Gun Shy, Trigger Happy

Gun Shy, Trigger Happy is the second (and, to date, final) album by Boston, Massachusetts musician Jen Trynin. It was released in 1997 on Warner Bros. Records. It was listed as Entertainment Weekly's album of the year for 1997 and topped many other critic's lists.

Gun Shy, Trigger Happy
Studio album by
Jen Trynin
ReleasedAugust 12, 1997
Recorded1997
GenreAlternative rock
LabelWarner Bros.
Jen Trynin chronology
Cockamamie
(1994)		 Gun Shy, Trigger Happy
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]

Recording and promotion

Trynin wrote the songs for the album on an acoustic guitar in her living room, following the tour for her debut album Cockamamie.[2]

The song "February" was chosen as the first single from the album. Since Warner Bros. Records were going to release it in the summer, they forced her to change the song's name to "Getaway" (on the album itself it is listed under both titles).[3]

A music video was shot for the song to help promote it, however it has never been released. In her 2006 book Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be, Trynin recalled that everyone "[hated] the rough cut of the "Getaway (February)" video, because it's super-hip and happening and no one knows what the hell is going on in it."[3]

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic praised the album. He wrote in his review that "Cockamamie, Jennifer Trynin's accomplished debut, got lost in the shuffle of all the post-alternative female singer-songwriters of the mid-'90s. Many of those songwriters were less talented than Trynin but were more commercially savvy and, therefore, successful. Perhaps this is the reason her second album, Gun Shy Trigger Happy, has a slicker production than Cockamamie, but even with the polish, Trynin remains one of the better adult-alternative songwriters of the late '90s."[1]

A review from People magazine published on September 22, 1997 calls it "one of 1997’s strongest and most mature discs."[4] The review states that "Her 1994 debut, Cockamamie, showed admirable grrrlish spunk and a few knockout songs, but promising as that release was, it barely hinted at the giant leap forward this 33-year-old Bostonian takes on her dazzling follow-up. Gun Shy Trigger Happy is a musical tour de force—13 meticulously produced cuts that feature Trynin’s hypnotic vocals, gritty guitar playing and grown-up lyrics about faltering relationships and lost innocence."[4]

Track listing

All songs written by Jen Trynin.

  1. "Go Ahead"
  2. "Getaway (February)"
  3. "If I"
  4. "Writing Notes"
  5. "Everything"
  6. "Bore Me"
  7. "Love Letter"
  8. "Washington Hotel"
  9. "I Resign"
  10. "I Don't Need You"
  11. "Around It"
  12. "Under the Knife"
  13. "Rang You & Ran"

Personnel
Musicians
  • Chris Foley – drums, percussion
  • Mike Denneen – keyboards, programming
  • Jennifer Trynin – guitar, vocals
  • Ed Valauskas – bass
Production
  • Danny Clinch – photography
  • Mike Denneen – engineer, mixing, producer
  • Richard Marr – mixing
  • Susie Tallman – production coordination
  • Roberto Toledo – mixing
  • Jonathan Wyner – mastering
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References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Gun Shy, Trigger Happy at AllMusic
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/19990422104815/http://www.jentrynin.com/cmp/mikesliners.html
  3. Trynin, Jennifer (2006). Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be. Harcourt Press.
  4. https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-gun-shy-trigger-happy-vol-48-no-12/


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