Great Divide was Semisonic's first full-length cd. The band recorded it in Calabasas, CA just outside of Topanga Canyon with producer Paul Fox (Sugarcubes, XTC, Victoria Williams) and engineer/mixer Ed Thacker. It was released Spring '96.

Semisonic started this record twice, once for Elektra records in October of 1994 when they recorded about half the songs, and then again in the Summer of 1995 when the guys finished it up for MCA (During the months between those sessions, Semisonic returned to Minneapolis and made the "Pleasure e.p." See: the History of the Pleasure EP.

The title of "Great Divide" refers partly to that long gap in the middle of the recording of the cd, to the experience of flying back and forth from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, and to the great difference between the two places. There's someplace in the Rocky Mountains where a line called The Great Divide is drawn; and then there's another place in our minds where a different kind of line exists between two unique cultures. In other words, California, for better and worse, is not Minnesota.

Some of the band's favorite songs to play live are on this record: FNT, If I Run and Delicious. The first real textural, fully "semisonic" songs also appear on this record: No One Else, I'll Feel For You, and The Prize. This is not to mention the smashes Brand New Baby, Falling, Temptation, In Another Life, Across The Great Divide and Down In Flames (the first single), but there you go, I did anyway.

Three videos were filmed for "Great Divide," for Down In Flames (directed by Douglas Gayeton,) If I Run (directed by Julie Hermelin,) and FNT (Julie Hermelin,) but they're seldom shown. The band made a video for The Prize, too (directed by Douglas Gayeton,) but it was released concurrently with The Pleasure ep.