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When it was announced earlier in 2014 that the band had started to write and record a new album, well, it certainly proved to be a topic of mass discussion on social media including Carol's Twitter page (@caroldecker) & the official T'Pau Facebook page (T'Pau/CarolDecker)
Fans were in their element & they had every reason to be...The last studio album, the critically acclaimed 'Red', had been released 15 years prior & we were being told that new material was around the corner!!! What T'Pau fan wouldn't be in their element?!
The huge success of '#TPau25Live'-A 28 date UK Tour in 2013, celebrating 25 years since the band first made it big and their debut album 'Bridge of Spies' going quadruple platinum in the UK alone, not forgetting its success in a zillion other places!! Not only this, but included in the equation was Ronnie being back on board!! A celebratory Tour like this wouldn't have been the same without him, as it needed both Carol & Ron as they both co-founded the band and wrote all the hits.
The Tour wasn't just about the hits either, that would have been too predictable and although that would have satisfied even the best of fans, there was the added bonus of B-Sides, album tracks & songs that nearly got away included on the set-list!! I mean, what fan doesn't love the power of 'Thank You For Goodbye' in its original demo mode?!
The Tour was so well received & the icing on the cake was it being included at The Isle Of Wight Festival, where the Big Top stage was packed to the rafters with 5000 people & Carol & co. were loving every minute of it!! Watch 'Secret Garden' below to get a sense of how great T'Pau went down.
Right, Carol and Ronnie back on stage together after nearly 20 years since doing a full set together.
This was during the #TPau25Live Tour at The Isle Of Wight Festival in 2013.
James Ashby, lead guitarist, left, who was 23 at the time, wasn't even born when T'pau originally made it big!!
Secret Garden at Isle Of Wight Festival 2013
As 2014 progressed, Carol started to put a few of the tracks on 'SOUNDCLOUD', one by one. Some of them weren't in their 'final cut' stage, but the band wanted us to hear them as a taster of what the album was all about. They were also posted as a teaser for the album, and that strategy was certainly working!!
Some of the songs were as old as the original T'Pau, but had never been finished by Carol and Ronnie!!
One of the tracks on the album 'Demolition Man' had never even had a chorus in its 20 plus years of existence!!
Basically, the songs on the album were old and new. The older ones were given a 21st century makeover!!
I remember Carol had tweeted very early in the recording of the album that they had "just recorded a killer of a track"! This track would turn out to be the lead track from the album & the first single, 'Nowhere'.
Nowhere on SOUNDCLOUD
Read My Mind on SOUNDCLOUD
Last Temptation on SOUNDCLOUD
Last Temptation is a very catchy pop/rock song and this goes to show how diverse T'Pau still are with the music they record
One Lesson In Love on SOUNDCLOUD
One Lesson In Love is a very contemporary, catchy pop track with an awesome lead guitar by James Ashby. It is very toe-tapping!! Yet another tick!!
Pleasure & Pain
(CD with free MP3 Download)
(Download)
(CD)
(Download)
This was during the #TPau25Live Tour at The Isle Of Wight Festival in 2013.
James Ashby, lead guitarist, left, who was 23 at the time, wasn't even born when T'pau originally made it big!!
Secret Garden at Isle Of Wight Festival 2013
The success of this Tour inspired Carol & Ronnie to start writing what was to be studio album number 5 & when this was announced early in 2014, we were even told its name-'Pleasure & Pain' - What a great rock 'n' roll title!!
As 2014 progressed, Carol started to put a few of the tracks on 'SOUNDCLOUD', one by one. Some of them weren't in their 'final cut' stage, but the band wanted us to hear them as a taster of what the album was all about. They were also posted as a teaser for the album, and that strategy was certainly working!!
Some of the songs were as old as the original T'Pau, but had never been finished by Carol and Ronnie!!
One of the tracks on the album 'Demolition Man' had never even had a chorus in its 20 plus years of existence!!
Basically, the songs on the album were old and new. The older ones were given a 21st century makeover!!
I remember Carol had tweeted very early in the recording of the album that they had "just recorded a killer of a track"! This track would turn out to be the lead track from the album & the first single, 'Nowhere'.
Nowhere on SOUNDCLOUD
The moment I heard the song on SOUNDCLOUD I got shivers down my spine. This was epic and we were listening to T'Pau in the 21st Century!!
It was the talking point on Carol's Twitter account and the official T'Pau/Carol Decker Facebook page!!
Carol's vocals were incredible, pitch perfect (not that they never have been!) but if anything, they were better than ever....if that is even possible for Carol as she has always been renowned for that impeccable voice!!
The song was a beautiful ballad, beautifully written & produced and the incredible crescendo of the song bringing it to that oh-so perfect climax, makes it one of my all time favourite T'Pau songs ever!!
The power, strength and emotion in the song are oh so apparent. It's about somebody being hurt in love.
Carol has always had a knack of 'telling a story' in a song with such emotion as though the story in the song is actually happening to her right now, singing songs with great empathy.
If all of the songs on the album were produced at this speed, from start to finish, you could have your whole album ready for being mastered in half a day!!
The power, strength and emotion in the song are oh so apparent. It's about somebody being hurt in love.
Carol has always had a knack of 'telling a story' in a song with such emotion as though the story in the song is actually happening to her right now, singing songs with great empathy.
There is a little story behind this song-One day when they were finishing up in the studio and calling it a day, there were a few of the band left and James Ashby started playing around with a riff on guitar, Carsten Moss, the keys player, actually picked up the bass and started to join in, Carol got a melody quickly. One thing led to another and they liked what they had started to produce, anyway, the lyrics started to flow and it took just one hour from the experimenting with the sounds to the writing of the lyrics and finally the recording of the song. One hour!!
That's when you know you've got a good team around you. Decker and Rogers were back in business!!
When it came to 'Nowhere' and it's post production ready for the album, no amount of remixing seemed to capture the emotion of that initial mix. Ronnie had nailed it first time without even realising it!!
If all of the songs on the album were produced at this speed, from start to finish, you could have your whole album ready for being mastered in half a day!!
Nowhere is a very radio friendly tune and apart from being played by DJ'S across the Country on local radio stations, it even made appearances on Radio 2, including Terry Wogan, Ken Bruce & Graham Norton!! New tunes by T'Pau being heard on BBC Radio-there was excitement in the T'Pau camp!!
Read My Mind
One of the next songs we were privileged to hear that was uploaded to SOUNDCLOUD was 'Read My Mind'.
This song turned out to be the second single from the album.
Again, another radio-friendly song. Although these new songs are T'Pau in the 21st Century & have a modern feel to them, as bands which have been going for a while do have to keep up with the latest trends and tastes in music, you can immediately tell this is T'Pau-not just from Carol's distinctive vocals, but from the distinctive guitar influences that are there.
Although saying that, T'pau's songs, even from 28 years ago, wouldn't sound out of place in toady's charts!!
I like this song a lot. As do a lot of fans.
It is extremely catchy with its synth. vibe running through it, which gives the song that modern feel.
Read My Mind
One of the next songs we were privileged to hear that was uploaded to SOUNDCLOUD was 'Read My Mind'.
This song turned out to be the second single from the album.
Again, another radio-friendly song. Although these new songs are T'Pau in the 21st Century & have a modern feel to them, as bands which have been going for a while do have to keep up with the latest trends and tastes in music, you can immediately tell this is T'Pau-not just from Carol's distinctive vocals, but from the distinctive guitar influences that are there.
Although saying that, T'pau's songs, even from 28 years ago, wouldn't sound out of place in toady's charts!!
I like this song a lot. As do a lot of fans.
It is extremely catchy with its synth. vibe running through it, which gives the song that modern feel.
Read My Mind on SOUNDCLOUD
Last Temptation on SOUNDCLOUD
Last Temptation is a very catchy pop/rock song and this goes to show how diverse T'Pau still are with the music they record
One Lesson In Love on SOUNDCLOUD
One Lesson In Love is a very contemporary, catchy pop track with an awesome lead guitar by James Ashby. It is very toe-tapping!! Yet another tick!!
Pleasure & Pain
(CD with free MP3 Download)
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
Pleasure & pain was released on 'pre-order' in the week between Christmas 2014 and the New Year 2015 and the release date for it was to be 2nd February 2015 on both download and CD.
It started to climb the Amazon pre-release charts. It had climbed to the top 20 in just a few days, then it was in the top 10. As if that wasn't good enough, it was number 1 in the 'Hot New Releases in Pop Rock Chart' shortly after!!
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| No. 1 in Amazon's 'Hot New Releases in Pop & Rock' Chart |
My god, how proud the band are and excited the fans have been. It has been an age since anything like this has happened in the T'Pau camp due to the length of time since previous releases in the 1990's.
Not only was it number 1 in the 'Pop Rock' chart, but it made number 1 in the 'most wished for' album chart!! Could things get any better!?
Carol was on holiday in the French Alps at the time, but she was getting regular updates-This must have made it one of the best holidays she had had in ages!
Release date comes
It did seem an age from when the album went on pre-sale in December, to it being released at the beginning of February. People were so eager to get their little mitts on a copy and hear the whole album in its entirety.
Since its date of release, not only has it made the Radio One Official Chart, but it made the Indie Chart too on its week of release, which was an added bonus!
It's been in the iTunes chart, Amazon chart, Radio One chart, as mentioned, since being released, my goodness; we never had all of these charts in the 80's or 90's!! Back then it was just the Radio One chart!
It has been advertised on the main page on iTunes too.
The critics are being very kind too, and giving it great reviews, and very well deserved!!
From all the reviews on Amazon and iTunes, both sites have it as a five star rating, and you don't get any better than that!!
All of the bands hard work has paid off!
T'Pau back in the charts and back at their very best!!
Track Listing
The album is T'Pau back at their very best, and then some....!!
The songs are fresh and bring T'Pau into the 21st Century, although saying that, the songs still have the bands 'stamp' on them, making them instantly recognisable to folk as being T'Pau by the distinctive vocals of Carol and the heavy lead guitar influence, which were the band's trademarks! The introduction of a synth-feel adds to the 21st Century feel, but doesn't take anything away; if anything it adds to it.
Carol's vocals are outstanding and as I have said, sound better than ever! I thought this when I saw the band live during the #TPau25 Tour back in 2015.
James, the lead guitarist, adds his own influence as a musician, to the songs. His guitar skills are second to none, which is why it's hard to imagine he's only 25 & wasn't around when T'Pau were back in 1987!!
You've got the 'oh-so-welcomed' ballads, including the lead track 'Nowhere', 'Change Your Mind', 'I Think About You' and the beautiful 'House Of Love'. Love songs always seem to capture Carol's voice brilliantly as a lot of emotions are needed to sing a ballad so perfectly. Carol has been able to show this since way back when..
There are the contemporary pop/rock tunes such as 'Read My Mind', 'Demolition Man' and 'Last Temptation'.
How could we have a T'Pau album without the 'traditional' rap song on there!!
Bridge of Spies gave us the awesome 'Heart & Soul'. Rage gave us 'Island'. The Promise gave us 'Strange Place & 'One Direction'.
This album offers 'Once In A Lifetime' as the rap/almost spoken vocal. It has a very modern edge to it whilst being extremely catchy at the same time.
This album is a contemporary T'Pau, keeping up with other artists in the 21st Century, but at the same time, it definitely has the DNA of T'Pau running through it, making it recognisable as being that of T'Pau which a lot of people and reviews have said.
There are definitely other musicians influences on the album. The Beatles-later on their career, Oasis & Fleetwood Mac are just a few that spring to mind.
Apart from the songs already mentioned, there is one track I urge you to check out and that is 'Sammy & Dave'. This is based on a true story of two of Carol's friends and is such an up-beat song.
All of the reviews so far have been great and very kind to the band, which is very well deserved after all of their very hard work! In fact, I haven't read a bad review!!
iTunes and Amazon both have it as a 5* rating after customer reviews which is great!!
HMV Canada got to hear of its release and success over here and have, since 5th June 2015, started stocking the CD in all of their stores across Canada!!
Image left, the shelves of a HMV Canada store.
Did you know that 'Heart & Soul' made it to number 1 in Canada back in 1987!!?
There was a great interview recently with Carol & HMV Canada.
The title of the article was "This album deserves to be heard by everybody" I couldn't have put it better myself!!
To read the interview with HMV Canada, Click Here
All that needs to be said is have you got your copy yet??!
You'll find all links to purchase it on this blog!!
Since its date of release, not only has it made the Radio One Official Chart, but it made the Indie Chart too on its week of release, which was an added bonus!
 |
| T'Pau in Indie Charts!! |
It's been in the iTunes chart, Amazon chart, Radio One chart, as mentioned, since being released, my goodness; we never had all of these charts in the 80's or 90's!! Back then it was just the Radio One chart!
It has been advertised on the main page on iTunes too.
The critics are being very kind too, and giving it great reviews, and very well deserved!!
From all the reviews on Amazon and iTunes, both sites have it as a five star rating, and you don't get any better than that!!
All of the bands hard work has paid off!
T'Pau back in the charts and back at their very best!!
Track Listing
The album is T'Pau back at their very best, and then some....!!
The songs are fresh and bring T'Pau into the 21st Century, although saying that, the songs still have the bands 'stamp' on them, making them instantly recognisable to folk as being T'Pau by the distinctive vocals of Carol and the heavy lead guitar influence, which were the band's trademarks! The introduction of a synth-feel adds to the 21st Century feel, but doesn't take anything away; if anything it adds to it.
Carol's vocals are outstanding and as I have said, sound better than ever! I thought this when I saw the band live during the #TPau25 Tour back in 2015.
James, the lead guitarist, adds his own influence as a musician, to the songs. His guitar skills are second to none, which is why it's hard to imagine he's only 25 & wasn't around when T'Pau were back in 1987!!
You've got the 'oh-so-welcomed' ballads, including the lead track 'Nowhere', 'Change Your Mind', 'I Think About You' and the beautiful 'House Of Love'. Love songs always seem to capture Carol's voice brilliantly as a lot of emotions are needed to sing a ballad so perfectly. Carol has been able to show this since way back when..
There are the contemporary pop/rock tunes such as 'Read My Mind', 'Demolition Man' and 'Last Temptation'.
How could we have a T'Pau album without the 'traditional' rap song on there!!
Bridge of Spies gave us the awesome 'Heart & Soul'. Rage gave us 'Island'. The Promise gave us 'Strange Place & 'One Direction'.
This album offers 'Once In A Lifetime' as the rap/almost spoken vocal. It has a very modern edge to it whilst being extremely catchy at the same time.
This album is a contemporary T'Pau, keeping up with other artists in the 21st Century, but at the same time, it definitely has the DNA of T'Pau running through it, making it recognisable as being that of T'Pau which a lot of people and reviews have said.
There are definitely other musicians influences on the album. The Beatles-later on their career, Oasis & Fleetwood Mac are just a few that spring to mind.
Apart from the songs already mentioned, there is one track I urge you to check out and that is 'Sammy & Dave'. This is based on a true story of two of Carol's friends and is such an up-beat song.
All of the reviews so far have been great and very kind to the band, which is very well deserved after all of their very hard work! In fact, I haven't read a bad review!!
iTunes and Amazon both have it as a 5* rating after customer reviews which is great!!
HMV Canada got to hear of its release and success over here and have, since 5th June 2015, started stocking the CD in all of their stores across Canada!!
Did you know that 'Heart & Soul' made it to number 1 in Canada back in 1987!!?
There was a great interview recently with Carol & HMV Canada.
The title of the article was "This album deserves to be heard by everybody" I couldn't have put it better myself!!
To read the interview with HMV Canada, Click Here
All that needs to be said is have you got your copy yet??!
You'll find all links to purchase it on this blog!!
china in your hand what a classic song
ReplyDeleteit's just a great song 5 weeks at the top of the uk top forty when the charts we're very important. what a great song.
ReplyDelete