{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Afoot | type = ep | artist = Let's Active | cover = Afoot-1983-Lets-Active-300x300.jpg | alt = Afoot by Let's Active, cover art by Faye Hunter | released = 1983 | recorded = June 1982 – March 1983 | venue = | studio = | genre = Indie rock, jangle pop, power pop | length = {{Duration|m=22|s=42}} | label = I.R.S. Records | producer = Mitch Easter | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Cypress | next_year = 1984 }}
'''''Afoot''''' is the debut six-song EP by the American indie rock band Let's Active, first released in 1983 by I.R.S. Records.
==Recording== The music on ''Afoot'' was recorded from June 1982 through March 1983.<ref name="AfootAM">{{AllMusic |class=album |id=afoot-mw0000877028 |tab=credits |label=''Afoot'' (1983) |accessdate=October 30, 2016 }}</ref> Recording was done at bandleader Mitch Easter's home recording studio, Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.<ref name=Billboard1984/> The songs were presented as a demo to I.R.S., who quickly signed the band. The six songs were packaged as a mini album debut for the band and released in 12" vinyl EP format in late 1983.<ref name="AfootAM"/>
==Track listing== All six songs were composed by Mitch Easter:<ref name="AfootAM"/> #"Every Word Means No" – 2:57 #"Make Up with Me" – 3:40 #"Edge of the World" – 4:00 #"Room with a View" – 3:48 #"In Between" – 3:55 #"Leader of Men" – 4:22
==Personnel== '''Let's Active''': *Mitch Easter – Guitar, vocals *Faye Hunter – Bass, vocals *Sara Romweber – Drums
==Production== Easter produced all six tracks at Drive-In Studio.<ref name=Billboard1984/> Scott Litt provided assistance with mixing.<ref name="AfootAM"/>
Bassist Faye Hunter painted the cover art, musician/friend Richard Barone contributed additional photography, and the album design was credited to Carl Grasso.<ref name="AfootAM"/>
==Reception== Although it sold only modestly, the EP was a prominent critical success.<ref>{{Cite book |title=All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music |last1=Bogdanov |first1=Vladimir |last2=Woodstra |first2=Chris |last3=Erlewine |first3=Stephen Thomas |year=2001 |publisher=Backbeat |location=San Francisco, CA |isbn=9780879306274 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidedef00bogd/page/232 232]–233 |url=https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidedef00bogd |url-access=registration }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Music: What Happened? |last=Miller |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Miller (pop musician) |year=2010 |publisher=125 Books |location=Alameda, CA |isbn=9780615381961 |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aduy1H1mUx0C&pg=PA117 }}</ref> ''Trouser Press'' described the record as giving "new meaning to such overused pop adjectives as crisp, bright and ringing".<ref name="Robbins">{{Cite book |title=The New Trouser Press Record Guide |edition=4th |editor-last=Robbins |editor-first=Ira A. |author=Phillip, Elizabeth |year=1989 |publisher=Collier/Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=0-02-036361-3 |page=383 |url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=lets_active |access-date=2014-07-04 |archive-date=2013-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331093007/http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=lets_active |url-status=live }}</ref> In a particularly effusive retrospective review, AllMusic said "the entire EP is simply flawless" and called all six songs "brilliantly catchy".<ref name="ComboCDAM">{{AllMusic |class=album |id=cypress-afoot-mw0000653801 |label=''Cypress/Afoot'' (1989) |accessdate=18 June 2014 }}</ref>
''Afoot'' was a major hit on college radio stations in late 1983–early 84.<ref name=Billboard1984>{{Cite magazine |last=McCormick |first=Moira |date=Oct 6, 1984 |title=Producer Easter Gets Active As Performer |magazine=Billboard |publisher=Billboard Publications |volume=96 |issue=38 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT36 |accessdate=18 June 2014 }}</ref> The opening track, "Every Word Means No", was particularly popular, and came to be regarded as a signature song for the group.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Shake Some Action – The Ultimate Guide To Power Pop |last=Borack |first=John M. |author-link=John M. Borack |year=2007 |publisher=Not Lame Recording Co. |location=Fort Collins, CO |isbn=9780979771408 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqtGTJgE4rEC&pg=PA27 }}</ref> In the late 1990s it was covered by Smash Mouth and featured on the ''Friends Again'' soundtrack (1999).<ref name="Harris">{{Cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/various-everyword-2496134467.html |title=Various Artists: Every Word: A Tribute to Let's Active |author=Harris, Will |date=November 19, 2003 |website=PopMatters |accessdate=August 27, 2019 |archive-date=August 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828002938/https://www.popmatters.com/various-everyword-2496134467.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It lent its name (partially) to the multi-band compilation ''Every Word: A Tribute to Let's Active'' (2003),<ref name="Harris"/> and continues to endure as "a mainstay of '80s pop retrospectives".<ref name="Mills">{{Cite magazine |last=Mills |first=Fred |date=October 2003 |title=Let's Active: Re-Activated |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/lets-active-re-activated |magazine=Harp |access-date=August 27, 2019 |via=Rock's Backpages |url-access=subscription |archive-date=August 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828002940/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/lets-active-re-activated |url-status=live }}</ref>
''Afoot'' was followed by the full-length album ''Cypress'' in 1984, and the two were combined in a single CD release in June 1989.<ref name="ComboCDAM"/> This CD included two extra tracks, "Two Yous" and "Grey Scale," which had been available previously only on the UK vinyl release of ''Cypress''.<ref name="ComboCDAM"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Discogs release|374032|Afoot |type=release}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1983 debut EPs Category:I.R.S. Records EPs Category:Jangle pop EPs Category:Let's Active albums