''Come from Heaven'' is the debut studio album by
Alpha
Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...
. It was released on
Massive Attack's record label, Melankolic, in 1997. It includes vocal contributions from Martin Barnard, Wendy Stubbs, and Helen White.
"Sometime Later" peaked at number 91 on the
UK Singles Chart.
Critical reception
Ned Raggett of
AllMusic gave the album 3 stars out of 5, describing it as "a gently queasy blend of sounds and styles that manages to be tasteful and downright romantic without being airbrushed soul."
[ He wrote: "When the duo fully stretches its collage/sampling muscles, as on the title track, it can be quite breathtaking, a careful balance between chaos and atmospherics."][
Larry Flick of '']Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' stated that the album "combines the sample-happy experimental sound of the electronic underground with traditional pop sounds."
Track listing
; Samples
*"The April Fools
''The April Fools'' is a 1969 American romantic comedy film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Jack Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve.
Plot
Wall Street broker Howard Brubaker is married to Phyllis, who does not love him. Catherine is the stunn ...
" by Percy Faith on ''My Things''
*" What the World Needs Now Is Love" by Burt Bacharach
Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...
on ''Rain''
*"My Autumn's Done Come" (uncredited) by Lee Hazlewood on ''Sometime Later'' and ''Somewhere Not Here''
*"Delaney Takes a Break" by Michel Legrand on ''Delaney''
*"Not the Lovin' Kind" by Lee Hazlewood and " Who Needs Forever" by Astrud Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto (; born Astrud Evangelina Weinert, March 29, 1940) is a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer. She gained international attention in the 1960s following her recording of the song "The Girl from Ipanema".
Biography
Astrud Gilbert ...
(both uncredited) on ''Hazeldub''
*" Plus Fort Que Nous" by Francis Lai and " Summertime" by Memphis Slim on ''Slim''
*" A House Is Not a Home" by Ronnie Carroll and " The Ghost's Leavetaking" by Sylvia Plath on ''Back''
*"The Hour of Enchantment" by Ron Moody and "The Windmills of Your Mind
"The Windmills of Your Mind" is a song with music by French composer Michel Legrand and English lyrics written by Americans Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The French lyrics, under the title "", were written by Eddy Marnay.
The song (with the English ...
" by Dusty Springfield on ''Nyquil''
*" Courtyard" by Bobbie Gentry on ''With''
*" Save the Sunlight" by Herb Alpert and Lani Hall on ''Firefly''
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
* Corin Dingley – production, photography
* Andy Jenks – production, photography
* Wendy Stubbs – vocals (2, 9, 13)
* Martin Barnard – vocals (3, 4, 8, 12)
* Helen White – vocals (4, 6, 11)
* Donald Skinner – instrumentation on additional loops
* Alex Lee – instrumentation on additional loops
* Angelo Bruschini – instrumentation on additional loops
* Daniel Jones – strings score
* Gavin Wright – strings conducting
* Paul Hicks – strings overdub engineering
* Alex Scannell – strings overdub engineering assistance
* Andy Bradfield – mixing
* Ben Findlay – mixing assistance, additional overdub engineering
* Jacquie Turner – mixing assistance, additional overdub engineering
* Russell Kearney – mixing assistance, additional overdub engineering
* Marco Migliari – mixing assistance
* Justin Griffith – mixing assistance
* Emma Jones – mixing assistance
* Kevin Metcalfe – mastering
* Stephen Male – art direction
* Latifah Cornelius – design
* Jack Webb – photography
* Donald Christie – photography
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Come from Heaven
1997 debut albums
Alpha (band) albums
Melankolic albums