Black Cherry (Goldfrapp album)

Black Cherry
The cover is a picture of a woman wearing a black top hat and a white low-cut top.
Studio album by Goldfrapp
Released 23 April 2003 (2003-04-23)
Recorded 2002 in Bath, Somerset, England
Genre
Length 42:57
Label Mute
Producer Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory
Goldfrapp chronology
Felt Mountain
(2000)		 Black Cherry
(2003)		 Supernature
(2005)
Singles from Black Cherry
  1. "Train"
    Released: 14 April 2003
  2. "Strict Machine"
    Released: 21 July 2003
  3. "Twist"
    Released: 3 November 2003
  4. "Black Cherry"
    Released: 1 March 2004
  5. "Strict Machine '04"
    Released: 10 May 2004

Black Cherry is the second studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp, released in the United Kingdom on 28 April 2003 by Mute Records 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 début album.[4] Black Cherry was a top twenty album in Goldfrapp's native United Kingdom, and its second single "Strict Machine" was a top twenty single.[5] It earned the band a nomination for Best British Dance Act at the 2004 BRIT Awards.[6] The album was supported by the 2003–04 Black Cherry Tour.

The album represented a change in Goldfrapp's musical style, featuring glam rock and synthpop music; inspirations were Spanish disco group Baccara and Swedish techno artist Håkan Lidbo.[7] In August 2005, the album was certified platinum in the UK, and had sold nearly 500,000 copies worldwide as of May 2005.[8][9]

Recording and production

The duo wrote three songs while touring in support of their début album Felt Mountain but decided to take their work in a different direction with more rhythmic music.[10] 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.[11][12] 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.[13] The studio's walls were covered in neon lights and Alison Goldfrapp used them to write down her song ideas.[7] 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.[12][13]

The album cover is a collage made by Mat Maitland of photographs taken by Polly Borland featuring Alison Goldfrapp with two wolves.[14] 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."[15]

Goldfrapp performing (October 2003).

Composition

After touring in support of Felt Mountain, Alison Goldfrapp stated that she felt performing slow torch songs "really claustrophobic".[10] During their jam sessions, improvisation became a major part of the group's approach to recording Black Cherry.[13] The album focuses more heavily on dance music and glam rock-inspired synthesisers than its predecessor,[16] and is influenced by Spanish disco group Baccara and Swedish techno artist Håkan Lidbo.[7] Goldfrapp commented that the album differs from Felt Mountain because the band "wanted to put more kind of 'oomph' in it."[17] She stated that the lyrics are "a lot more direct and…less ambiguous."[18] The songs on Black Cherry are more forthright in describing sexuality than those on Felt Mountain.[16]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[19]
Allmusic[3]
BBC Musicpositive[20]
Blender[21]
Drowned in Sound7/10[22]
The Guardian[23]
Pitchfork Media5.8/10[24]
PopMatterspositive[16]
Rolling Stone[25]
Slant Magazine[26]

Black Cherry received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72, based on 22 reviews, which indicates "generally [favourable] reviews".[4] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian called it "a laudable, challenging and immensely enjoyable album."[23] However, Michael Idov referred to Goldfrapp as "ambulance chasers" in his review for Pitchfork Media, criticising the band's switch to electro music, while describing Black Cherry as "a soundtrack to excruciatingly banal seduction".[24] Rolling Stone's Pat Blashill disagreed, arguing that "[t]ons 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."[25] In a review for Blender magazine, Dorian Lynskey wrote that on Black Cherry, "Goldfrapp sound right at home."[21] 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."[3] Andy Hermann of PopMatters viewed Black Cherry as "a weird, edgy album, the work of two doggedly maverick talents chasing their muses wherever they take them".[16] Wes May of About.com called it a "rare electronica album of warmth and depth" and wrote that it was "the ultimate chillout pleasure".[19]

PopMatters included the album on its list of the Top 50 Albums of 2003, ranking it at number forty-six.[27] It was listed at number twenty-three on Drowned in Sound's list of the Top 75 Albums of 2003.[28] Black Cherry earned Goldfrapp a nomination for Best British Dance Act at the 2004 BRIT Awards, but they lost to Basement Jaxx.[6]

Chart performance

Black Cherry débuted on the UK Albums Chart on 10 May 2003 at number nineteen.[29] The album remained on the chart for twenty-six weeks and had sold 256,703 copies as of August 2005.[29][30] Later that month, on 26 August 2005, Black Cherry was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, denoting shipments in excess of 300,000 copies within the UK.[8] The album reached the top thirty in Germany,[31] Ireland,[32] Norway[33] and Portugal,[34] and the top fifty in Belgium,[35] France[36] and Switzerland.[37] Black Cherry became Goldfrapp's first album to chart in the United States, reaching number four on the Top Electronic Albums chart and number twenty-seven on the Top Independent Albums chart.[38] The album has sold 52,000 copies in the US as of August 2006.[39]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, except where noted. 

No. Title Length
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" (Goldfrapp, Gregory, Nick Batt) 3:51
9. "Forever"   4:14
10. "Slippage"   3:57

Personnel

Credits adapted from Black Cherry album liner notes.[42]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2003–04) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[43] 71
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[35] 46
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[44] 29
Dutch Albums Chart[45] 91
French Albums Chart[36] 45
German Albums Chart[31] 21
Irish Albums Chart[32] 30
Norwegian Albums Chart[33] 26
Portuguese Albums Chart[34] 26
Swiss Albums Chart[37] 41
UK Albums Chart[29] 19
US Top Electronic Albums[38] 4
US Top Independent Albums[38] 27

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)[46] Platinum 300,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Country Date Label Format(s)
Japan[40] 23 April 2003 EMI CD
Netherlands[47] 24 April 2003 [PIAS] Benelux CD, digital download
Germany[48] 25 April 2003 EMI
Australia[49] 28 April 2003
Spain[50] Everlasting Records
United Kingdom[51] Mute Records CD, LP, digital download
France[52] 29 April 2003 Labels CD, digital download
United States[3] 6 May 2003 Mute Records CD, LP, digital download
Netherlands[41] May 2004 [PIAS] Benelux Special edition 2× CD

References

  1. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (13 December 2007). "Goldfrapp Talk Lush February Album "Seventh Tree"". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  2. ↑ Hermann, Andy (21 October 2003). "Goldfrapp". PopMatters. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Phares, Heather. "Black Cherry – Goldfrapp". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 "Black Cherry – Goldfrapp". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
  5. ↑ "Goldfrapp". Official Charts Company. Chart Stats. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  6. 1 2 "Brit Awards 2004". Music Week. UBM plc. 17 February 2004. Retrieved 29 September 2004.
  7. 1 2 3 "Goldfrapp: Black Cherry (Mute)". Mute Records. Archived from the original on 19 July 2004. Retrieved 5 July 2007.
  8. 1 2 "Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. 26 August 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  9. ↑ "EMI presses play on Goldfrapp push". Music Week. goldfrapp.free.fr. 14 May 2005. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  10. 1 2 O'Connell, Sharon (16 April 2003). "Strange Fruit". Time Out London. goldfrapp.free.fr. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  11. ↑ Reid, Pat (Spring 2004). "The girl with the golden voice". Escape. goldfrapp.free.fr. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  12. 1 2 Walsh, Madeline Virbasius (Spring 2003). "The eyes have it". The Sentimentalist (goldfrapp.free.fr) 3 (11). Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 Humberstone, Nigel (July 2003). "Recording Black Cherry". Sound on Sound. goldfrapp.free.fr. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  14. ↑ Farrelly, Liz (10 March 2005). "Graphics: Big, active, and sexy". Design Week 20 (10): 18.
  15. ↑ Pham, Sheila (5 September 2003). "Not just a pretty face". Vibewire. goldfrapp.free.fr. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Hermann, Andy (2 May 2003). "Goldfrapp: Black Cherry". PopMatters. Retrieved 30 September 2008.
  17. ↑ "Beats & Lust". New Beats. goldfrapp.free.fr. April 2003. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  18. ↑ Drever, Andrew (18 July 2003). "Felt volcano". The Age. The Age Company Ltd. Retrieved 30 September 2008.
  19. 1 2 May, Wes. "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  20. ↑ Jones, Chris (22 April 2003). "Review of Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". BBC Music. BBC Online. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  21. 1 2 Lynskey, Dorian. "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". Blender. Alpha Media Group. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  22. ↑ Williams, Gen (5 May 2003). "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 5 March 2008.
  23. 1 2 Petridis, Alexis (18 April 2003). "Goldfrapp: Black Cherry". The Guardian. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  24. 1 2 Idov, Michael (11 May 2003). "Goldfrapp: Black Cherry". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  25. 1 2 Blashill, Pat (15 May 2003). "Goldfrapp: Black Cherry". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on 17 April 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  26. ↑ Cinquemani, Sal (25 April 2003). "Goldfrapp: Black Cherry". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  27. ↑ "Best Music of 2003". PopMatters. 17 December 2003. Retrieved 12 December 2008.
  28. ↑ Adams, Sean (9 December 2003). "DiS Staff Top 75 Albums of 2003". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 12 December 2008.
  29. 1 2 3 "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". Official Charts Company. Chart Stats. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  30. ↑ "Oasis score eighth number one hit single". Music Week. UBM plc. 30 August 2005. Retrieved 30 September 2008.
  31. 1 2 "Goldfrapp | Longplay-Chartverfolgung". Media Control. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  32. 1 2 "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending 1 May 2003". Irish Recorded Music Association. Chart-Track. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  33. 1 2 "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". Verdens Gang. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  34. 1 2 "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  35. 1 2 "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  36. 1 2 "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  37. 1 2 "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". Media Control. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  38. 1 2 3 "Black Cherry – Goldfrapp". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  39. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (3 August 2006). "Ask Billboard: 'Gold'finger". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 5 July 2007.
  40. 1 2 ゴールドフラップ / ブラック・チェリー [Goldfrapp / Black Cherry] (in Japanese). EMI Music Japan. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  41. 1 2 Black Cherry (Dutch special edition CD liner notes). Goldfrapp. [PIAS] Recordings. 2004. 391.0196.023.
  42. ↑ Black Cherry (CD liner notes). Goldfrapp. Mute Records. 2003. CDSTUMM196.
  43. ↑ "ARIA Top 100 Albums – Week Commencing 5th May 2003" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Pandora Archive. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  44. ↑ "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry" (in French). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  45. ↑ "Goldfrapp – Black Cherry" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  46. ↑ "British album certifications – Goldfrapp – Black Cherry". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 April 2011. Enter Black Cherry in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  47. ↑ "Black Cherry | Goldfrapp" (in Dutch). Free Record Shop. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  48. ↑ "GOLDFRAPP // Black Cherry" (in German). EMI Music Germany. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  49. ↑ "Black Cherry – Goldfrapp". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  50. ↑ Black Cherry (Spanish edition CD liner notes). Goldfrapp. Everlasting Records. 2003. EVERCD232.
  51. ↑ "Goldfrapp: Black Cherry". HMV. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  52. ↑ "Black cherry : Goldfrapp" (in French). Fnac. Retrieved 31 March 2012.

External links

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