Fresh Wine for the Horses [Extra tracks, Import]

Rob Dickinson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks, Import
• Label: FONTANA UNIVERSAL
• ASIN: B0017V7GWG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,610 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Five years after his former band came to sputtering halt, ex-Catherine Wheel frontman (and cousin to Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson!) Rob Dickinson packs away the bruising guitar riffs and returns with a positively grown-up solo debut. Optimism and innocence streak through stately piano ballads, woozy strings and jingle-jangle acoustic guitars take the place of white-noise, and Dickinson's voice settles into an affecting falsetto. He's finally written a worthwhile follow-up to "Black Metallic" in the excellent "My Name Is Love," although always a weak lyricist, his songwriting skills could still use a little refinement ("You've just got to smile and hang out with intelligent people," goes the particularly uninspired chorus of "Intelligent People"--proving his old band's extreme penchant for feedback wasn't entirely pointless). Nevertheless, his renewed passion can't be doubted, especially in sweet melodies like "Oceans" and "The Night." --Aidin Vaziri

Product Description

Many will recall Britain s Catherine Wheel as one of the most range-roaming, seminal and viscerally intense alternative rock bands of the 90s:
In Dickinson, the band possessed a songwriter and lyricist of rare talent with scalpel-sharp statements emanating from gorgeously epic songs such as their breakthrough, the feedback-soaked;Black Metallic; ( ...it's Like a Hurricane for the 90s; drooled the NME). This song in particular heralded Dickinsons ability to skillfully knit together romance, wit and power! - in the music. Through constant evolution and a steadfast refusal for repetition, Catherine Wheel grew into a swaggeringly assured, devastatingly effective, scene-setter of a band. Criminally overlooked, (Rolling Stone famously sub-editing the review of the band's 1997 masterwork, Adam and Eve, down from 4-1/2 stars to 3-1/2), never was a band so influential and yet so invisible. Catherine Wheel quietly unleashed six brilliant albums, all an artistic development of the last, and all reflecting a musical force that could crush any band that dared share a stage - ask Radiohead or The Smashing Pumpkins about that.
And then the band vanished. No word, no explanation, no fanfare, no farewell, no best wishes, no 'best of.' "People were no longer paying attention. Going out with a bang seemed a little inappropriate; says Dickinson dryly.I'm not bitter about the band's modest success. I view that time as an apprenticeship. It was a time when I was free to experiment and was encouraged to be 'an artist.' I consider myself lucky to have been blessed with such an opportunity;
What s been going on with Dickinson since the Catherine Wheel was parked? What he has very definitely been doing is writing fantastic songs. And so begins Part I of The Resurrection. Whatever merit his past with the band may confer, Dickinson's inevitable stardom would appear to be as a solo artist with this breathtaking collection of music on his debut album, Fresh Wine For The Horses.
From a conversation with Venus on My Name Is Love; to the whimsical heartbreak of ;Oceans; ( As far as I can tell, you already bare the scars of love ) to the emotional highs of ;Towering and Flowering; Dickinson's Fresh Wine for The Horses bristles with romance, but still keeps its manly charm. Says Dickinson: This record is about recognizing and accepting the sometimes ugly truth. It's about love, devotion and enlightenment.
Dickinson s Resurrection Part II came after the unfortunate dissolution of the record company that first released this stunning album. Handpicked by legendary producer Bob Ezrin of Pink Floyd, Kiss, Lou Reed (and Catherine Wheel!) fame, Fresh Wine For The Horses was presented to Fontana International on a silver platter, and the second chance given to the album begins a new chapter for the audacious performer.
Part III of The Resurrection brings Rob s magnificent new addition to the album, the song The End of the World. It lifts shamelessly from the soundtrack to the British cult movie Withnail & I and creates its own death-defying, all-or-nothing beauty in a song about last chances.
And out of the ashes comes Nude, the other half of Rob s spectacular 2-CD set. At the personal request of the head of the record label, Rob has revisited six choice Catherine Wheel classics and put a new acoustic twist on these old favorites. It is easy to tell that the songs have held the test of time and that the stripped-down melodies still ring true more than 15 years later. Re-recording these songs is like reuniting with old friends, says Dickinson. I hope that new listeners will fall in love with them and that those familiar with Catherine Wheel will fin

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome return!, September 15, 2005

By 

David Parker (burlington, vermont United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fresh Wine for the Horses (Audio CD)

Let me first say that I think Rob's former band Catherine Wheel was THE most criminally underrated band of the entire 90's! Amazing album after amazing album, with a groundbreaking sound that I still hear in newer, more unexplainably popular bands today, and they couldn't get arrested! (Perhaps it was their name, which unfortunately may have caused their albums to end up in the 'Female Folk Singers' category at most record stores!) Sadly, the switch of labels from Mercury to Sony, instead of giving them the push they so greatly needed, served to simply let them fade away into self-described "hiatus". So, it was with great anticipation that I picked up Rob's long-awaited solo release. While not too reminiscent of the Wheel, it's still SO great to hear his wonderful and expressive voice again! I guess this could be considered a more "adult" or "lighter" version of the Wheel's sound, since he was, after all, their songwriter. But don't let that stop you from enjoying one of the best albums I've heard this year. And, CW fans can rejoice that two songs, both leftovers from the underrated "Wishville" album, are included here, and reunite three of the four Wheel members, along with frequent collaborator Tim Friese-Green! I only hope that alternative radio catches onto the first single "My name is love" and turns it into the hit it oughta be! For Rob Dickinson, major stardom is long overdue and well-deserved! May he 1) find success with this solo release, and 2) reunite the mighty Catherine Wheel again!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars We missed ya, Rob, October 29, 2005

By 

Ethan Straffin (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fresh Wine for the Horses (Audio CD)

I was unkind to Catherine Wheel in my review of their swan song, _Wishville_, which I (like so many CW fans) considered lackluster and distinctly subpar. I wrote back then that I hoped they'd rebound, and while things didn't exactly work out that way, _Fresh Wine for the Horses_ -- hey Rob, watch whom you're calling a horse! -- is a highly worthwhile listen from that band's primary songwriter.

As with most of CW's albums, the songs here are something of a mixed bag with respect to musical and lyrical quality, and CW fans may be a bit disappointed by the fact that only the hyper-dynamic rocker "Handsome" goes beyond midtempo. Still, between that track, the sweet and soaring single "My Name is Love," the delicate and skillfully arranged ballad "The Night," and the slow-burn closer "Towering and Flowering," there's more than enough good stuff here to make for a solid album.

An addendum: having adored Warren Zevon before I adored Catherine Wheel (for the simple reason that Zevon arrived 16 years earlier), I find Dickinson's two-part cover of "Mutineer" to be well-chosen, appropriately symbolic, and all-around menschy. (I don't entirely get why he decided to cover approximately the same snippet of the song on track 4 and again at the album's end -- with original harmonies on the latter -- rather than simply covering the whole song, but that's a minor point.) While CW's life as a band and Zevon's life as a human being may have ended right around the same time, this album finds promising new life in the ashes of the old.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Rob! We missed you!, September 16, 2005

By 

Team JJ (Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh Wine for the Horses (Audio CD)

My husband and I have been Catherine Wheel fans for YEARS and have been awaiting the release of this album like no other- we were NOT disappointed! It saddens me to say that we actually found his album at a major music store filed under the Bruce Dickinson tab- argh! (Not that I'm surprised since Catherine Wheel albums were always under "W" for the presumed female artist Catherine!) Rob's voice sounds incredible (Towering and Flowering) and some of the melodies are just phenomenal (Oceans). This album is full of songs that are great to sit down, relax and actually LISTEN to (as were most Catherine Wheel songs) unlike most of the thee minute crap out there today that's written only with radio station playlists in mind. I must say that I can never understand why Rob is often pegged in reviews as a "weak lyricist" because many of the lines in this album are quite tender or downright catchy. I hope this album brings Rob the success he's deserved for years and CW give it another go!