''Give Yourself a Hand'' is the fourth album by

Crash Test Dummies Crash Test Dummies are a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Anchored by Brad Roberts (vocals, guitar) and his distinctive bass-baritone voice, the other band members have fluctuated over the years. Its most prominent line-up consist ...

, released in 1999 through ViK. Recordings. It is their final album for

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations Music publishing companies * Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 ** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that was pur ...

. The album spawned a quirky hit "

Keep a Lid on Things "Keep a Lid on Things" is a song by Canadian group Crash Test Dummies and was the first single from their 1999 album '' Give Yourself a Hand''. The song featured a new sound for the group, most notably Brad Roberts using falsetto vocals. Track l ...

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

review of the album described it as "the best music of their career...an album of rare wit and vitality."

Background

For their third album, '' A Worm's Life'', Crash Test Dummies were given a lot of creative freedom, thanks to the success of ''

God Shuffled His Feet ''God Shuffled His Feet'' is the second album by Canadian band Crash Test Dummies, released in 1993. It features their most popular single, " Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". The cover art superimposes the band members' faces over the figures of Titian's painti ...

''. However, the album was considered a disappointment, and the band's label,

, pressured the band to immediately write a follow-up. During initial song-writing the band wrote and recorded 35 demos, all of which were rejected by BMG. The demos from these sessions would be shelved until 2011 when a selection of them were released on the compilation album '' Demo-litions''. In 1998, the band proceeded to write and record the new album. In October of that year the band shared on their website that the album would be named ''Keep a Lid on Things''. Within two weeks, it was reported by the band that the title had been changed to ''Give Yourself a Hand''. At the time,

Brad Roberts Bradley Kenneth Roberts (born January 10, 1964) is the lead singer and guitarist for the Canadian folk-rock band Crash Test Dummies and the only constant member since its inception. He sings in the bass-baritone range. The band is best known ...

had moved to

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

and was influenced by the local music. He began writing an album inspired by soul and hip-hop beats, and recorded some vocal parts in

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

for the first time. The style of the album can also be attributed to the contributions from co-writer/producer

Greg Wells William Gregory Wells (born 1968) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and mix engineer. He has worked with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, J*Davey, Burt Bacharach, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, ...

. The band's keyboardist Ellen Reid is featured on lead vocals on several tracks, including the album's second single, " Get You in the Morning".

Track listing

Personnel

Crash Test Dummies

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

s * Ellen Reid –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, keyboards,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

on "Just Chillin'", "Get You in The Morning" and "A Little Something" * Benjamin Darvill –

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 incl ...

* Dan Roberts –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Mitch Dorge Michel "Mitch" Dorge (born September 15, 1960) is a Canadian drummer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and record producer. He has been the drummer with Crash Test Dummies since 1991, and has produced albums with the band, in addition to his solo ...

–

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

Guests/production

– keyboards,

* David K –

on "Playing Dead" *

David Piltch David Piltch (born January 29, 1960) is a Canadian bassist and session musician. Biography Piltch grew up in an artistic family. His father Bernie Piltch was a noted studio and stage saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist in Toronto from the la ...

–

upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

on "Just Chillin"

Reception

The album received mixed reviews.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

writer Paul Pearson gave the album 3 out of 5 stars and states that "''Give Yourself a Hand'' redefines the Dummies sound with lightly applied techno strokes, not far off from

Everything but the Girl Everything but the Girl are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer, songwriter, composer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, producer and sing ...

's classic

Walking Wounded In first aid and triage, the walking wounded are injured persons who are of a relatively low priority. These patients A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most o ...

. Some textures here are stunning, with electric piano flourishes and hip-hop drumbeat samples that sound tunefully great. The Dummies exhibit an unexpected knack for drum'n'bass shadings in 'Pissed with Me' and 'A Little Something.' Unfortunately, the beauty of the surroundings can't compensate for Roberts' singularly strange lyrical 'talents.'" However, he goes on to state that "the songs sung by Ellen Reid fare much better, especially the beautiful 'A Little Something,' which at least gives voice to vulnerability."

Charts

Weekly

Year-end

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Give Yourself a Hand 1999 albums Crash Test Dummies albums Albums produced by Greg Wells ViK. Recordings albums