{{About|Rubber Rodeo's debut album|a lookout point with visible scenery|scenic viewpoint}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Scenic Views | type = studio album | artist = Rubber Rodeo | cover = File:Scenic_Views_by_Rubber_Rodeo.jpg | alt = | released = {{Start date|1984|11|15}} | genre = New wave, alternative country, cowboy pop | length = {{Duration|m=40|s=50}} | label = Mercury Records/Polygram | producer = Hugh Jones | prev_title = Rubber Rodeo E.P. | prev_year = 1982 | next_title = Heartbreak Highway | next_year = 1986 }} '''Scenic Views''' is the debut studio album by Rhode Island new wave band Rubber Rodeo. It was released on November 15, 1984 by Mercury Records.
== Background == After releasing several singles and EPs on Eat Records, Rubber Rodeo released their debut studio album in November 1984. Working with British new wave producer Hugh Jones, the album featured a range of musical instruments including mandolin, violin, synthesizer, organ, dobro, and pedal steel guitar.<ref name=":0" />
The popularity of ''Scenic Views'' partially benefited from the marketing efforts of Polygram. In a 1984 interview published in Billboard, PolyGram Music Video vice president Len Epand stated that the company was "shifting its gears" and beginning to "emphasize marketing over production."<ref name=":1">{{cite news|title=PolyGram Maps Major Music Efforts|last1=Seideman|first1=Tony|date=1985-02-16|work=Billboard Magazine|pages=26–31}}</ref> Later in the interview, Epand cited ''Scenic Views'' as an example of an album that "reaped huge benefits from a seemingly small-scale video release... which produced a Grammy nomination for an almost unknown group".<ref name=":1" /> The Grammy that Rubber Rodeo received a nomination for was the long-form video they made for ''Scenic Views''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/rubber-rodeo|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420000211/https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/rubber-rodeo|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 20, 2019|title=Rubber Rodeo|date=2019-02-15|website=GRAMMY.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-19}}</ref> The video was directed by David Greenberg and produced by Second Story Television.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSQEAAAAMBAJ&q=David+Greenberg+Scenic+Views&pg=RA1-PA50|title=Video Music Index|date=1984-12-22|magazine=Billboard|access-date=23 September 2015|issue=Talent Almanac}}</ref>
== Reception == In Rolling Stone, Kurt Loder wrote that "''Scenic Views'' isn't a bad record, but given Rubber Rodeo's multifaceted resources, the next album ought to be a lot better." J. D. Considine wrote that "Rubber Rodeo may play mutant, post-wave C&W-pop, but it's still rooted in the country's plainspoken bedrock of yearning and heartache."<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Considine|first=J.D.|date=1984|title=Rubber Rodeo — Scenic Views|journal=Musician|volume=70|pages=100}}</ref> Considine coined the term cowboy pop in the same review, which was published in ''Musician Magazine''.<ref name=":2" />
== Track listing ==
# "Need You, Need Me" (4:39) # "Slow Me Down" (3:31) # "Anywhere With You" (4:40) # "Walking After Midnight" (3:56) # "City of God" (5:13) # "The Hardest Thing" (3:15) # "House of Pain" (4:45) # "Mess o' Me" (5:03) # "Before I Go Away (5:57) # "Woman of Straw" (4:20)*
== Personnel == Per the liner notes.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/scenic-views-mw0000650721/credits|title=Scenic Views – Rubber Rodeo {{!}} Credits|website=AllMusic|language=en-us|access-date=2019-03-17}}</ref>
* John Doelp – bass * Barc Holmes – drums * Bob Holmes – guitar, mandolin, violin, vocals * Gary Leib – synthesizer, * Trish Milliken – organ, piano, vocals * Mark Tomeo – dobro, pedal steel guitar
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.allmusic.com/album/scenic-views-mw0000650721 Scenic Views album review]
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Category:1984 albums Category:Albums produced by Hugh Jones (producer) Category:Rubber Rodeo albums Category:Mercury Records albums