''Lady Gasoline'' is the second studio album from Dublin-born musician Chris Singleton and his backing band The Distractions, released in 2010

Background and recording

''Lady Gasoline'' draws on a wider range of influences than Singleton's first album, Twisted City (th
Lady Gasoline press release
cited a diverse range of influences including

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

, eighties electropop,

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and

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist I ...

). According to Singleton - who released
mini-documentary about the album
in January 2011 - the themes on the record are chiefly love, lust and sex. "Lady Gasoline" is a character who embodies those themes, "a 'super-muse' who walks all over the tracks." The record was produced by Chris Singleton and like Twisted City was mastered at

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded, although '' Let It Be'' (1970) was the last album completed before th ...

, by Steve Rooke, the engineer responsible for the 2009 Beatles remasters. ''Lady Gasoline'' was released in Ireland on 28 June 2010 through IRL, an independent label whose other artists include

Damien Dempsey Damien Dempsey (born 9 June 1975) is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk contemporary lyrics that deliver social and political commentaries on Irish society. Damien sings in his native, working-class accent in the Eng ...

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and Sharon Shannon; following a generally good critical reaction in Ireland a decision was made to release the album in the UK in May 2011.

Reception

Reviews were mixed to positive. ''

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 ...

'' described it as "packed full of musical depth and surefire radio hits", ''

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a British popular music magazine. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ''Q'' was published in print in the ...

'' praised its eclecticism and Ireland's ''

Sunday Business Post The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland. Founding to Irish financial crisi ...

'' gave it a four star review, praising it for having "yearning lyrics, poetic metaphors and an agreeable dose of spite". A dissenting voice came from ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

Lauren Murphy, who felt the album amounted to "pedestrian pop", saying " it’s nigh on impossible to get a sense of Singleton’s own personality through the haze of imitative ordinariness".

The Distractions

Unlike Singleton's previous album, '' Twisted City'', a large number of musicians feature on the album, including pianist Andy Fleet, backing singer John Gibbons, guitarist Stelios Kalisperides, bassist Zane Maertens and drummer Ben Woollacott. They are credited as 'The Distractions'.

Track listing

References

External links

Mini-documentary about 'Lady Gasoline'Reviews and press coverage of Chris Singleton's work
{{Authority control 2010 albums Chris Singleton (musician) albums