Titanic Days [EXTRA TRACKS] [LIMITED EDITION]

Kirsty MacColl

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 21, 2006)
• Original Release Date: October 5, 1993
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks, Limited Edition
• Label: Ztt
• ASIN: B0007VUEW6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #128,417 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Originally released in 1994, ‘Titanic Days’ is generally thought of as Kirsty’s most complete and rounded release. Often referred to as the ‘divorce album’ , due not just to Kirsty’s domestic situation but also that of co-writer and ex-Fairground Attraction leader Mark Nevin, ‘Titanic Days’ has not been available anywhere for almost ten years. Featuring some of Kirsty’s most notable songs, including ‘Soho Square’, ‘Can’t Stop Killing You’ and the heart breaking finale, ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’, ‘Titanic Days’ was produced by soon to be ex-husband Steve Lillywhite (U2, Peter Gabriel, XTC, etc) and is now ripe for rediscovery. This 2005 reissue has been remastered with revamped artwork and a bonus disc with three previously unreleased demos 'King Kong', 'Irish Cousin' and 'Dear John', rare remixes of the one UK single 'Angel' (including the ultra rare 'Piano Mix'), Australian only B-sides 'Fabulous Garden' and 'Touch Me' and American only B-sides 'Miss Otis Regrets' (Live), and 'Free World' (Live). ZTT.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Titanic Days sometimes result in spectacular art, May 28, 2005

By	Wayne Klein "If at first the idea is not absu... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Finally after a decade of limbo Kirsty MacColl's masterpiece "Titantic Days" is available again. Calling it a masterpiece isn't hyperbole. Written in the aftermath (mostly with Mark Nevin but also in collaboration with The Smiths' Johnny Marr)of her divorce, this terrific album stands as MacColl's most complete, compelling album. Ironically, it sold nothing when it was released which is too bad; it needs to be rediscovered by a public starved for quality not quantity; it needs to be reappraised as one of the finest albums of the 90's.

The first album is unaltered; it appears exactly as it did when first released. The original classic 11 tracks are on disc one. From the stunning single "Can't Stop Killing You" to the majestic "Soho Square" and the beautiful "Angel" it still holds up more than a decade later.

The decision to add a second disc is a nice addition for this remastered/reissued classic album. The second disc has a beautiful piano mix of "Angel" (with some sythesizer effects and tamborine also decorating the song)with MacColl's lovely voice the highlight of the song. "Fabulous Garden" an additional track on the single version of "Can't Stop Killing You" would have fit on the original album very well. "King Kong", "Dear John" and "Irish Cousin" were demos that Kirsty worked on wrote/worked on with Mark Nevin. Two live tracks are highlights of the second disc; we get "Miss Otis Regrets" (originally recorded for the album AIDS benefit album RED, HOT & BLUE)and a stunning "Free World" recorded at a concert in 1993 at Solana Beach, California at the Belly Up Tavern. Both appeared again as additional tracks for the single of "Titanic Days". There's also four remixes of the lovely ballad "Angel". Although none of them are essential, they're a nice desert to a wonderful meal of an album.

We also get the original lyrics for the album and an appreciation by frequent collaborator and former Fairport Convention guitarist/songwriter Mark Nevin. He honestly details how they met, fell in, fell out and made up before Kirsty's untimely death. It's a sad world when justice fails to live up to its name. The boaters who killed MacColl when they were in an area restricted to boats should probably have been charged more severely than they were. It was a tragic accident that robbed the world of a unique voice and parent. She's missed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite "Days", December 18, 2005

By	Gena Chereck (Nebraska, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Album:
Titanic Days was born out of unfortunate events in the lives of British singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl and her musician pal Mark Nevin (who co-wrote "My Affair," "The One and Only," and "Halloween" on her previous LP, 1991's Electric Landlady). First, both were dropped by their respective labels -- Kirsty was one of many artists cut from Virgin's roster when it was bought out by EMI, and Mark's record deal with BMG ended after the breakup of his band, Fairground Attraction -- and then their respective marriages fell apart.

Indeed, feelings of desolation and desperation run through most of the 7 songs that the pair have written for this record, especially the urgent, jangly opener "You Know It's You," the brooding single "Titanic Days," the story-song "Last Day of Summer," the plaintive ballad "Don't Go Home," and the haunting, half-spoken/half-sung closer "Tomorrow Never Comes." "Big Boy on a Saturday Night" seems out-of-place in this context, but it provides a rare moment of levity, with delightfully nasty put-down lyrics like "You make me laugh, but seriously / I look at you -- what do I see? / A clapped-out Nazi with a blunderbuss." The real high point, though, is the graceful "Soho Square," beginning with images of a freezing, barren winter (as the narrator has been stood up by her self-centered man on her birthday), and slowly building up to an imagined future summertime scene (as the narrator hopes to have her man waiting for *her* someday).

Of course, the remaining tracks fit very well into the album's generally dark vibe, especially the ominous single "Can't Stop Killing You," which tells a tale of domestic violence, and the hypnotic "Just Woke Up"; even the playful "Bad" finds its newly single narrator wanting to celebrate her independence by engaging in some risky behavior ("a brief encounter in a stolen car / A hand on my buttock in a Spanish bar"). With a few exceptions (such as the slinky jazz style of "Bad" and the straight-up rock 'n' roll of "Big Boy..."), most of the tunes here are in the mode of polished adult-contemporary pop. Still, it would be hard to imagine MacColl's hard-hitting, deeply personal songs sharing the early-to-mid-'90s airwaves with safer fare by the likes of Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, even if this record had been a commercial success (which, sadly, it was not).

The Extras:
Titanic Days (already issued in the US and Australia by different labels in late 1993) was picked up by ZTT for distribution in Kirsty's native UK in early 1994; alas, this was only a one-album deal, and she wouldn't get to record another until about 6 years later. Earlier this year, ZTT gave this under-appreciated gem a special deluxe reissue, preserving the original issue's 11-track running order on one disc, and adding a second disc with 12 bonus tracks. Among these extras are 9 B-sides (including 5 varied mixes of TD's lush, gorgeous lead-off single "Angel," and live versions of "Free World" and "Miss Otis Regrets"), as well as a trio of interesting demos from the TD sessions: the jaunty "King Kong," written from the viewpoint of the great ape's wife back home in jungle; "Dear John," a stark ballad in which MacColl explicitly addressed her split from longtime husband/producer Steve Lillywhite; and "Irish Cousin," a sweet (but never sentimental) ode to a deceased loved one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kirsty's Curse, July 20, 2006

By	J. J. Ierano (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Curse is that she'll record no more. What an amazingly honest artist. Almost any genre was putty for her hands. What honesty, character and comedy embedded in the best music. Lets hope for justice for Kirsty, and do yourself justice: Listen carefully to Soho Square and weep. Laugh at Bad. The dramatic sensual imagery in Titanic days! You cant get much closer to Kirsty than this album, but her later happy salsa days are a good way to remember her. But who need's her memory? The angel is here now, right?