No. 4 Record


#4 Record is an album by the Australian rock band, You Am I, released in 1998. The album reached #1 on the local albums chart on its release. This was You Am I's third consecutive album to debut at #1 on the Australian charts, a record at the time. The album contains "Heavy Heart", one of the band's best known songs which has been covered by Paul Kelly, Ben Lee, Lisa Mitchell, TZU, Courtney Barnett, and the Supersuckers.
You Am I recorded the album with producer George Drakoulias, who Tim Rogers later reflected put the band "through the wringer", with high standards for the scansion of the vocal performance that he wanted to capture on the recordings. The album was recorded during an unhappy period for the band. "It was the worst recording experience. Rusty, Andy and I didn't hang out." Rogers later said.

Reception

claimed the album, "strikes perhaps the group's best balance between pure pop and jagged, potent riffola: even if the American producer did his best to sand the rough edges off "Billy" and the great rock & roll radio pop of "Rumble"."
Later, AllMusic said the band, "finally makes some headway toward matching its vicious, chaotic live intensity. You have an LP that beguiles, teases, sweetens, and often throbs in popcraft. It also blasts in fits and starts of harsh edge, chops, infectious attitude, and, when it suits them, abandon."
Ranked as 19th most under-rated album of all time, FasterLouder said, "For a band that always styled itself on the sloppy swagger of The Stones, the clever wordplay of The Kinks and the brazen cheek of The Faces, #4’s about as close as they got to an amalgam of that holy trinity."

Track listing

All tracks by Tim Rogers.
  1. "Junk"
  2. "The Cream & The Crock"
  3. "What I Don't Know 'bout You"
  4. "Fifteen"
  5. "Top Of The Morn' & Slip Of The Day"
  6. "Billy"
  7. "Come Home Wit' Me"
  8. "Heavy Heart"
  9. "Rumble"
  10. "Guys, Girls, Guitars"
  11. "Plans"
  12. "...And Vandalism"

    Radio Settee

Some copies of the album came with a live bonus disc, featuring songs recorded for a Triple J Live at the Wireless set. Several tracks have Brad Shepherd of The Hoodoo Gurus on extra guitar and harmonica. Phil Stack contributes double bass to tracks 3 and 4.
  1. "Live with Me"
  2. "Looking for a Kiss"
  3. "Berlin Chair "
  4. "Heavy Heart "
  5. "Junk"
  6. "Billy"
  7. "Trike"
  8. "Fox on the Run"
  9. "Mr Milk"
The EP has several covers: "Live with Me" is a cover of the Rolling Stones song; "Looking for a Kiss" is a cover of a New York Dolls song; and "Fox on the Run" is a cover of Sweet.

Chart positions

Footnotes