31 March 2009

Catherine Wheel

While reading this piece in The Onion's A.V. Club on records that must be listened to straight through, I was surprised to see a Catherine Wheel mention amongst the expected Hüsker Dü Zen Arcade and XTC Sklyarking records:

13. Catherine Wheel, Adam And Eve (1997)
Catherine Wheel’s swooping Adam And Eve was up against some stiff competition when it came to 1997 sorta-concept albums by British bands with a couple of hits under their belts. (In case the reference isn’t clear enough: OK Computer.) Adam And Eve was apparently too ambitious or ill-timed to hit the big time, in spite of the huge singles “Delicious” and “Ma Solituda.” Maybe that’s because it’s best to listen in one big chunk, with the spare, bluesy “Intro” and “Outro” bookending the band’s strongest set of recorded material. There’s no real theme per se, but at least a few running ideas about the future. But it all means something, maaaaan.


I had moved on from listening to Catherine Wheel by '97, so I missed this album the first time around. But thanks to the interweb, I don't have to pour through stacks of discs on St. Marks, trying to dig out those records I failed to pick up during the previous decade.

Delicious was a single off of Adam and Eve:



Rob Dickinson playing Heal solo and acoustically:



And my introduction to the band, Black Metallic:

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