Tracklist
album info:
Verified yes
Discs1
Rank−
Released2000-11-08
Record labelNettwerk Records
Charts
AddedFebruary 2nd, 2006
Last updatedJune 14th, 2017
AboutLong Distance is the third studio album by the American band Ivy. It was released on November 8, 2000, in Japan, while the US version was released on July 10, 2001, by Nettwerk. A departure from Ivy's previous studio albums Realistic (1995) and Apartment Life (1997), Long Distance was influenced by new wave, but maintained Ivy's signature blend of indie pop and indie rock music. Ivy collaborated with long-time producer Peter Nashel for two of the album's tracks, while the rest were written and produced entirely by members Andy Chase and Adam Schlesinger.
Long Distance received positive reviews upon its release. Many critics favored Ivy's new approach, although some found it less interesting compared to the material on Apartment Life. Commercially, the album fared well in both Japan and the United States, but did not peak on any significant record chart.
Three singles were released from the album. "Lucy Doesn't Love You" and "Disappointed" were both commercially unsuccessful, while the album's third single, "Edge of the Ocean", appeared in numerous films and television programs and has since been considered the band's signature song. The songs "Undertow" and "Worry About You" were also used in media. "Worry About You" was used as the theme song for the ABC miniseries Kingdom Hospital. Promotional music videos were created for both "Lucy Doesn't Love You" and "Edge of the Ocean".
Long Distance received positive reviews upon release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on nine reviews. Jonathan Cohen of Billboard commented that "Durand's sensual vocals are beguiling as ever" and favoured singles "Disappointed" and "Edge of the Ocean". A critic from Resonance magazine praised the album for "stay[ing] true to the belief that guitar pop can have cool, utopian sounds without bringing in a truckload of keyboards and sequencers". A Launch.com reviewer stated that "no one else stateside is currently making pop quite this lush and lovely," but disapproved of the track "Undertow" for being "short of perfection". One of E! Online's music critics declared "Lucy Doesn't Love You" a summer anthem and predicted that Long Distance would increase Ivy's popularity.
Critics from both Rolling Stone and Blender made strong comparisons between Long Distance and the English musical duo Everything but the Girl. The former stated that "any fan of Everything but the Girl, Saint Etienne or vintage Blondie should find plenty to swoon over", while the latter called the sound "cloudy and distant, [but it] takes tentative steps toward Everything but the Girl". In a more mixed review, a critic from SonicNet stated that "Ivy specialize[s] in nebulously oriented dream-pop: too ethereal for straight pop fans, too structured for the 4AD crowd." In a divided review, Michaelangelo Matos of City Pages noted that he preferred Ivy's previous releases, but stated, "If your band had spent four years getting dropped and picked up and dropped again by record labels, you'd sound tired too." Similarly, a reviewer from Alternative Press was negative, expressing that "the 13 tracks here are improbably edgeless, all love-me-do/love-me-don't plaints that evaporate on impact".
Long Distance received positive reviews upon its release. Many critics favored Ivy's new approach, although some found it less interesting compared to the material on Apartment Life. Commercially, the album fared well in both Japan and the United States, but did not peak on any significant record chart.
Three singles were released from the album. "Lucy Doesn't Love You" and "Disappointed" were both commercially unsuccessful, while the album's third single, "Edge of the Ocean", appeared in numerous films and television programs and has since been considered the band's signature song. The songs "Undertow" and "Worry About You" were also used in media. "Worry About You" was used as the theme song for the ABC miniseries Kingdom Hospital. Promotional music videos were created for both "Lucy Doesn't Love You" and "Edge of the Ocean".
Long Distance received positive reviews upon release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on nine reviews. Jonathan Cohen of Billboard commented that "Durand's sensual vocals are beguiling as ever" and favoured singles "Disappointed" and "Edge of the Ocean". A critic from Resonance magazine praised the album for "stay[ing] true to the belief that guitar pop can have cool, utopian sounds without bringing in a truckload of keyboards and sequencers". A Launch.com reviewer stated that "no one else stateside is currently making pop quite this lush and lovely," but disapproved of the track "Undertow" for being "short of perfection". One of E! Online's music critics declared "Lucy Doesn't Love You" a summer anthem and predicted that Long Distance would increase Ivy's popularity.
Critics from both Rolling Stone and Blender made strong comparisons between Long Distance and the English musical duo Everything but the Girl. The former stated that "any fan of Everything but the Girl, Saint Etienne or vintage Blondie should find plenty to swoon over", while the latter called the sound "cloudy and distant, [but it] takes tentative steps toward Everything but the Girl". In a more mixed review, a critic from SonicNet stated that "Ivy specialize[s] in nebulously oriented dream-pop: too ethereal for straight pop fans, too structured for the 4AD crowd." In a divided review, Michaelangelo Matos of City Pages noted that he preferred Ivy's previous releases, but stated, "If your band had spent four years getting dropped and picked up and dropped again by record labels, you'd sound tired too." Similarly, a reviewer from Alternative Press was negative, expressing that "the 13 tracks here are improbably edgeless, all love-me-do/love-me-don't plaints that evaporate on impact".