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A Short Album About Love

A Short Album About Love

Released:
>>> See history (releases, charts by countries)
10th February 1997

  • Notable rankings
    Hot Press' Best Album:
    4
    Hot Press' Best Sleeve:
    6
    The Chain With No Name (VITAL) Chart Positions:
    3 (5th March 1997)
    NME Writers Top 50 Chart Positions:
    22
    Melody Maker 'Album of the Year':
    39

>>> See credits...

 
A sequel to Casanova, A Short Album About Love is NOT a live recording of the Shepherd's Bush Empire's night, as the legend goes. It was actually recorded during the rehearsal of the gig, inside the venue. The stage, where the Brunel Ensemble was playing, had to be isolated from the room thanks to a glass panel, for acoustic reasons. However, it seems that Neil wasn't happy with the vocals (maybe he was too stressed before this important concert) and that he re-recorded them later.

The album was released on February 14th 1997. In December it was already silver album.

As the title, which is a reference to A Short Film About Love by Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, shows the album is about love. The seven songs are love songs. They were not specifically written for the album. Most already existed, as, 'If I Were You (I'd Be Through With Me)', 'Timewatching', 'Everybody Knows (Except You)'and 'I'm All You Need', these last two having been written at the same time as the Casanova songs. In a sense, this album is a sort of compilation of extra songs. Maybe because of that, its content is not as dense as for the previous albums.

Reviews

“seven of the most heart-stoppingly gorgeous, romantic smoochers you have ever heard, all drenched in strings and emotion.” – Time Out

“a mini-masterpiece… these are songs of aching beauty and tremulous emotion.” – Vox