The Cult

The Cult is the sixth studio album from English rock band, The Cult. It was released in October, 1994 on Beggars Banquet Records. It is also commonly referred to as the "Black Sheep" record, due to the image of a Manx Loaghtan black sheep on the front cover. The style of music on the album is more reminiscent of the grunge, alternative music popular at the time.

Vocalist Ian Astbury referred to the record as "very personal, and very revealing" songs about his life, with the subject matter ranging from sexual abuse at the age of 15, to the death of Nigel Preston (friend and former drummer for The Cult), to his directionless years spent in Glasgow in the late 1970s. But the record was barely noticed, only reaching US#69, and UK#21, and then quickly dropping out of sight. Reportedly it reached number one on the charts in Portugal, but quickly dropped out of sight as well. The single "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)" (UK#51) was released with the band going on tour in support of the new album. Only one more single, "Star" (UK#65), was officially released. That song began life in 1986 as "Tom Petty" before being dropped by the band during rehearsals. In 1993 the song was resurrected once again as "Starchild", and was finally completed for the record in 1994 as, just simply, "Star".

"Be Free" was also released as a single both in Canada, as a promotional CD with a purchase of a party pack of Labatt Genuine Draft, and in France by Virgin Records as an extremely rare edited version along with the edit of "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)". "Sacred Life" was released as a promotional only single in Spain and the Netherlands, and "Saints are Down" was released as a promotional single in Greece.

The Australian version contains an extra CD, with nine songs recorded live at the Marquee Club in London in November 1991.

Track listing

• All songs written by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, unless otherwise stated

1. "Gone" – 3:50
2. "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)" – 6:36
3. "Real Grrrl" – 4:25
4. "Black Sun" – 6:23
5. "Naturally High" – 4:23
6. "Joy" – 4:46
7. "Star" – 5:02
8. "Sacred Life" – 5:47
9. "Be Free" – 3:48
10. "Universal You" (Astbury, Duffy, Craig Adams) – 5:17
11. "Emperor's New Horse" – 4:22
12. "Saints are Down" – 6:54

There is an advance promotional CD and cassette tape version, which uses unmastered versions of the tracks and slightly rearranges the tracklisting:

1. "Gone" – 3:46
2. "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)" – 6:12
3. "Real Grrrl" – 4:21
4. "Black Sun" – 6:16
5. "Naturally High" – 4:13
6. "Emperor's New Horse" – 4:17
7. "Star" – 4:57
8. "Sacred Life" – 5:39
9. "Be Free" – 3:44
10. "Universal You" (Astbury, Duffy, Craig Adams) – 5:08
11. "Joy" – 4:44
12. "Saints are Down" – 6:48

Personnel

• Ian Astbury – vocals, acoustic guitar, guitar, tambourine
• Billy Duffy – guitar
• Craig Adams – bass
• Scott Garrett – drums

Additional personnel

• Scott Humphrey – keyboards, programming
• Jim McGiueray – percussion
• Bob Rock – guitars, bass, keyboard – various tracks, mixing
• Mario Caldato, Jr. – mixing
• George Marino (at Sterling Sound) – mastering

External links

• Official website album page