American Middle Class (album)
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- Ronnie's Place Studio, Blackbird Studio, Quad Studios and Pioneertown Studios (Nashville, Tennessee)
| American Middle Class | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 14, 2014 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Country, Americana | |||
| Length | 46:48 | |||
| Label | Slate Creek Records | |||
| Producer | Jordan Powell Angaleena Presley | |||
| Angaleena Presley chronology | ||||
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American Middle Class is the debut solo album by Angaleena Presley, released on October 14, 2014, through Slate Creek Records.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 84/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Billboard | [3] |
| Cuepoint (Expert Witness) | A[4] |
| The Daily Telegraph | [5] |
| Exclaim! | 9/10[6] |
| The Observer | [7] |
| PopMatters | 8/10[8] |
| Rolling Stone |  [9] |
| Tampa Bay Times | A[10] |
| Uncut | 8/10[11] |
American Middle Class received highly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 84 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on nine reviews.[1]
In a four out of five star review Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writes that the album "will linger for some time to come."[2] In the three and a half out of five star review from Rolling Stone's Jonathan Bernstein, he remarks how it is an "impressive solo debut".[9] There was a four star rating granted to the album from Neil Spencer of The Observer, where he revealed he felt "Presley's vocal and lyrical touch are exceptional on an impressive state-of-the-nation album."[7] At The Daily Telegraph, Martin Chilton believes "the musicianship is top notch."[5] The four star review delivered from Billboard's Elias Leight is for "a focused collection of songs."[3] The Uncut magazine rated the album an eight out of ten because "Presley has a wry, modern take on country music."[11] In Cuepoint, Robert Christgau called it a "moderately astonishing bunch of songs" on which "she sings pretty as you please."[4] The eight out of ten rating bestowed on the release from Anthony Easton at PopMatters is in response to "the corruption and failure of the market rotting from the bottom and squeezing from the top, is profoundly realized here."[8] Stuart Henderson rates the album a nine out of ten for Exclaim! because "this debut is about as accomplished as one could reasonably expect."[6] The Tampa Bay Times grants the release an A, and Sean Daly sees how "she has a persistent knack for showmanship, small scenes but grand gestures."[10] Nate Chinen of The New York Times declares "American Middle Class, (Presley's) debut album, comes fully formed, clear about its purpose."[12]
The album was nominated for "International Album of the Year" by the UK Americana Music Association.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ain't No Man" | Angaleena Presley | 3:44 |
| 2. | "All I Ever Wanted" | Presley | 5:27 |
| 3. | "Grocery Store" | Presley, Lori McKenna | 3:42 |
| 4. | "American Middle Class" | Presley | 3:47 |
| 5. | "Dry County Blues" | Presley, Mark D. Sanders | 4:01 |
| 6. | "Pain Pills" | Presley | 2:58 |
| 7. | "Life of the Party" | Presley, Matraca Berg | 5:24 |
| 8. | "Knocked Up" | Presley, Sanders | 3:54 |
| 9. | "Better Off Red" | Presley | 3:38 |
| 10. | "Drunk" | Presley, Sarah Siskind | 2:57 |
| 11. | "Blessing and a Curse" | Presley, Bob DiPiero | 3:37 |
| 12. | "Surrender" | Presley, Luke Laird, Barry Dean | 3:39 |
