Pop Has Freed Us, a compilation/career retrospective by Papas Fritas

Papas Fritas

Papas Fritas is an American indie-rock band that formed in 1992 and released three studio albums before quietly breaking up around 2001. The band's name is Spanish for "French fries" but is also a pun on the phrase "Pop has freed us," which they used as both the name of their music publishing...

, contains eight songs from their studio albums and nine rarities, and comes with a DVD featuring three music videos ("Afterall," "Hey Hey You Say," and "Way You Walk"). It was released in the summer of 2003 on Minty Fresh after "Way You Walk," a track from the band's third LP, Buildings and Grounds

Buildings and Grounds

Buildings and Grounds is the third and final studio album by Papas Fritas, released stateside on Minty Fresh in March 2000. In Australia it was distributed by local label Half a Cow, their first release of a non-Aussie album since Bettie Serveert's Palomine five years earlier.- Track listing...

, garnered mainstream exposure in a TV commercial for Dentyne Ice.

Track listing

1. "Way You Walk" (Tony Goddess) – 3:48
2. "Smash This World" (Goddess) – 4:08
3. "Lame to Be" (Shivika Asthana/Goddess) – 3:24
4. "Flash Lightning" (Tom Verlaine) – 3:00
5. "High School, Maybe" (Goddess) – 1:31
6. "Passion Play" (Goddess) – 3:04
7. "TV Movies" (Asthana/Goddess) – 3:57
8. "Holiday" (Goddess) – 2:48
9. "Hey Hey You Say" (Asthana/Keith Gendel/Goddess) – 3:15
10. "Let's Go Down to the Town Oasis" (Goddess) – 3:06
11. "Do the Move" (Goddess) – 3:32
12. "Say Goodbye" (Asthana/Goddess) – 4:05
13. "Book of Love" (Lindsey Buckingham/Richard Dashut) – 3:17
14. "Vertical Lives" (Gendel) – 3:46
15. "People Tell Me Not to Worry" (Goddess) – 3:39
16. "Questions" (Goddess) – 3:18
17. "Love Just Don't Quit" (Goddess) – 2:19

1, 14, 16: from Buildings and Grounds

Buildings and Grounds

Buildings and Grounds is the third and final studio album by Papas Fritas, released stateside on Minty Fresh in March 2000. In Australia it was distributed by local label Half a Cow, their first release of a non-Aussie album since Bettie Serveert's Palomine five years earlier.- Track listing...

; 2: from the Friday Night 7" single, 1994; 3: from the Passion Play 7" single, 1995; 4: previously unreleased (c. 1994); 5: bonus track from international releases of Papas Fritas; 6-8: from Papas Fritas

Papas Fritas (album)

Papas Fritas is the debut album by Papas Fritas and was released in October 1995 on Minty Fresh. Trouser Press editor Ira Robbins wrote that the group "turns extraordinarily fetching pop concoctions like 'Lame to Be,' 'TV Movies,' 'Possibilities' and 'Smash This World' into disarmingly...

; 9, 12: from Helioself

Helioself

Helioself, the second album by Papas Fritas, was released in the spring of 1997. According to the band's website, "Helioself is the name of the mythical Sun-Ra sessions that were so powerful .....

; 10: from the Vertical Lives CD single (2000, Belgium) and Tape Op: A Compact Disc of Creative Music Recordings (2000, US); 11: from the Far From an Answer CD single (2000, Australia); 13: A-side of Kindercore Records Single of the Month, October 2000 (7"); 15: from The Men From O.R.G.A.N. (2002, Italy; originally titled "Solodisco" and credited to Tony Goddess); 17: from In Our Lifetime, Vol. 3: The Revenge of Boston (2002, US) and POPvolume#3 (2002, France)

Personnel

• Shivika Asthana: drums, vocals
• Keith Gendel: bass, vocals
• Tony Goddess: guitar, piano, vocals

• Tom Swafford: string arrangement on "Passion Play" (Swafford and Kathleen Derbyshire, violins; Heather Morehouse, viola; Sarah Thompson, cello)
• Bryan Hanna: coproduction on "Hey Hey You Say" and "Say Goodbye"; toms and maracas on "Hey Hey You Say"
• Samantha Wood: background vocals on "Let's Go Down to the Town Oasis" and "Do the Move"
• Derek Brain: trumpet on "Let's Go Down to the Town Oasis"

• Tony Goddess, Jay Ruttenberg: liner notes
• Keith Gendel, Courtney Banfield: photography
• Shannon Showers: layout