. "Rocklist.net...Mercury/Nationwide Music Prize Nominations And Winners". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
16. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.