''Cross Purpose'' is the seventh and final studio album by

Spooky Tooth Spooky Tooth were an English rock band originally formed in Carlisle in 1967. Principally active between 1967 and 1974, the band re-formed several times in later years. History Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding members ...

, released on

Ruf Records Ruf Records is a German independent record label, which was founded in 1994 by Luther Allison’s manager, Thomas Ruf, to promote Allison's career. The motto of the blues label is "Where Blues Crosses Over". The company's office is located in L ...

in 1999. It was the band's first album in 25 years, following '' The Mirror,'' released in 1974.

History

The album was initially planned in 1997, when three tracks ("How", "Kiss it Better" and "Sunshine") were recorded by Harrison, Kellie, Grosvenor and Ridley in England. The project then became stalled due to the distances between band members. The songs were originally to be released in 1998 as part of the album tentatively called ''Sunshine'', which would have combined the three tracks with a 1968 BBC concert and an unreleased track from Deep Feeling, a 1960s band with which both

Luther Grosvenor Luther James Grosvenor (born 23 December 1946) is an English rock musician, who played guitar in Spooky Tooth, briefly in Stealers Wheel and, under the pseudonym Ariel Bender, in Mott the Hoople and Widowmaker. Grosvenor was born in Eves ...

and

Dave Mason David Thomas Mason (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic. Over the course of his career, Mason has played and recorded with many notable pop and rock m ...

had been associated. Instead, the owners of Ruf Records heard the three new tracks and persuaded the band to record more new material. Ruf Records financed the costs of relocating the band to record at Andapoe Sound in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg an ...

, Germany, where seven additional songs were recorded in September 1998. The album was released in Europe and the United States in February 1999.Justin Purington
History of ''Cross Purpose''
www.justabuzz.com, section "Luther Grosvenor – Albums".

Reception

In their retrospective review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

assessed the album's material as "not quite up to the level of the group's best", while noting that the band's sound is much the same as it was before their original breakup. They concluded the album to be of interest to fans of the group but not to casual listeners.

Track listing

# "That Was Only Yesterday" (

Gary Wright Gary Malcolm Wright (born April 26, 1943) is an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs " Dream Weaver" and " Love Is Alive", and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and po ...

) – 4:30 # "Tears (Behind My Eyes)" (Reed) – 5:02 # "Throw Me a Line" (Dolan,

) – 3:15 # "It's You Girl (Message to Deborah)" (

Greg Ridley Alfred Gregory Ridley (23 October 1941 – 19 November 2003) was an English bassist who was the bassist and a founding member of the rock band Humble Pie and Spooky Tooth. Career Ridley was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England. Early in his ...

) – 3:30 # "Love Is Real" ( Mike Harrison) – 5:51 # "Sunshine" (

Karl Wallinger Karl Edmond De Vere Wallinger (born 19 October 1957, Prestatyn, Wales) is a Welsh musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for leading the band World Party and for his mid-1980s stint in the Waterboys. He also wrote and origi ...

) – 4:31 # "How" (

Mike Kellie Michael Alexander Kellie (24 March 1947 – 18 January 2017) was an English musician, composer and record producer. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Kellie was a member of the rock bands the V.I.P.s, Spooky Tooth and the Only On ...

) – 4:48 # "Send Me Some Lovin'" (Marascalco, Price) – 2:35 # "I Can't Believe" (Traditional) – 4:12 # "Kiss It Better" (Grosvenor, Harrison, Kellie) – 4:22

Personnel

;Spooky Tooth * Mike Harrison – vocals, keyboards *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

;Additional musicians * Dave Moore – keyboards * Matthias Bätzel – keyboards * Mark Feltham –

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

References

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Cross Purpose (Spooky Tooth album) ''Cross Purpose'' is the seventh and final studio album by Spooky Tooth, released on Ruf Records in 1999. It was the band's first album in 25 years, following '' The Mirror,'' released in 1974. History The album was initially planned in 199 ...

Albums produced by Chris Blackwell A&M Records albums