songs don't become Pearl Jam-like depress-fests because of the band's positive outlook and upbeat music." Spin claimed the album explored "oddly grown-up topics for alt-rock", also noting similarities with the band's previous work, stating "On Sparkle and Fade, the centerpieces 'Santa Monica' and 'Summerland' deal expressly with escaping to begin a new life in a new place, west of here, beside the ocean if at all possible. Now in 'Amphetamine', Miss Perfect-in-a-Fucked-Up-Way comes 'out West to find the sun'". Rolling Stone gave the album a mixed review, stating "the songs on So Much for the Afterglow manage only to present a series of victims, objects of leadman Art Alexakis' confused contempt or peculiarly mopey brand of compassion: the neglectful ne'er-do-well of 'Father of Mine'; the people-pleasing nymphet of the first single, 'Everything to Everyone'; the two-dimensional 'magazine girl' of 'Amphetamine'. Alexakis seems incapable of irony, depicting these people in a manner that's never less than heavy-handed." Legacy and accolades The New York Times included So Much for the Afterglow on their "Best of '97" list in January 1998, writing "With loud, obnoxious songs that confront the crisis of the family, monogamy's perils and the vise grip of money, from the perspective of a punk trying not to self-destruct for a change, Everclear is perfecting rebel rock for adults." In 2017, The Dallas Morning News included So Much for the Afterglow in an article titled "Flash back to 1997: 5 albums that were as good 20 years ago as they are today", noting that it took the band from "one-hit wonder to modern rock headliner." Everclear toured the US and Australia in 2017 to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary. Track listing Personnel Band Art Alexakis - Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Piano, Steel guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements, Cover Art Concept, Cover Design, Toy piano & Moog Greg Eklund - Percussion, Drums, Keyboards, Vocals, Assistant Producer, Slide whistle Craig Montoya - Mandolin, Bass guitar, Keyboards, Sound Effects, Vocals, Assistant Producer Additional musicians Paul Cantelon - Violin Derron Nuhfer - Saxophone Buddy Schaub - Trombone Gerri Sutyak - Cello Rami Jaffee - Vox Organ Production Neal Avron - Trumpet, Producer, Engineer, Vocal Arrangement, Horn Arrangements, Mixing Tom Banghart - Assistant Engineer Mike Baumgartner - Assistant Engineer Steven Birch - Coordination, Art Direction, Design, Cover Art Concept, Cover Design Ian Blanch - Mixing Assistant Nick Brophy - Assistant Engineer Lars