When we're D from the W down

Continuing my trip back through the 1999 album charts.

02/05/99 : Equally Cursed And Blessed - Catatonia

The third one in a row I owned (16/35) - I seem to recall quite liking it but I've not revisited it in many a year (whereas I do listen to International Velvet, their previous album, every so often).  So bring it on - I'm looking forward to remembering what it's like.

It opens with "Dead From The Wait Down" which is fine track indeed, but you do worry that the success of their previous album has wiped them out.  And "Londinium" doesn't exactly dispel this notion - "London never sleeps - it just sucks the life out of me".  The rest of it does pick up a bit, but there's a palpable feeling of overall ennui with fame and recognition - they're not deliberately trying to be awkward, but they really don't want to go through all that again thank you.  It's a nice enough little indie album, but I can't help but feel most fans of International Velvet were a disappointed on first listen and I have to count myself amongst their number on latest listen.

We're at #3 on the chart this week on their third week of a 23 week run - pleasingly it spent its first week at #1 and its second week at #2 (but dropped to #5 next week).  The rest of the top five were ABBA, Fatboy Slim, Stereophonics and The Corrs (and they're also at #6 as well) - we own the top four!   We also have a new entry in the top ten - Electronic (#9) which I have no desire to listen to after my last visit.

Wikipedia tells me this is their third album - I suspect I must have known about Way Beyond Blue, their debut album, but I'd completely forgotten about it.  It also spends a lot of time explaining that it was up against ABBA Gold for #1 and things were looking close - but then they weren't.  "Dead From The Waist Down" was the first single and did pretty well  - the band wanted "Karaoke Queen" to be the follow-up, but the record company made them release "Londinium" but only after making them record an expensive video, which cost more to make than the album did.  And it's fair to say this pissed Cerys off - and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the beginning of the end of everything.  There's no section on the critical response but the sidebar suggests that opinion was mixed - it feels quite a critic-friendly album to me, but what do i know.  It feels less like an audience-friendly album, but lots of people bought it, although really only here.

"Customers also listened to" Space, The Bluetones, Manic Street Preachers and Suede - some of these are closer to Catatonia than others.  As I said, it's not a bad album but it lacks the energy of their previous album and it lacks a killer track like "Road Rage" or "Mulder And Scully" to carry the rest of it.  And I'm sure they're sick of being told that, but that doesn't mean it's not true,

25/04/99 - A pretty forgettable experience
09/05/99 - Doesn't gel for me