The Way Out (The Books album)

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The Way Out
Studio album by
the Books
ReleasedJuly 20, 2010 (2010-07-20)
Genre
Length50:12
LabelTemporary Residence
Producer
  • The Books
  • Drew Brown
The Books chronology
Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books
(2006) 		The Way Out
(2010) 		A Dot in Time
(2012)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.5/10[1]
Metacritic81/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
The A.V. ClubA[8]
Consequence[9]
The Independent[10]
Los Angeles Times[11]
Mojo[12]
Pitchfork7.7/10[13]
Spin7/10[14]
Urb[15]
XLR8R9/10[16]

The Way Out is the fourth and final studio album by American musical duo the Books. It was released on July 20, 2010 by Temporary Residence Limited, and was the duo's first album to be issued by the label.[17]

The Way Out received mostly positive reviews from critics.[6] The album's cover is a take on that of early 1970s editions of The Way, an illustrated version of The Living Bible.[18]

Composition

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The Way Out has been called a sound collage.[3] Resident Advisor said that similarly to the duo's earlier album Lost and Safe (2005), The Way Out "consists of bright collages, some of which have pop or folk-style vocals."[4] Paste Magazine called it the duo's "most dazzling work to date" in which they "[strike] an ideal balance between found-sound collage and original vocalizations", with a greater emphasis on soundbytes.[19]

NME included it in their list of the "Most Underrated Albums of 2010"; writer Chris Parkin called it "[a] pathologically precise album from NYC's spoddiest duo, who've leavened their clever-clever musique concrete with rib-tickling funnies in a seamless fusion of polyrhythms, sampled hypnotherapy tapes and perfectly skewiff melodies."[5]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by The Books (Paul de Jong and Nick Zammuto)

No.TitleLength
1."Group Autogenics I"3:44
2."IDKT"1:42
3."I Didn't Know That"3:38
4."A Cold Freezin' Night"3:22
5."Beautiful People"2:53
6."I Am Who I Am"3:02
7."Chain of Missing Links"4:31
8."All You Need Is a Wall"3:45
9."Thirty Incoming"4:57
10."A Wonderful Phrase by Gandhi"0:22
11."We Bought the Flood"5:04
12."The Story of Hip Hop"4:30
13."Free Translator"3:50
14."Group Autogenics II"4:52
Total length:50:12

Personnel

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Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[20]

The Books

Additional personnel

  • Drew Brown – additional production and engineering
  • Brendon Downey – mastering, mixing

Charts

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Chart (2010) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[21] 165
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[22] 5
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[23] 22

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Way Out by The Books reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  2. ^ Linnemann, Matthijs (July 15, 2010). "Books, The – The Way Out". OOR (in Dutch). Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Most blogged artists: Sleigh Bells, Kelis, The Books". The Independent. May 3, 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "The sound collage duo will release their next full-length this summer". Resident Advisor. May 3, 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b Snapes, Laura (3 December 2010). "Most Underrated Albums of 2010 – What's Yours?". NME. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "The Way Out by The Books Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  7. ^ Hoffman, K. Ross. "The Way Out – The Books". AllMusic. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  8. ^ Gordon, Scott (July 20, 2010). "The Books: The Way Out". The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  9. ^ Cosores, Philip (July 22, 2010). "Album Review: The Books – The Way Out". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on July 28, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  10. ^ Gill, Andy (July 16, 2010). "Album: The Books, The Way Out (Temporary Residence)". The Independent. Archived from the original on July 19, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  11. ^ Wappler, Margaret (July 19, 2010). "Album review: The Books' 'The Way Out'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  12. ^ Sheppard, David (September 2010). "The Books: The Way Out". Mojo. No. 202. p. 97.
  13. ^ Dahlen, Chris (July 20, 2010). "The Books: The Way Out". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  14. ^ Powell, Mike (July 12, 2010). "The Books, 'The Way Out' (Temporary Residence)". Spin. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  15. ^ Levine, Noah (July 22, 2010). "The Books – The Way Out". Urb. Archived from the original on October 9, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  16. ^ Fallon, Patric (August 10, 2010). "The Books: The Way Out". XLR8R. Archived from the original on August 14, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  17. ^ Hughes, Josiah (May 3, 2010). "The Books Take The Way Out with New Album". Exclaim!. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  18. ^ Youth for Christ International (1973). The Way: The Living Bible Illustrated. Tyndale House Publishers. ISBN 0-8423-2220-5.
  19. ^ Lee, Christina (July 26, 2010). "The Books: The Way Out". Paste. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  20. ^ The Way Out (liner notes). The Books. Temporary Residence Limited. 2010. TRR183CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. ^ "Billboard 200". Billboard. August 7, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  22. ^ "Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. August 7, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  23. ^ "Independent Albums". Billboard. August 7, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
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