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Annie Lennox: Songs of Mass Destruction

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Sony-BMG Records
Released: 2007.10.02
Time:
 47:01
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.annie-lennox.com
Appears with: Eurhytmics
Purchase date: 2008.01.03
Price in €: 16,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Dark Road (A.Lennox) - 3:47
[2] Love Is Blind (A.Lennox) - 4:18
[3] Smithereens (A.Lennox) - 5:17
[4] Ghosts in My Machine (A.Lennox) - 3:30
[5] Womankind (A.Lennox/Nadirah X) - 4:28
[6] Through the Glass Darkly (A.Lennox) - 3:29
[7] Lost (A.Lennox) - 3:41
[8] Coloured Bedspread (A.Lennox) - 4:31
[9] Sing (A.Lennox) - 4:48
[10] Big Sky (A.Lennox) - 4:02
[11] Fingernail Moon (A.Lennox) - 5:04

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Annie Lennox - Piano, Keyboards, Vocals

Glen Ballard - Keyboards, Producer
Mike Stevens - Arranger, Keyboards, Producer
Randy Kerber - Piano, Keyboards
Eddie Baytos - Accordion
Sean Hurley - Bass
Zac Rae - Keyboards
Blair Sinta - Drums

Scott Campbell - Engineer
Nadirah X - Engineer
Tom Lord-Alge - Mixing
Femio Hernández - Mixing Assistant
Ted Jensen - Mastering
Mike Owen - Photography
Simon Fuller - Management
 

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2003 CD Sony-BMG 88697154522

One of the most respected women in popular music, Annie Lennox’s career has spanned over 25 years and drawn numerous accolades and awards including Grammys®, Brits, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar® for her song "Into the West," from Lord of the Rings. VH1 describes her as "the Greatest living White Soul Singer." Ms. Lennox has consistently pushed boundaries and embraced excellence; her latest work, Songs of Mass Destruction is another example of her unforgettable vocal talents.



Menacing as they sound, the songs of mass destruction gathered on Annie Lennox's fifth solo disc don't manage to so much as nick the gorgeous instrument she's built her career on. Weaving artfully as ever around the contours of songs that suggest the worst - Lennox is world-wise and therefore maybe inevitably world-weary - she imparts gravity and grace in a voice as cloudless and surface-smooth as just-brewed mint tea; from the tentative beginnings of the mournful "Dark Road" to the gospel-bottomed gorgeousness of "Ghosts in My Machine," she's in full command of her considerable vocal powers. And it's possible she's never used them to such moving effect on a single record. Earlier Lennox or Eurythmics albums might have succumbed here and there to slight-seeming experiments in style, but Songs of Mass Destruction doesn't dilly-dally. All swerves, even playful ones (see "Love Is Blind" and "Coloured Bedspread," a synth-y song that wouldn't seem so out of place on a recent Madonna record), are on-message: "Womankind" busts wide open not only because it needs to (a voice this big can't be contained, it reminds us), but to demo empowerment, and the hopeful "Sing" signs off with a seconds-long African guest vocal. There's an upside to the destruction of cultural wellness that led Lennox to write this record, and it's artistic creation. Songs of Mass Destruction is a sterling, rock-solid, expert example.

Tammy La Gorce - Amazon.com



Der Albumtitel klingt zwar bedrohlich, doch ihrer wunderbaren Stimme, der Annie Lennox ihre Karriere verdankt, haben die "Massenvernichtungssongs" auf dem fünften Soloalbum der Sängerin nicht im Geringsten geschadet. Kunstvoll wie eh und je bewegt sie sich durch Lieder voller Unheilsandeutungen--Lennox kennt die Welt und ist vielleicht zwangsläufig desillusioniert--und ihre Stimme, so rein wie frisch gebrühter Pfefferminztee, strahlt Ernst und Anmut gleichermaßen aus. Von dem verhaltenen Anfang des melancholischen "Dark Road" bis hin zu den großartigen Gospelanklängen in "Ghosts in My Machine" zeigt sich Lennox im Vollbesitz ihrer bemerkenswerten stimmlichen Fähigkeiten, ja vielleicht hat sie sie noch auf keinem Album derart überzeugend eingesetzt. Frühere Alben von Annie Lennox und den Eurythmics verloren sich hier und da in oberflächlichen Stilexperimenten, doch Songs of Mass Destruction enthält nichts Unmotiviertes. Stilistisch Überraschendes, selbst wenn es verspielt wirkt (etwa "Love Is Blind" oder "Coloured Bedspread", ein synthibetonter Song, der auch auf einer von Madonnas neueren Platten kaum aufgefallen wäre), dient immer einer Aussage: "Womankind" ist ein Gefühlsausbruch, der nicht nur ununterdrückbar war (der Song erinnert daran, dass eine so starke Stimme sich nicht zähmen lässt), sondern auch der Forderung nach Gleichberechtigung Nachdruck verleiht, und das hoffnungsvolle "Sing" endet mit einigen Sekunden afrikanischem Gastgesang. Die Vernichtung kultureller Werte, die Annie Lennox zu dieser CD inspiriert hat, führt auch zu etwas Positivem, nämlich zu künstlerischer Kreativität. Songs of Mass Destruction ist ein rundum gelungenes Beispiel dafür.

Tammy La Gorce - Amazon.de



Four albums in 15 years is not exactly prolific when it comes to making records. But Annie Lennox has never been one to rush things, and her recorded output as a solo artist in life after the Eurythmics has been stellar. The last time she issued a recording in 2003 with Bare, a collection of deeply committed emotional songs that set a new standard for her artistically, though they were written in the turmoil following her second divorce. Perhaps the reason she hasn't had the time to record is her activism. She's involved herself in causes that range from her primary concern, raising awareness about AIDS/HIV (and she refers to this in the album's notes), to the environment and poverty. But Songs of Mass Destruction isn't a political album by any means, unless the personal is -- and often it is. This is another album of love songs; dark love songs. These are breakup ballads, statuesque embers of pain and rage that have simmered down to the traces of that dull ache of emptiness that always exists in the aftermath of something profound. The production is characteristically slick, and Lennox is in excellent voice -- it's always startling to hear something new from her simply because that voice is so singular, it becomes a part of the listener no matter what she's signing. Most of what's here is adult-oriented, sophisticated pop. That's nothing to apologize for. The keyboard- and drum-drenched set has all sorts of texture to keep it from being formulaic, such as the accordion on "Ghost in My Machine," which is a rocking number. "Love Is Blind" begins with an acoustic piano and a slide guitar quietly rumbling behind it, though it's a suicide ballad turned inside out. When Lennox opens her mouth, it's all blues scorch wither, letting that big voice wrap itself around some harrowing lines like "I got so much trouble getting in to this/Can't decide if it's hell or bliss/Sometimes I feel like I don't exist/Cut my veins and slit my wrists/Goodbye/Goodbye...Can't you see that I'm so addicted/To the notion of a someone/Who could take me from this wretched state/Save me from the bitterness and hatred of humanity/I'm so screwed up." But she's not pleading; she's declaring, testifying with searing honesty. On the track "Sing," she has donated all proceeds to an AIDS charity TAC (Treatment Action Committee) and enlisted a host of women to sing in a choir who will likely not be heard in the same place again: Beth Gibbons, Madonna, Celine Dion, Beth Orton, Angélique Kidjo, Shakira, Sarah McLachlan, Faith Hill, Fergie, Beverley Knight, Martha Wainwright, k.d. lang, Shingai Shoniwa, KT Tunstall, Bonnie Raitt, Dido, Gladys Knight, Anastacia, and Melissa Etheridge. It's another huge feminist anthem, with a killer hook, a big bad soul/gospel refrain, and a beat that, once it gets into the spine, will not be easily dismissed. But the ballads here are as profound and deep as the big production numbers. The opener, with its lilting Celtic flavor, is devastatingly beautiful and sad. "Smithereens," with its languid piano treading so lightly, offers the singer once more bearing heart and soul in a kind of vulnerability that accepts responsibility as well as lays blame: "Behind the victim/Behind the trouble/Of all the things you've not expressed...So don't make me sad/I couldn't stand to watch you fall/'Cause everybody has a tender heart/Remember this/I didn't mean to break it down to smithereens." "Womankind" is a funky soul number offering wishes that perhaps many women wish for (though men do too), though its expression of raw need and desire may piss off a few of its intended recipients. The track is a bona fide single, though. It's colored by the exotic ballad "Through a Glass Darkly," looking through the mirror of life in the true self, with its cyclical coming together and splitting apart, which is realized utterly in "Lost." "Coloured Bedspread" revisits the electronic beat pop of the Eurythmics. The skeletal toy-sounding piano and cheap drum machine in "Big Sky" is lifted by the power of Lennox's voice and her backing vocalists before it breaks into big fat warm loops, and Lennox digging deep into her soul book for the melody. Anita Baker, eat your heart out. The set closes with the elegant, complex, and confident ballad "Fingernail Moon," which is sung alone in the emptiness of the night sky, bearing the entirety of disappointment, the smallness of humanity in the universe - no matter how much we think we're the center of it. The sadness in the song is also confessional and speaks to bewilderment and ultimately becomes a prayer when she sings, "I feel so sad/There's something unsettling under my skin/I don't know the reason or where to begin/Caught in the circles I've found myself in/But I want to reach out and touch you/My sweet sickle moon." Songs of Mass Destruction can be heard as a melancholy part two of Bare, but one feels after repeated listening that Lennox is not only speaking of her own experiences in life and love, but those of her sisters, and the human condition at large, when focused on in the first person, becomes somewhat palatable and embraceable by a third party. It's as gorgeous a collection as Bare, and pop music should be so lucky as to have more of this kind of thing out in the world. She may not be prolific, but she is always profound, and to date has always delivered the very best she's had to offer, which is, in this case, as well as her other recordings, plentiful and magnificent.

Thom Jurek - All Music Guide



The title is overstated, but Songs of Mass Destruction does layer welcome muscle beneath the porcelain-smooth surface of Annie Lennox's voice. The result is an album that captures the range of her styles, from the rhythmically charged pop of her Eurythmics days to the haunted, longing ballads of her solo career. If the two approaches don't always cohere, each is satisfying in its own right.

The album was produced by Glen Ballard, who is best known for his work with Alanis Morissette and the Dave Matthews Band. He roughens up Lennox's sound -- as on "Ghosts in My Machine," which rides an irresistible, staccato synth riff. "Womankind" is a self-esteem booster, while "Sing" gathers a coterie of female vocalists -- including Madonna, Dido and Joss Stone -- to raise awareness about mother-child HIV transmission in Africa. That the song doesn't collapse under its good intentions is a tribute to its sturdy pop craft - a virtue in more than ample supply on this sparkling album.

Anthony DeCurtis (Oct 4, 2007)
RollingStone.com



"Lennox's inimitable voice - all dark-chocolate rasp and throaty power - remains undiminished..." - Grade: B

Entertainment Weekly (p.75)



"Ghosts of the Machine" is a soul-stomping anthem of defiance, insisting, "Set my spirit free," while "Womankind" issues a playful call for "the best thing that hasn't happened to me."

Chuck Taylor - Billboard

 L y r i c s


Dark Road

It's a dark road
And a dark way that leads to my house
And the word says
You're never gonna find me there oh no
I've got an open door
It didn't get there by itself
It didn't get there by itself

There's a feelin
But you're not feelin' it at all
There's a meaning
But you're not listening any more
I look at that open road
I'm gonna walk there by myself

And if you catch me
I might try to run away
You know I can't be here too long
And if you let me
I might try to make you stay
Seems you never realise a good thing
Till it's gone..
Maybe im still searchin
But I dont know what it means
All the fires of destruction are still
Burnin' in my dreams
There's no water that can wash away
This longin' to come clean
Hey yea yea....

I cant find the joy within my soul
It's just sadness takin hold
I wanna come in from the cold
And make myself renewed again
It takes strength to live this way
The same old madness every day
I wanna kick these blues away
I wanna learn to live again...

It's a dark road
And a dark way that leads to my house
And the word says
You're never gonna find me there oh no
I've got an open door
It didn't get there by itself
It didn't get there by itself


Love Is Blind

Oh… sugar
When ya gonna come?
I spend my life gettin older
But you still got me on the run
When ya gonna come?

Oh. . sweetness
When will you mine?
I spend my days getting' colder
But I still want you all the time

Oh the grass is growin greener
On the other side
Nothing else has meaning
When I got you on my mind
I so wanna see you
Don't they say that love is blind?
Oh love is blind
Love is blind

I got so much trouble gettin into this
Can't decide if its hell or bliss
Sometimes I feel like I dont exist
Cut my veins and slit my wrists
Goodbye
Goodbye

That's all she wrote
As she tied that knot around her throat
Wipe my eyes
Dry my tears
Wait for you for a thousand years

Oh lover
Make me yours again
Even though your thrill is gone
All my fellins still remain
Even though your thrill is gone
I'm gonna love you just the same

Can't you see that i'm addicted
To the notion of a someone
Who could take me from this wretched state
Save me from the bitterness and hatred of humanity
Its so screwed up

Tired of bein' down on luck
Tired of bein' beaten up
Tired of bein' so screwed up
Tired of all this desperation
Tired of all this mad frustration
Tired of all the aggravation
Sick and tired of devastation
Give it some consideration


Smithereens

I saw your picture
It made me sorry
For all the things
I never said
It seems that you
Have cause to worry
It seems that you
Don't wish me well

Behind the victim
Behind the trouble
Are all the things
You've not expressed
I see you standing behind your mother
I see you hiding behind her dress

So don't make me sad
I couldn't stand to watch you fall
'cause everybody has a tender heart
Remember this
I didn't mean to break it down to smithereens

I heard you crying
I learned the story
I saw the shadows behind the past
They fall behind you
And creep up slowly
We're only human
Behind the mask

So don't take me down
I couldn't stand to watch you fall
'cause everybody has a broken heart
Remember this
I couldn't stand to break it down to smithereens

And you say
Everybody is an island of their own
And you say
Everybody has a tender heart
Remember this
I couldn't stand to break it down to smithereens

I didn't mean to break it down
I didn't mean to smithereens
Everybody is an island to themselves
Don't you know
Everybody is an island to themselves


Ghosts In My Machine

Oh come and take this pain away
Oh come and take this pain away
Oh come and set my spirit free

I've seen too much
I know too much
I hurt too much
I feel too much
I dread too much
I dream too much
I'm caught up by the ghosts in my machine

I'm bruised and battered by the storm
Can't find a place to keep me warm
My mind is broken and forlorn

I think too much
I do too much
I fall too much
I fail too much
I cry too much
I die too much
I'm haunted by the ghosts in my machine

Give me some of that medicine
To make me forget
(i can't find it)
I need something easier
(can't find it)
'cuz I ain't found it yet
I ain't found it yet
I ain't found it
Oh no no no

Oh womankind was born of pain
My soul keeps hurting just the same
Oh come and take this pain away

I give too much
Get used too much
I lose too much
Get bruised too much
I bleed too much
I need too much
I'm sleeping with the ghosts in my machine

I said I love you baby
Guess I always do
I said I love to baby
Guess I always do
I said I love you baby
Guess I always do


Womankind

One more time for the womankind
This is for the womankind
Check it out

Ooh baby's got precious eyes
And when he smiles the sun comes shinin'
To make the day seem like each cloud contains a silver linin'
I would be so happy
If he belonged with me forever
But I know it's not to be
It's not part of my destination

I wish I had a lover who could turn this water into wine
I wish I had a lover who could give me love at any time
Wish I had so many things
And all my wishes would come true
It's got me thinkin' that I want to get too close to you

Hear my prayer
I'm tired of waitin '
Hear my prayer
Give it a chance
Hear my prayer
I'm clearly statin'
I need to change this circumstance

You could be the best damn thing
That hasnt happened yet to me
You could be the best thing
To come into my mythology
We could have the kinda dream they call a great affinity
Want to turn it into something like reality
Hold me now
I'm tired of waitin'
Hold me now
1'm askin' you
Hold me now
No more anticipatin'
Why won't you come to my rescue?

Ooh babys got precious eyes
And when he smiles
The sun comes blastin'
I wish that feellin' of contentment
Would be everlasting
I would be so happy
To give him all my dedication
I would be so happy
But its only my imagination

Ooh...
This is for the womankind
Ooh...
Singin' for the womankiho
Ooh...
Thats right for the womankind
Ooh...

How many doors must I go through
These constant dreams that I pursue
I can see possibilities in you
Yea here we go again
Is this too good to be true?
I had this thing galled love
Still don't know what it is
Maybe i've had enough
Oh save me please
All my wants are becoming needs
Tell me what you feel
Stripped bare for you to see
Yea every desire go through the fire
This is what I give of me
If I could just be free
Baby won't you rescue me?
Baby won't you rescue me?
Every desire go through the fire
Lay me down
I wanna be
Under your skin


Through The Glass Darkly

I'm caught up in the middle
But I'll take it to the end
It's comin back together
And it's breakin' down again
If I could find a reason
I'd say you were my friend
If I could find a reason
I'd say it once again

When I'm with you the days are bittersweet
Still I can't remember what it feels to be complete
I've tried pretending
But it drives me of my feet

I don't know what its coming to
But I'm looking through
The glass darkly... yea

Bright lights
Come and go
Playin' blues songs on my radio
Shadows still. appear
In the house tonight
Ooh yea
Ghosts that come in from the past
All those ghosts that keep on comin' back
Slidin' through the walls
And my windows
Ooh yea

When I'm with you
The nights are cold and long
Still can't remember what
It feels like to be strong
I've tried to blend in
But it seems I don't belong
I don't know what it's comin' to
But I'm looking through the glass darkly... yea
Can I find you? can I find you? I can't find you... yea


Lost

This is the sound of the planes in the night
Coming out of the darkness
And into the light
Shining alarmingly
Curiously bright

This is the sound of those murderous drums
The marching of footsteps
The twisting of thumbs
Over and over
Again here it comes

We're lost
(baby come again don't let me fall)
We're lost
(baby come again despite it all)
Were lost
(baby come)
(baby come)

Tell me the story
'bout when you were young
I want to hear it again
Leave in the part
Where the hero gets stung
I want to savour it
I want to play it again

This is the sound of a baby's first breath
The dying of footsteps
The touching of flesh
To hold in your memory
To keep by your chest

We're lost
So lost
Lost


Coloured Bedspread

Bright lights are growing dim
I wanna hide again
The nights are cavin' in
On my coloured bedspread
I wanna drift so far
To slip out of the crowd
It doesn't matter how
On my coloured bedspread

You make the stars dissolve
Like sugar melting in my mouth

Some people come and go
But they won't ever know
About the things we do
On my coloured bedspread
I remember places ive been to
Remember things I never knew
Remember dreams that all came true
On my coloured bedspread

We make the stars collide
I touch the planets
Through your eyes

Can you feel it?
Tell me can you feel it now?

You make the stars dissolve
Like sugar melting in my mouth


Sing

This is a call for the national implementation
Of mother to child transmission prevention
Programme in all the maternity hospitals
In South Africa

Sing, my sister… sing!
Let your voice be heard
What won't kill you will make you strong
Sing, my sister… sing!

You don't need
To disrespect yourself again
Don't hide your light behind your fears
My women can be strong
You've known it all along
What you need
Is what you haven't found
So…

Sing, my sister… sing!
Let your voice be heard
What won't kill you will make you strong
Sing, my sister… sing!

Women are the mothers of the world, my friend
I tell you womankind is strong
Take your beautiful self up to the heights again
Back to the place where you belong
So…

Sing, my sister… sing!
Let your voice be heard
What won't kill you will make you strong
Sing, my sister… sing!

C'mon my sisters now
Sing loud and sing proud
Sing my sister… sing!
Use your voice to call out
Let your voice be heard
Use your voice
For freedom
Let your voice be heard
Everywhere you go
For freedom
Yes freedom

The generics:
We know azt globally
Call : azt we know it. it is protecting children from hiv globally
Response : globally
Call : mtct
Response : protection
Call : we know nevirapine. it is protecting children from hiv globally.


Big Sky

Big sky
I'm gonna hurt you
Big sky
You'll remember this
Big sky
Up above the rain
How can I ever put a stop to it?
Look you in the face again

Big sky
I'll never let you go
Big sky
Baby I told you so
Big sky
Look at this swollen pride
I got so busy lookin' out for you
When were you by my side?

When I'm breathin'
When I'm sleepin'
I can't think of nothing else
All my longing'
All my waiting'
All my wailin'
All my standin' on the shelf
How am I ever gonna get through this
Back to myself again?

Big sky
I never knew you
Big sky
Let me down again
Big sky
I'm givin' you the blame
How did I ever get stuck in this?
Give me some grace again

Won't you say it isn't so?
Watch me fallin'
See me fallin'
I slipped through
The vortex of the sky
Darkness and light
Is what's inside
Darkness and light
Is what's inside


Fingernail Moon

Fingernail moon
Up in the sky
Come out and see me
See me sometimes
'cause I'm here alone
Stuck in the blue
No distance between us
Between me and you
I've got nothing to hide
I've got nothing to lose
You'll be by my side
C'mon tell me the truth

Elegant moon
You cut like a knife
It does me no favours
To stay out of my sight
Suspended like glass
All ancient and new
Allof space lies between us
Between me and you
There's no need to be shy
There's no need to be scared
I need you tonight
Come on out if you dare

I'm just a girl with my feet on the ground
I'm just a girl with my head goin' round
I feel so sad
There's something unsettling under my skin
I don't know the reason or where to begin
Caught in the circles I've found myself in
But I want to reach out and touch you
My sweet sickle moon
Up wi the sky
Come out and see me
See me sometimes
'cause I'm here alone
After all we've been throuch
With the distance between us
Between me and you
It dont matter how long
Itdon't matter howear
I'll meet you tonight
Under the stars


Don't Take Me Down

I was floating in the cool of your river
I was drifting in a tide of pure water
Oh wash me in the flood of creation
Don't take me down
Don't take me down with you

My innocence has all but been taken
Oh given to the cruelty of strangers
Who took me out from safety to danger
Don't take me down
Don't take me down with you

Don't take me down my friend
I wanna live my time again yea
Got so used to loser's luck
But I don't wanna give it up

I'm comin' up to take my breath again
Oh love is like a pool of forgiveness
I wish that I could fly with the angels
Don't take me down
Don't take me down with you

I've been caught by the spell of temptation
I've been burned by the hell of damnation
And I don't need to be taken there again
All I want's for this wounded heart to mend
 

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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