昨天收到來自Everything But The Girl的通訊,內容當然並不是公佈EBTG的新作,而是Tracey Thorn,她的全新個人專輯Out Of The Woods將於05.03.2007推出,距離現在還有一個月的時間。
其實早在相信都有大半年之前,其實已經開始收到有關Tracey Thorn這張專輯的消息,當時以為很快就會完成及出版,但實際上卻原來要到三月。這讓我突然想到在香港這個地方推廣音樂的情況,我們甚少會見到大半年前已開始鋪舖排的推廣計劃,實際上於專輯推出前一個月已經開始了的計劃都並不太多,最常見的是一個月前開始將單曲送到媒體,這樣就已經是計劃的開始,然後所謂承接,大多就是於同期開始發現有相關主角的代言廣告、或電影上畫等事情發生,當中還間歇性加插雜誌報章乘勢而來的緋聞醜事,然後到專輯推出再加插一堆廣告,還有卡拉OK的推廣、電視台綜藝節目...... 最悲哀的是當中似乎已經很難找到百份百跟音樂相關連的項目。市場萎縮,媒體角度不正,唱片無法自給自足,音樂的價值只在於為藝人提供人有我有的工具,有歌在手唱片不賣不打緊,最重要可以登台獻唱,走音錯拍歌酬依舊袋袋平安無問題,半年長的推廣期簡直是天方夜譚。
世界無疑在變,繼續不停回望以前的舊有好日子實在不設實際,我們講求的是進步,要進步就得要與時並進。
問題是於時並進,又不代表就讓時代牽著你的鼻子走路,觀察時代的脈絡,知道世界的轉動,於實際環境上以不脫節卻又不固步自封的方法繼續運作才是我們應該做的。說來容易,我當然沒有實際的必勝方程式,我只知道一成不變等同自取滅亡。
廢話說完,是繼續Tracey Thorn的時間了。
讀過最新的消息之後,當然感覺興奮,但同時間還是有一份失望,因為原先消息稱Out Of The Woods專輯將收錄重新演譯來自Pet Shop Boys的King's Cross,現在已經被抽起了,有說將會被收錄於其中一張單曲作為b-side,希望不會再臨場易角。
如果你還未聽過來自Out Of The Woods的第一支單曲It's All True,請到
Tracey Thorn - Myspace去,當中還有另外的兩個混音版本提供試聽,而單曲的音樂錄像早前已經上載到blog上了,錯過了可以到
這裡翻看。
from EBTG newsletter :
TRACEY THORN - OUT OF THE WOODS
The new album - 5 March 2007 - CD + LP
If there is a timeless cross-generational voice in modern English pop, folk and electronica, it is that of Tracey Thorn.
From her cult 1982 raw mini-album classic ‘A Distant Shore’, through best-selling eighties alt-pop with Everything But The Girl, to her re-emergence in the nineties with EBTG’s world-trouncing crossover-electronica (‘Missing’, ‘Walking Wounded’) and seminal guest appearances with Massive Attack (‘Protection’) and Deep Dish (‘The Future Of The Future’), she has articulated so many soundtracks to our modern lives with her simple, direct, tender-tough deliveries and lyrics.
In 2005 she bought an old-fashioned 4-track cassette recorder, waited for the house to empty during the day and recorded a clutch of raw demos and ideas at home with her guitar and quirky instruments purchased off eBay. In contrast to the primitivism of the demos, she then deliberately handpicked some of the most future-facing and imaginative producers currently working in the world of electronica to help her fully realise the project..
The result is ‘Out Of Woods’. Musically it is a snapshot of so much music she has ever been into and about, capturing moments of late seventies disco, pastoral folk-psychedelica, dance floor pop bliss and stark balladry.
The full single formats with mixes from Ewan Pearson, Martin Buttrich, Escort, DSE and Kris Menace will be in the shops on 26 February.
Tracey Thorn - Out Of The Woods
1. Here It Comes Again
2. A-Z
3. It's All True
4. Get Around To It
5. Hands Up To The Ceiling
6. Easy
7. Falling Off A Log
8. Nowhere Near
9. Grand Canyon
10. By Picadilly Station I Sat Down And Wept
11. Raise The Roof
參考網站:
Tracey Thorn - Myspace
ebtgLabels: cd, music