"Inside Out" is a song by British singer and songwriter

Shara Nelson Shara Nelson (born 1965) is an English singer and songwriter. She worked with Massive Attack in the early 1990s, and as a solo artist had five UK top 40 hit singles. Her 1993 debut album, '' What Silence Knows'', was shortlisted for the Mercury ...

, released in November 1993 on

Cooltempo Records Cooltempo, the dance music imprint of Chrysalis Records, was revived in May 2018. The label released albums by artists such as Kenny Thomas, Milli Vanilli, Adeva, Shara Nelson, Mica Paris and Innocence. History Cooltempo emerged at the end o ...

as the third single from her first solo album, '' What Silence Knows'' (1993). In August 1994, it was re-released as part of a remix single with " Down That Road". The song, which was co-written by Nelson, peaked at number 34 on the UK Singles Chart and number ten on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synth-pop) in record stores ...

. A music video was also produced to promote the single.

Critical reception

In his weekly UK chart commentary,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

wrote, "Easily the most outstanding track from her

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, "Inside Out" goes back to basics featuring just her voice accompanied by a pedal steel guitar, both swathed in echo as if playing in an empty hall. The result is the most heartbreakingly beautiful record you are likely to hear all year and tragically this may be as far as it gets." Upon the re-release of the single, a reviewer from ''

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'' said, "A re-release, so here's a re-run of our view: upside down, inside out, backwards, whatever; as long as you play this "electricoustic"

soul ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Ballads ...

you stay on the right side of programming." Andy Beevers from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave it four out of five and named it "one of the classiest tracks" on the album. He noted that it has been remixed for the single by

Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of mus ...

, "who has fleshed out the sparse production of the original to create a lush

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

soul shuffler". Beevers concluded that "it should make hit number three." Nilou Panahpour from ''

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

'' said that the song, "on which Nelson is accompanied by a spare solo guitar, is the record's most moving track because of its starkness."

Adam Higginbotham Adam Higginbotham (born 1968) is a British journalist who is the former U.S. correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph Magazine and former editor-in-chief of '' The Face''. He has also served as a contributing writer for'' The New Yorker'', ''Wired ...

from '' Select'' named it a "eerily sparse guitar-vocal". Jonathan Bernstein from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' felt that "all embellishments are jettisoned for the voice-and-guitar rack.

Track listings

* UK CD single # "Inside Out" (Album Mix) 3:24 # "Inside Out" (Rhythm Vocal Mix) 3:36 # "Inside Out" (Classic Club Mix) 7:04 # "Inside Out" (Underdog Mix) 6:08 * UK CD1 (1994 remix) # "Inside Out" (Album Mix) 3:28 # "Inside Out" (Orchestral Version) 4:16 # " Down That Road" (Def Classic Mix) 7:14 # "Inside Out" (Rhythm Vocal Version) 3:36 * UK CD2 (1994 remix) # "Inside Out" (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix) 6:42 # "Down That Road" (Morales Edit) 3:36 # "One Goodbye in Ten" (7" Edit) 4:11 # "Uptight" (Delta House Of Funk Reconstruction) 5:59

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Inside Out (Shara Nelson Song) 1993 songs 1994 singles Cooltempo Records singles Shara Nelson songs Songs written by Shara Nelson