The Rainwater LP

The Rainwater LP
Studio album by Citizen Cope
Released	February 8, 2010
Recorded	Brooklyn Recording/The Document Room (Malibu, CA), 2009
Genre	Alternative rock Indie rock
Length	39:07
Label	RainWater Recordings Inc.
Producer	Clarence Greenwood
Citizen Cope chronology
Every Waking Moment (2006) The Rainwater LP (2010)

The Rainwater LP is Citizen Cope's fourth studio album, released 8 February 2010 on Amazon MP3, and digitally released elsewhere on 9 February 2010, and in-stores on 2 March 2010.^[1]

The album is produced by Cope (Clarence Greenwood) and it is the first record released under his own record label - RainWater Recordings Inc. He explained the reason for releasing it himself: "I kept hearing things like 'Retail's gonna need you to do this,' or 'The artwork has to be like this.' I don't want to be led into those confines anymore. I want to be able to do it my own way."^[2][3] The album's title is partially a reference to the commoditization of music, with musicians contractually obliged to provide a certain number of "LP"s; Cope stated "Now I'm not obligated to any record company, so I thought it was a nice play on that."^[4] The album was recorded between Brooklyn Recording (Cobble Hill, Brooklyn) and The Document Room (Malibu, CA) during the course of 2009 and in between Cope's extensive touring.^[1]

Cope worked on the album with musicians such as drummer Paul "Buggy" Edwards, legendary bass guitarists Michael "Funky Ned" Neal,^[1] and Preston Crump,^[1] keyboardist James Poyser (who previously has worked with acts such as The Roots, Jill Scott, and John Legend) and percussionist Bashiri Johnson.

The song "Keep Askin" was released as a free download on 14 June 2009 from the Citizen Cope website and announced as the first song from the forthcoming album.^[5]

On 19 January 2010, the first official single from the album, "Healing Hands" was digitally released via digital service providers.^[6]

Track listing

1. "Keep Askin'" - 2:57
2. "Healing Hands" - 5:28
3. "I Couldn't Explain Why" - 3:43
4. "Lifeline" - 3:45
5. "Off the Ground" - 4:43
6. "Jericho" - 4:19
7. "The Newspaper" - 3:25
8. "A Father's Son" - 4:13
9. "Lifeline" (Barefeet version) - 3:47
10. "Keep Askin'" (Acoustic version) - 2:49

Initial Pressing / Limited Edition B-Sides CD:

1. "If There's Love" (Re-Recording)
2. "Sideways" (Re-Recording)
3. "Let the Drummer Kick" (Re-Recording)
4. "The Gambler's Theme" (Shotguns LP)
5. "Family" (Shotguns LP)

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[7]
MusicNow

Alex Henderson of Allmusic gave the album a 3.5/5 rating, calling it "one of Greenwood's more consistent efforts".^[7] In the view of Hays Harris of Richmond.com, "The mix of rock, folk, blues and hip-hop elements" on the album formed "a defining portrait of considerable depth".^[8] Nancy Dunham of The Washington Examiner described it as an album that is "easy to fall in love with", calling it "Cope at his finest".^[9]

References

1. Sclafani, Tony (2010) "Citizen Cope The Rainwater LP", Prefix, retrieved 2010-02-09
2. Hall, Tara (2010) "Citizen Cope adds to 'Rainwater' winter run", Live Daily, January 19, 2010, retrieved 2010-02-09 NOTE: DEAD LINK December 26, 2015
3. Same link referenced via Internet Archive/Wayback Machine december 26, 2015
4. Oksenhorn, Stewart (2010) "Citizen Cope takes the long view of making an album", Aspen Times, September 3, 2009, retrieved 2010-02-09
5. "New Citizen Cope free download", citizencope.com, retrieved 2010-02-09
6. ""Healing Hands" is available today!", citizencope.com, retrieved 2010-02-09
7. Henderson, Alex "The Rainwater LP Review", Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation, retrieved 2010-02-09
8. Harris, Hays (2010) "Citizen Cope Hits the National", Richmond.com, February 5, 2010, retrieved 2010-02-09
9. Dunham, Nancy (2010) "Citizen Cope shows no signs of slowing down", The Washington Examiner, February 4, 2010, retrieved 2010-02-09