Post Minstrel Syndrome is the debut album by the American alternative rock band the Negro Problem, released in 1997.[2][3]

Production

The album was produced by Andrew Williams and the band, and recorded on an 8-track.[4][5] It contains a cover of "MacArthur Park", with changed lyrics, as well as five unlisted songs.[6][7] It was the frontman Stew's intention to make an album that sounded like his memory of the less-segregated AM radio of the late 1960s.[8]

The original lineup of the band broke up toward the end of the recording sessions.[9] "Birdcage" criticizes the Los Angeles Times music critic Robert Hilburn.[10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[12]
Los Angeles Daily News	[13]
The San Diego Union-Tribune	[14]

Entertainment Weekly called the album "a wryly eccentric brand of white-bread pop laced with atmospheric keyboards, vibrant brass, and startling melodies."[12] Phoenix New Times deemed it "a kinky mix of art-rock gambol and earthy balladry."[15] Rolling Stone praised the "tart wit, sunshinedaydream melodicism and open-heart surge."[16]

Trouser Press labeled the album "a joyous album of off-kilter pure pop."[17] The Dayton Daily News stated: "Quirky yet infectious, this art-pop fits with Pere Ubu's relatively accessible albums circa 1990."[7] The San Diego Union-Tribune considered Post Minstrel Syndrome to be the best debut album of 1997.[14]

AllMusic wrote that the album "is like a breath of fresh air, a no-man's land where the politics and social vision of C.L.R. James meet Spike Lee in the home of Big Joe Turner's R&B, and primal, snaky rock & roll."[11]

Track listing

References