Their fourth full-length album (and their first full-length for Merge), often lauded and criticized for shifts in mood, tempo, and evening wear. Peter Margasak, the man who booked the first Superchunk show in Chicago, writes: “When the band recorded Foolish with Brian Paulson up in Minneapolis, they were actually more concerned with making a great record than savvy biz prognostication. And, indeed, Foolish stands as one of the band’s greatest accomplishments, a blast of songwriting growth (dare I say maturation?) that arrived without taking the band’s trademark energy and power as a casualty. Paulson, who mixed the album with the band at Steve Albini's home studio in Chicago, brought clarity to Superchunk's roar, particularly to the buzzsaw blur of the guitar wail laid out by Jim Wilbur and McCaughan, but it was the songs that ultimately knocked everyone flat—and many of them remain the most ubiquitous and adored items in the foursome’s repertoire.”
