Izdavač: Ostalo
Žanr: Pop, Rok
Poreklo: Strani izvođač

Original, made in Germany

Knjizica od 16 str.

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knjizica 5 Cd 5

Studio album by Catatonia
Released 12 April 1999
Recorded 1998–1999
Studio Monnow Valley (Monmouth, Wales)
Genre Pop, rock
Length 44:49
Label Blanco y Negro
Producer TommyD and Catatonia
Catatonia chronology
International Velvet
(1998) Equally Cursed and Blessed
(1999) The Crai-EPs 1993/1994
(1999)

Equally Cursed and Blessed is the third studio album by Welsh band Catatonia, released in April 1999 via Blanco y Negro Records. It reached number one in the UK Album Chart, and three singles were released from it: `Dead from the Waist Down`, `Londinium` and `Karaoke Queen`.

Recording
While touring in the United States following the success of their second studio album, International Velvet, Catatonia recorded sample demos onto a DPS12 hard disk recorder in their tour bus upon the recommendation of their producer, TommyD.[11] They returned to the Monnow Valley Studio in Monmouth, Wales,[12] where they had recorded the previous album,[13] to record Equally Cursed and Blessed.[12]

Release and promotion
The album was announced in January 1999; the title taken from a line in the song `She`s a Millionaire`. The first single, `Dead from the Waist Down` was released on 29 March 1999, with the album released on 12 April.[14][15] This repeated the release schedule used for International Velvet, which had been preceded by `Mulder and Scully` by the same period of time.[16]

Equally Cursed and Blessed faced competition from ABBA`s 1992 compilation album Gold: Greatest Hits for the number one spot on the UK Album Chart, as the ABBA album had re-charted due to the success of the Mamma Mia! musical featuring the band`s songs. But by midweek, the Catatonia album was 15,000 sales ahead and it went on to secure the top place in the chart.[17][18] At the time, all three Catatonia studio albums were in the top 40.[18] Equally Cursed and Blessed went on to be certificated platinum by the British Phonographic Industry showing at least 300,000 copies sold.[19] The American release of the album saw two tracks from International Velvet added, including `Road Rage`.[20]

Singles
The album spawned one top-10 single, `Dead from the Waist Down`, which reached number seven.[17] The band had intended to release `Karaoke Queen` as the follow-up, but were overruled by the record label and they were forced to release `Londinium` on 12 July 1999 instead.[21] This angered lead singer Cerys Matthews, as did the expense of the video for the single which had cost more than Equally Cursed and Blessed took to make.[22] `Londinium` failed to reach the top ten, placing at number 20. `Karaoke Queen` was released as the third single on 1 November 1999 but stalled at number 36.[17][23] `Nothing Hurts` was slated to be the fourth single release from the album but was shelved following the low chart placement of `Karaoke Queen`.[24] For the release of the `Make Hay Not War: The Blanco Y Negro Years` boxset, released on Cherry Red, in 2023, the song `Karaoke Queen` was removed from the reissue of this album at the band`s request.

Track listing
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. `Dead from the Waist Down` Mark Roberts, Catatonia 4:16
2. `Londinium` Roberts, Catatonia 4:36
3. `Post Script` Cerys Matthews, Roberts, Catatonia 4:56
4. `She`s a Millionaire` Roberts, Catatonia 4:22
5. `Storm the Palace` Mark Roberts, Catatonia 2:38
6. `Karaoke Queen (later removed from 2023)` Matthews, Catatonia 5:06
7. `Bulimic Beats` Matthews, Catatonia 3:43
8. `Valerian` Matthews, Catatonia 4:21
9. `Shoot the Messenger` Matthews, Paul Jones, Catatonia 3:58
10. `Nothing Hurts` Owen Powell, Catatonia 3:11
11. `Dazed, Beautiful and Bruised` Powell, Catatonia 3:42

Personnel
Cerys Matthews – vocals
Mark Roberts – guitar
Owen Powell – guitar
Paul Jones – bass
Aled Richards – drums