One of my favourites, particularly the edit. The album version goes on a bit too long for me. Have not received the cd's yet so dipping in and out of YouTube..just heard an old instrumental the riff from which later appeared on an Auberge track. Love finding nuggets like that.
Chris was always like that, it may seem a strange comparison but I view him in the same way as Van Morrison...constantly refining what he does, the albums are like part of a journey, sometimes they seem to blend into each other. He just makes the music he feels he wants to at the time, returns to similar themes, reworks old ideas....there's a thread running through his work (at least until he left the mainstream) which Van also has. EG.
Several versions of Josephine especially, but On the Beach and Que Sera also. The live tracks are fun as well, as looking back they remind me of the arrangement styles Chris was exploring at the time.
The remastered Josephine on Shamrock Diaries disk 1 is exquisite!!! I'm not joking. Never heard it so good. Soundstage is exceptional. Hope it sells enough to encourage maybe the earlier albums to be done. So far, not found anything to not like with these. Nothing sloppy about them. Perhaps one error as pointed out before but don't let that put you off. A good advert for CD reissues IMHO.
It’s great that these appear to well put together and mastered nicely. I’m used to threads on remastered titles being full of complaints about brickwalling, compression and being advised to “just stick with the original CD”. Makes a pleasant change.
Just finishing my first go through Shamrock Diaries. I've not compared this to the original CD, and honestly don't see any reason too. This new version is, I'd guess, in the DR11/12 territory. It sounds good, nothing is straining here. What I will say is that in the past I've thought this album sounded a little muddy, and I'm not hearing that here. Is that an improvement? Well yes, I like the details. On the other hand, some of the synth work shows its age. I'd forgotten how melancholy this album is, a party album this is not. I find Rea to be walk a fine line at times of AOR, I think he needs more of an edge. On the other hand, he doesn't stray off track too often on this one, and always pulls it back. That and nostalgia on my part makes this a winner. I was also shocked to find these ship in Jewelcases.
„One Sweet And Tender Touch“ from the „One Fine Day“ album would have been an absolute fitting song for Joe Cocker to cover. Not too difficult to imagine how his version might have sounded...
I've always liked him, have a few of his albums. Like this. and this. From where the song you mention comes. I've even got it as a single in this. Rock-Ola 443 : Chris Rea : Fool if You Think it's Over
Wiki says " the stage name that Rea had suggested when the record label insisted that his given name did not sound "croony" enough."[ As I remember it I read somewhere at the time, that it was what his label wanted to call him. But perhaps I'm wrong.
He is one of those artisis where i started with a greatest hits album. Then bought the “wrong” album, Santo Spirito Blues. Sounded like really bad drum machine beats with not very memorable songs. And there i stopped dead in my tracks with Chris Rea. A shame really since, by all accouts he is mostly a great artist. It is just that my process of getting into an artist is easily thrown off by “that wrong purchase”. So it is a fault with me, not Chris as an artist.
There's a surprise ! Traipsing all around Dublin on a fruitless search for Scott Walker's The Drift on release day May 2006 totally changed my shopping habits. "We don't have it." "It didn't come in." "I can order it for you." So it's online retailers for all new releases / new reissues. The Dublin shops only get my custom if I happen to be passing and they have the item in stock.
Rea post 2001 versus pre is almost like two different artists...the five albums being reissued and then the previous three are reallty good. Santo Spirito is possibly his worst album IMO.
I never got as far and Santo Spirito. Not because of the merits of his music by then, but because there was so much of it that I had stopped being able to keep up. The Blue Jukebox was probably the most recent one I've heard at least once all the way through. Got the Rhino bundle (hopefully) coming soon, and will go straight to the bonus discs for most of them. Shamrock Diaries will get a listen first, as I've never really liked the sound of the CD that's been around since the 80s. EG.
I’m trying to resist these and you guys aren’t helping. I know damn well if I buy one (Shamrock) I’ll end up buying them all
On The Beach was also a big seller - though it gained traction following the release of Let's Dance and Dancing With Strangers. It seems like he was not selling a lot in the UK until Dancing (but he was in Europe) and never really broke big in the US.
He went from nothing to Silver with SD then OTB gold initially then platinum after DWS had done so. Platinum / multi platinum then thro' to God's Great Banana Skin, then a quick drop off to steady silver for next few studio albums. Stony Road did get him back to gold in 2002. Peak was RTH which was plat *6 .
No doubt you are right - quoting global sales presumably? I was reflecting on his sales/chart presence in Australia following the earlier post of @bob_32_116 I understand his global peak was much later. He was a really did not seem to sell much in Australia at the time of Road To Hell - certainly not at DWS levels.
Whomever the producers, recording engineers, and videographers of "On The Beach" were, they could make just about anyone sound and look great. And make that a big hit song/video.
Sorry...UK certifications used as indicator of general state of his career. His star rose a bit earlier in Ireland, Germany and maybe some more, but the fade, when it came, happened everywhere I expect. It had started by Espresso Logic then accelerated when his only releases 1994-1997 were a hits comp and the left-field La Passione...a period during which he had his first serious bout of illness.
Certainly the self titled album that followed this was better.. If anyone doubts his bona files re his blues leanings that came through 2002+ they could listen to One night with you from these sessions, over two decades before it reappeared in different form on Blue Guitars. A highlight for me on One fine day.
I bought the deluxe Shamrock Diaries today. That one was always my favourite. Played the first few tracks in the car on the way home. Good news! The Josephine in the regular album track listing is the original "soft, acoustic shuffle" version that was on the vinyl LP all those years ago. I was hopeful, as you can hear it playing in the background on that interview clip a few posts back. Sound quality seems fine, although I was listening in the car.
