black cherry

Black Cherry
Studio album by Goldfrapp
Released	28 April 2003 (2003-04-28) (see Release history)
Recorded	2002 in Bath, England
Genre	Electropop, electroclash
Length	42:57
Label	Mute
Producer	Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Blender link Drowned in Sound (7/10) link The Guardian link Pitchfork Media (5.8/10) link PopMatters (positive) link Rolling Stone link
Goldfrapp chronology
Felt Mountain (2000) Black Cherry (2003) Supernature (2005)
Singles from Black Cherry
"Train" Released: 14 April 2003 (2003-04-14) "Strict Machine" Released: 21 July 2003 (2003-07-21) "Twist" Released: 3 March 2003 (2003-111-03) "Black Cherry" Released: 1 March 2004 (2004-03-01)

Black Cherry is the second album by British electronic duo Goldfrapp. It was released by Mute Records on 28 April 2003 in the United Kingdom to generally positive reviews. Many critics complimented its blend of retro and modern electropop music, which was a departure from the ambient sound of their debut.^[1] Black Cherry was a top twenty album in Goldfrapp's native United Kingdom, and its second single "Strict Machine" was a top twenty single.^[2] It earned the band a nomination for "Best British Dance Act" at the 2004 BRIT Awards.^[3]

The album represented a change in Goldfrapp's musical style, and featured glam rock and synthpop music; inspirations were disco music group Baccara and techno artist Hakan Lidbo.^[4] In August 2005, the album was certified platinum in the UK, and had sold nearly 500,000 copies worldwide as of May 2005.^[5][6]

Recording and production

The duo wrote three songs while touring in support of their debut album Felt Mountain but decided to take their work in a different direction with more rhythmic music.^[7] Goldfrapp chose to record in a studio in a Bohemian area of Bath, England because they needed somewhere to put their equipment and start working.^[8][9] The band began working on the album in January 2002 with a list of songs they wanted to try to record, such as a disco song with only string instruments.^[10] The studio's walls were covered in neon lights and Alison Goldfrapp used them to write down her song ideas.^[4] They recorded early demos and worked on pre-production using a Yamaha 02R digital mixing console. Goldfrapp held jam sessions with Mark Linkous and Adrian Utley and, after they built momentum writing the album, decided not to move to another studio.^[10][9]

The album cover is a collage made by Mat Maitland of photographs taken by Polly Borland featuring Alison Goldfrapp with two wolves.^[11] Artwork in the liner notes also has a wolf motif, including women with wolf heads. Goldfrapp explained that the wolves are a representation of might and mysticism and that she was "interested in the idea of metamorphosis and humans wanting to be like animals and animals wanting to be like humans."^[12]

Composition

After touring in support of Felt Mountain, Alison Goldfrapp stated that she felt performing slow torch songs "really claustrophobic."^[7] During their jam sessions, improvisation became a major part of the group's approach to recording Black Cherry.^[10] The album focuses more heavily on dance music and glam rock inspired synthesisers than its predecessor,^[13] and is influence by disco music group Baccara and techno artist Hakan Lidbo.^[4] Goldfrapp commented that the album differs from Felt Mountain because the band "wanted to put more kind of 'oomph' in it."^[14] She stated that the lyrics are "a lot more direct and…less ambiguous."^[15] The songs on Black Cherry are more forthright in describing sexuality than those on Felt Mountain.^[16]

Critical reception

Black Cherry received generally positive reviews from music critics. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian called it "a laudable, challenging and immensely enjoyable album."^[17] However, Michael Idov referred to Goldfrapp as "ambulance chasers" in his review for Pitchfork Media, criticising the band's switch to electro music, and describing Black Cherry as "a soundtrack to excruciatingly banal seduction."^[18] Rolling Stone's Pat Blashill disagreed, arguing that "tons of bands imitate the sounds of the early Eighties, but Goldfrapp use New Wave as a way to evoke a long history of shiny Euro-lounge music."^[19] In a review for Blender magazine, Dorian Lynskey wrote that on Black Cherry, "Goldfrapp sound right at home."^[20] Heather Phares of Allmusic commended Goldfrapp for "their artistic risk-taking" but noted that the album "sounds unbalanced, swinging between delicate, deceptively icy ballads and heavier, dance-inspired numbers without finding much of a happy medium between them."^[21] Andy Hermann wrote for PopMatters that Black Cherry was "a weird, edgy album, the work of two doggedly maverick talents chasing their muses wherever they take them".^[13] Wes May of About.com called it a "rare electronica album of warmth and depth" and wrote that it was "the ultimate chillout pleasure".^[22]

PopMatters included the album in its list of the top fifty albums of 2003, ranking it at number forty-six.^[23] It was ranked at number twenty-three on Drowned in Sound's list of the top seventy-five albums of 2003.^[24] Black Cherry earned Goldfrapp a nomination for "Best British Dance Act" at the 2004 BRIT Awards, but they lost to Basement Jaxx.^[3]

Chart performance and sales

Black Cherry debuted on the UK albums chart on 10 May 2003 at number nineteen.^[25] The album remained on the chart for twenty-six weeks and had sold 256,703 copies as of August 2005.^[25][26] That month, Black Cherry was certified platinum in the UK.^[5] The album reached the top thirty in Ireland,^[27] Norway^[28] and Portugal,^[29] and the top fifty in Belgium,^[30] Germany^[31] and Switzerland.^[32] Black Cherry became Goldfrapp's first album to chart in the United States. It reached number four on the Top Electronic Albums chart and number twenty-seven on the Top Independent Albums chart.^[33] The album has sold 52,000 copies in the US as of August 2006.^[34]

Track listing

All songs were written by Goldfrapp and Gregory, except where noted.

1. "Crystalline Green" – 4:28
2. "Train" – 4:11
3. "Black Cherry" – 4:56
4. "Tiptoe" – 5:10
5. "Deep Honey" – 4:01
6. "Hairy Trees" – 4:37
7. "Twist" – 3:32
8. "Strict Machine" (Nick Batt, Goldfrapp, Gregory) – 3:51
9. "Forever" – 4:14
10. "Slippage" – 3:57

Bonus tracks

The following tracks were included on the Japanese edition of Black Cherry.

11. "Big Black Cloud, Little White Lie" ("Tiptoe" revisited) – 3:07
12. "Train" (Village Hall mix) – 5:28
13. "Train" (Ewan Pearson 6/8 Vocal) – 7:34
14. "Train" (T. Raumschmiere RMX) – 5:52

Dutch special edition

The following tracks were included on the Dutch special edition of Black Cherry.

1. "Strict Machine" (Benny Benassi Sfaction edit) – 3:27
2. "Train" (Ewan Pearson dub) – 7:46
3. "Deep Honey" (Live at London ULU 2003) – 4:41
4. "Hairy Trees" (Live at London ULU 2003) – 6:47
5. "Yes Sir" – 3:58
6. "El Train" (T. Raumschmiere RMX) – 5:52
7. "Strict Machine" (Benny Benassi Sfaction extended mix) – 6:53

Personnel

The following people contributed to Black Cherry:^[35]

• Alison Goldfrapp – lead vocals, backing vocals, synthesizer, mixing, engineering
• Will Gregory – synthesizer, mixing, engineering
• Nick Batt – synthesizer, programming, engineering
• Adrian Utley – guitar, bass
• Andy Davis – guitar
• Charlie Jones – bass
• Mark Linkous – Casio
• Rowen Oliver – drums, percussion
• Damon Reece – drums
• Nick Ingman – string conductor
• Dave Bascombe, Tom Elmhirst, Steve Orchard – mixing
• Bruno Ellingham – digital editing
• Mike Marsh – mastering

Release history

Charts

References

External links

• Goldfrapp.com