''Undressing Underwater'' is the debut solo album by Rusty Anderson, originally released on Anderson's own Oxide Records in late 2003, and re-released on September 13, 2005 through

Surfdog Records Surfdog Records is a record label, music publishing company, merchandising company, and marketing company based in Encinitas, California. Its roster includes artists of the rock, punk, swing, rockabilly, reggae, lounge, and alternative gen ...

Background

''Undressing Underwater'' was recorded at Oxide Studios in Southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Sunset Sound and Henson Studios. The album was self-produced by Anderson, along with

David Kahne David Kahne is an American record producer, musician, composer, and former record company executive. Professional career Kahne started his musical career as a working musician and soon became Director of A&R for America's first punk and ne ...

, Mudrock and Parthenon Huxley. The title of the album was picked by Anderson from a boyscout handbook of the early sixties that listed various things to do underwater, including getting undressed. The leading track "Hurt Myself" features most of the touring

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

band, with McCartney on bass and backing vocals, Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums,

on keyboards and production duties, and

Wix Wickens Paul "Wix" Wickens is an English musician best known as keyboardist and musical director of Paul McCartney's touring band since 1989. In a career that started in 1973, Wickens has also worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni ...

adding additional keyboards. Anderson stated in an interview that the majority of the recordings "were done in between touring" with Paul McCartney. In that same interview, Anderson mentions that "the songs are mostly about facing one's demons and attempting to bottle them".

Track listing

#"Hurt Myself" – 3:21 #"Devil’s Spaceship" – 4:36 #"Electric Trains" – 4:20 #"Damaged Goods" – 4:29 #"Coming Down To Earth" – 4:10 #"Ol’ Sparky" – 4:04 #"Catbox Beach" – 4:28 #"ishmael" -3:45 #"Sentimental Chaos" – 4:14 #"Everybody Deserves An A in This Country" – 3:30

Reception

The reception of ''Undressing Underwater'' was generally positive. Gary Glauber of PopMatters stated that the album was "an impressive debut from a startlingly talented musician who has taken a lot of time to get things right". Some reviewers praised Anderson for the number of big-ticket guest stars on the album, from McCartney to Parthenon Huxley. Anderson’s guitar playing ability, experimental views to rock music, and striving to create new combinations of music were mentioned among the positives of the album. However, reviewers noted that the album did not live up to the greatness that was expected, as stated by a reviewer: "The material itself seems somewhat limited... most of them don't seem to reverberate very far". Reviewer Meredith Williams stated that Rusty Anderson "provides the oh-so-common rock-pop appeal of a catchy chorus, with guitar solos echoing in the background — but not always effectively".

Personnel

*Rusty Anderson - Organ, Guitars, Bass, Strings, Tambourine, Vocals, Producer, Engineer, Vibraphone, Cover Art Concept *Laura Anne - Photography *Abe Baruck - Drums *Gregg Bernstein - Design * Karl Brown - Piano, Vocals (background) *Paul Bushnell - Bass *

Lenny Castro Lenny Castro (born September 19, 1956) is an American percussionist from the Los Angeles area. He is one of the most prolific percussionists of all time, appearing on hundreds of albums, including those by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Maroon ...

- Percussion * Greg Collins - Mixing * Scot Coogan - Drums *

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is an American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the British rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with the Polic ...

- Drums *Paul DuGre - Engineer *Ted Falcon - Violin *Evan Frankfort - Mixing *Probyn Gregory - Fuglehorn * Parthenon Huxley - Vocals, Producer *

- Keyboards, Producer, Engineer, Drum Programming *Anna Kalinka - Design *John Krovoza - Cello *Nicky Panicci Aka Nicky P. - Additional Guitar (Bends) on Catbox Beach * Abe Laboriel Jr. - Drums *

- Bass, Guitar (Electric), Vocals *Ofer Moses - Cover Art Concept *Gene Nash - Engineer * Clif Norrell - Engineer *

Brian Ray Brian Thomas Ray is an American musician best known as a guitarist, bassist and backing vocalist with Paul McCartney's Paul McCartney Band, touring band since 2002, and formerly as a musical director and guitarist for Etta James. Ray has perfo ...

- Acoustic Guitar *Dusty Rocherolle - Drums *Wayne Rodriguez - Drum Programming *Ralf Strathmann - Photography *Louie Teran - Mastering *Gordon Townsend - Drums *Bob Wartenbee - Engineer *Randy Wine - Engineer, Mixing

References

{{Authority control 2003 debut albums Surfdog Records albums Albums produced by David Kahne Rusty Anderson albums