You and Your Sister (album)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Chicago Tribune	[3]
Robert Christgau	B+[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[1]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	9/10[7]

You and Your Sister is the debut album by the American band the Vulgar Boatmen, released in 1989.^[8] The Vulgar Boatmen, at the time of the album, constituted two bands: one based in Florida and one based in Indiana.

Production[]

The album's songs were written by Dale Lawrence and Robert Ray.^[9][10] Ray, based in Florida, and Lawrence, based in Indiana, sent songs through the mail.^[11] Aside from a few tracks recorded in Indiana, the majority of the album was made at Ray's Gainesville, Florida, home studio.^[12] You and Your Sister was coproduced by Ray and Walter Salas-Humara.^[13]

Critical reception[]

Robert Christgau wrote: "These guys make much more than you expect out of what first sounds like almost nothing--just tuneful enough to warrant play two, their mild jangle gains sweetness and kick as your faith increases."^[4] The Chicago Tribune thought that "all of it—even the rhythmically powerful songs—is somehow quiet; it`s the dreamy, heart-tugging stuff that drifts in from another room late at night."^[3] Greil Marcus, in The Village Voice, called the songs "very '50s in their casualness, present-day in their insistence on doubt."^[14]

AllMusic wrote that "a dozen near-perfect roots pop tunes ... address simple concerns, like driving and changing the world all around, to a steady four-four beat that just about accomplishes that latter feat with only the occasional syncopated accent."^[2] The New Yorker thought that "the sound in general was what you’d call 'organic'—you could basically hear the guitars being strummed, the drums occasionally snapped, the almost-resigned naturalness of the lead singer’s voice, the plaintiveness of the melodies."^[15]

Track listing[]

References[]