Lady in Gold
| Lady in Gold | ||||
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| Studio album by Blues Pills | ||||
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Publication |
5th August 2016 |
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| Label (s) | Nuclear Blast | |||
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
40 min 9 s |
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Don Alsterberg |
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Lady in Gold is the second studio album of the Swedish blues rock - band Blues Pills . It was released on August 5, 2016 via Nuclear Blast and reached number one on the German album charts .
Emergence
At the end of 2014, the band began work on their second studio album, the first with their new drummer André Kvarnström. In contrast to the debut album, the musicians were less inspired by rock and blues and more by soul . Albums like Cosmic Truth by The Undisputed Truth and What's Going On by Marvin Gaye had a big influence . The work on the album was repeatedly interrupted by tours. According to singer Elin Larsson, the new songs were allowed to mature and grow. Guitarist Dorian Sorriaux added that the band worked on the album for a total of six months, but never longer than six weeks at a time. In addition, the band couldn't meet a single deadline set by their record label .
When the actual recording began, no song was finished. Rather, the musicians only had fragmentary ideas that were only arranged into finished songs in the studio. Older ideas were also used, such as the theme song Lady in Gold , which comes from the band's early days. Gone So Long is based on a melody that Elin Larson hummed in the shower . Produced and mixed was Lady in gold again by Don Alsterberg. Alsterberg encouraged the musicians to experiment. During the recording, the band used new instruments such as mellotron , xylophone , keyboard or a Wurlitzer electric piano . The latter two were recorded by Rickard Nygren. Guitarist Dorian Sorriaux experimented with fuzz and tremolo effects . For Elin Larsson's singing, Alsterberg used a microphone to better capture the lows in her alto voice. The band also worked with choirs for the first time , for which Blues Pills relied on musicians who were friends.
There were further delays after Elin Larsson suffered from writer's block and collapsed in the studio . After a two-month European tour between February and April 2016, the recordings were finished. Like the debut album, Lady in Gold contains a cover version , this time the song Elements and Things by Tony Joe White . The mastering was done by Hans Olsson Brookes. As with the debut album, the album cover was designed by the Dutch artist Marijke Koger-Dunham. A 50-year-old picture was used that was originally in black and white . For the album cover, Koger-Dunham colored the picture afterwards .
publication
The album Lady in Gold was released on CD , CD + DVD in digipak , on LP in gatefold on black, gold and transparent vinyl and as a download . In the CD / DVD version of the album, the DVD contains a recording of a concert in Berlin on April 7, 2015. The songs are High Class Woman , Ain't No Change , Bliss , Dig In , No Hope Left for Me , Devil Man , Black Smoke , Little Sun , Astralplane , Elements and Things and Black Smoke . LP versions in four other colors were offered via the Nuclear Blast online shop. In addition, the album was released in two limited box sets. These contain the album on a CD / DVD digipak, a poster , a picture disc , a 12- inch photo card and a Blues Pills vinyl brush. The second box set also contains the album cover in a stretcher .
A music video was shot for the theme song, directed by Johan Bååth. A second music video was created for the song I Felt a Change . The German magazine Rock Hard published the exclusive CD Golden Treasures with the August issue . In addition to the songs Lady in Gold and Elements and Things from the new album, the CD contains the song Bliss from the EP of the same name as well as the live versions of the songs High Class Woman , Ain't No Change , Dig In , Black Smoke and Devil Man . These songs were recorded when the Blues Pills performed at the Rock Hard Festival in 2014.
background
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The album title was developed by the American horror - television series American Horror Story inspired. The eponymous lady in gold stands for death . Singer Elin Larsson wanted to look at the subject from a different, female perspective, since death otherwise only appears as a male person, e.g. B. is represented by the Grim Reaper . The album's original working title was Psychological Prison, based on a line from the song Little Boy Preacher . However, this idea was discarded as the title would sound too negative.
The theme song is about the fact that everyone has to die at some point and that people should not live in fear of death. Little Boy Preacher is about a little boy who is revered as the new messiah . The song Burned Out is autobiographical because, according to Elin Larsson, the musicians felt burned out after the many tours and recordings. Gone So Long is about how people feel after a breakup. Bad Talkers is about people who, according to Larsson, "waste their time" with it, other people and the like. a. to denigrate on the Internet what she describes as pointless.
With the song You Gotta Try , the band celebrates singing and music as things that make people happy. According to singer Elin Larsson, the song is meant to show all people who don't have a good life that one day they will be happy. Won't Go Back is dedicated to a friend of Elin Larsson's who, according to her own admission, had to go through some terrible things with her. The song is about a failed relationship.
reception
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Reviews
The German magazine Metal Hammer named Lady in Gold album of the month. According to Ben Klein, “the musicians demonstrate the highest level of musicality, creativity and compositional qualifications”. The album possesses an “immoderate emergence of soul, heart and groove, which have become rare in the industrially controlled music industry”, for which Klein awarded six out of seven points. In the German magazine Rock Hard was Lady in Gold album of the month. According to Boris Kaiser, the band is providing their debut album with an "equal successor". The album is "emotional but not kitschy, self-confident but not pretentious, committed to traditions but not looking backwards". Kaiser also criticized the "unsuccessful mix" from producer Alsterberg and awarded nine out of ten points.
Toby Schaper from the German magazine Visions was more critical . Due to the slight stylistic shift, the band "escaped the trap of presenting their successful album with a mild infusion". However, he criticized the fact that "the impartiality of the debut fell by the wayside" with the band. Schaper awarded eight out of twelve points.
Chart placements
Lady in Gold rose to number one in the German and number two in the Swiss album charts. Another place in the top ten achieved Lady in Gold in Finland with sixth place. The album was at number 27 in Sweden and number 31 in the UK . In Belgium , the album debuted at number 21 on the Walloon and number 27 of the Flemish charts, while Lady in Gold reached number 68 in the Netherlands .
Awards
The German online magazine Metal.de put Lady in Gold in their list of the best albums of 2016 at number 15. At the Metal Hammer Awards 2017, Lady in Gold was nominated in the category Best Album . The award went to Heaven Shall Burn for the Wanderer album .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Thomas Zimmer: Experiments against the pressure to succeed . In: Rocks , 04/2016, page 50
- ↑ a b c Holger Stratmann: The Hope Bearers . In: Rock Hard , August 2016, page 14
- ↑ a b Björn Springorum: Golden Times . In: Metal Hammer , July 2016, page 127
- ↑ Ronny Bittner: Chatterbox: Elin Larsson . In: Rock Hard, June 2017, page 16
- ↑ Frank Thießies: Improved recipe . In: Metal Hammer, August 2016, page 44
- ↑ a b c Christoph Höhl: Death suits her well . In: SLAM , No. 86, pages 20-24
- ↑ Holger Stratmann: The band of the hour. Rock Hard, accessed April 10, 2020 .
- ↑ Andreas Dewald: Time travel in tablet form. Deutschlandfunk , accessed on July 7, 2018 .
- ↑ Blues Pills in the German album charts. Musicline.de , accessed on August 12, 2016 .
- ↑ Blues Pills in the Austrian album charts. Hung Medien, accessed August 18, 2016 .
- ↑ Blues Pills in the Swiss album charts. Hung Medien, accessed August 17, 2016 .
- ↑ Blue Pills (sic!) In the British album charts. Official Charts Company, accessed August 13, 2016 .
- ↑ Blues Pills in the Swedish album charts. Hung Medien, accessed August 18, 2016 .
- ↑ Ben Klein: Blues Pills - Lady in Gold. Metal Hammer. Retrieved July 23, 2016 .
- ↑ Boris Kaiser: Blues Pills - Lady In Gold. Rock Hard, accessed October 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Toby Schaper: Blues Pills - Lady In Gold . In: Visions , issue 281, page 90
- ↑ Eckardt Maronde: The best albums 2016. Metal.de, accessed on December 25, 2016 .
- ↑ METAL HAMMER AWARDS 2017: These are the nominees! Metal Hammer. Retrieved August 13, 2017 .
Web links
- Lady in Gold at Allmusic (English)