Love Tara Explained

Love Tara
Type:studio
Artist:Eric's Trip
Cover:Album_Love_Tara_cover.jpg
Border:yes
Recorded:April – June, 1993
Genre:Indie rock, lo-fi, grunge
Length:37:00
Label:Sub Pop
Producer:Eric's Trip, Bob Weston
Prev Title:Julie and the Porthole to
Prev Year:1993
Next Title:Warm Girl 7"
Next Year:1993

Love Tara is the first full-length album by Canadian indie band Eric's Trip.[1]

It was their first release on Seattle's Sub Pop record label and their second not independently released,[1] as well as the first album by a Canadian act to be released by Sub Pop.[1] The album was self-recorded in three months and reflected Sub Pop's shift toward lighter, more melodic music from the grunge on which it initially built its reputation. Though the lo-fi quality of the record threw many listeners and critics off, it was still very well received in both Canada and the United States.[2]

Critical reception

Mike Bell of the Calgary Herald praised the album as "Simplistic, charming, front-porch folk-pop with melodies that stick like a gradeschool tongue to a flag pole or rock riffs that sound like a dysfunctional Partridge Family jamming in the garage."[2]

In Chart's Top 50 Canadian Albums of All Time polls, Love Tara ranked 35th in 1996, and 37th in 2000.[3] It was also ranked 39th in Bob Mersereau's 2007 book The Top 100 Canadian Albums.[4] In a 2015 review, Vices Matt Williams dubbed it "one of the best Canadian albums ever", seeing it stay "a high watermark" within the nation's music history.[5] Both Williams and Exclaim!s Vish Khanna also heralded it as a key work of Canada's 1990s East coast scene.[6]

At the 2017 Polaris Music Prize awards ceremony, the album won the jury vote for the Heritage Prize in the 1986–1995 category.[7]

Influence on other musicians

Sloan covered the song "Stove" in the 1993 compilation album DGC Rarities Volume 1, which combined "Stove" into a medley with "Smother", a non-album track that Eric's Trip recorded for the Never Mind the Molluscs compilation.

The title of the album was referenced in the Tragically Hip's song "Put It Off", from their 1996 album Trouble at the Henhouse: "I played Love Tara/by Eric's Trip/on the day that you were born".

Notes and References

  1. News: Halifax discovery Eric's Trip going for the gold. Ottawa Citizen. October 21, 1993.
  2. News: Recent releases. Calgary Herald. November 7, 1993.
  3. Top 100 Canadian Albums of All Time. Chart. October 28, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/19991012071301/http://chartattack.com/top50/all100.html. October 12, 1999. usurped.
  4. News: The top 100 Canadian albums: Let the debate begin. Waterloo Region Record. October 18, 2007.
  5. Web site: Retrospective Review: Eric's Trip - 'Love Tara'. Williams. Matt. January 5, 2015. Vice. March 26, 2023.
  6. Web site: Eric's Trip A Love Supreme. Khanna. Vish. March 28, 2009. Exclaim!. March 26, 2023.
  7. News: Tragically Hip album makes Polaris Heritage Prize list. Toronto Star. October 24, 2017. October 25, 2017. Rayner. Ben.