Catholic Boy

Catholic Boy
Studio album by The Jim Carroll Band
Released	January 3, 1980
Recorded	June - August 1979
Genre	New wave, punk rock
Length	38:26
Label	Atco
Producer	Earl McGrath, Bob Clearmountain
The Jim Carroll Band chronology
Catholic Boy (1980) Dry Dreams (1982)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Creem	(not rated) [2]
Robert Christgau	B+ [3]
Rolling Stone	[4]

Catholic Boy (1980) is the debut album by The Jim Carroll Band, led by Jim Carroll who is notable for publishing the 1978 memoir The Basketball Diaries,, and poetry collections including Living at the Movies. It spawned two FM hits, "It's Too Late" and "People Who Died" (about friends of the singer who died before their time). The front cover photograph was taken by Annie Leibovitz.

Track listing

1. "Wicked Gravity" (Jim Carroll) – 4:56
2. "Three Sisters" (Carroll, Terrell Winn) – 3:19
3. "Day and Night" (Carroll, Allen Lanier) – 2:22
4. "Nothing Is True" (Carroll, Brian Linsley) – 3:29
5. "People Who Died" (Carroll, Brian Linsley, Stephen Linsley, Terrell Winn, Wayne Woods) – 4:59
6. "City Drops into the Night" (Carroll, Stephen Linsley, Brian Linsley) – 7:23
7. "Crow" (Carroll, Terrell Winn) – 3:02
8. "It's Too Late" (Carroll, Wayne Woods) – 3:04
9. "I Want the Angel" (Carroll, Brian Linsley) – 2:49
10. "Catholic Boy" (Carroll) – 3:03

Personnel

• Jim Carroll – vocals
• Brian Linsley – guitar
• Stephen Linsley – bass
• Terrell Winn – guitar
• Wayne Woods – drums

Additional personnel

• Allen Lanier – keyboards on "Day and Night" & "I Want the Angel"
• Bobby Keys – saxophone on "City Drops into the Night"
• Amy Kanter – vocal on "Day and Night"
• Sally, Hilary, Neon, Janet – backing vocals on "People Who Died"

Technical

• Bob Clearmountain - engineer, co-production
• Jason Corsaro, Jeffrey Norman - assistant engineers
• Annie Leibovitz, Earl McGrath, Sandi Young - art direction

Charts

Album

Chart (1981)	Peak position
Billboard Hot 100	73

Cover versions

"People Who Died" has been covered multiple times: John Cale on the album Antártida (1995), Drive-By Truckers on the live album Alabama Ass Whuppin' (2000), Lordz of Brooklyn on the album The Brooklyn Way (2006), and Willie Nile on the album American Ride (2013). In 2014, Gwar appended a version of "People Who Died" onto their cover of the Pet Shop Boys song "West End Girls" for the AV Club's Undercover series, with lyrics paying tribute to their recently deceased singer, Oderus Urungus (aka Dave Brockie).

"Catholic Boy" was played by Jim Carroll with Pearl Jam as backing band on the The Basketball Diaries OST (1995).

References

1. Deming, Mark. Catholic Boy at AllMusic
2. Creem review
3. Robert Christgau review
4. Rolling Stone review