Catatonia | ||
| Allmusic Biography : The most traditional pop band of all the Welsh bands to emerge in the post-Brit-pop days of the mid-90s, Catatonia reworked the sound of jangling late-80s alternative rock with a punchy, amateurish indie rock attack. Comprised of vocalist Cerys Matthews, guitarist/vocalist Mark Roberts, guitarist Owen, bassist Paul Jones, and drummer Aled Richards, Catatonia formed in Cardiff, Wales in the early 90s. Matthews and Roberts used to busk together in Cardiff before officially forming the band. Catatonia released their first EP, For Tinkerbell, in 1993. At the time, the band featured Matthews, Roberts, Jones, drummer Dafydd Ieuan, and keyboardist C. Pegg. The same lineup recorded Hooked, which was released the following year. After the release of Hooked, both Pegg and Ieuan left the band; Dafydd went on to join Super Furry Animals. Replacing Ieuan with Aled Richards, the group released "Sweet Catatonia" in late 1995 and then added in Owen as a second guitarist. Early in 1996, "Youve Got a Lot to Answer For" became the bands first charting single, appearing at number 35 on the British charts. A full-length album, Way Beyond Blue, followed in September, and it was greeted with positive reviews, peaking at number 40 on the charts. Catatonia returned in 1998 with their second album, International Velvet, a British smash that hit the top of the charts and stayed there for several weeks thanks to the hit singles "I Am the Mob" and "Mulder and Scully." Equally Cursed & Blessed followed in the spring of 2000. The bands next album, Paper Scissors Stone, followed in summer 2001 and the single "Stone by Stone" wasnt terribly successful. In September, frontwoman Cerys Matthews announced her departure from Catatonia. She had bouts with exhaustion and anxiety in recent months and a well-deserved break was in order. The remaining members of the band continued their career, but not under the Catatonia name. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 11 Title: For Tinkerbell Released: 1993 Tracks: 5 Duration: 16:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 For Tinkerbell (03:47) 2 New Mercurial Heights (02:49) 3 Dimbran (03:26) 4 Sweet Catatonia (03:12) 5 Gyda Gwên / New Mercurial Heights (Welsh mix) (02:50) |
 | Album: 2 of 11 Title: Sweet Catatonia Released: 1996 Tracks: 4 Duration: 09:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Sweet Catatonia (02:44) 2 Acapulco Gold (03:05) 3 Cut You Inside (demo) (01:40) 4 Tourist (02:02) |
 | Album: 3 of 11 Title: Way Beyond Blue Released: 1996 Tracks: 33 Duration: 1:42:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Lost Cat (02:33) 2 Sweet Catatonia (02:43) 3 Some Half Baked Ideal Called Wonderful (03:10) 4 You’ve Got a Lot to Answer For (03:17) 5 Infantile (04:29) 6 Dream On (02:37) 7 Bleed (02:30) 8 This Boy Cant Swim (03:02) 9 Painful (02:38) 10 Whale (02:54) 11 For Tinkerbell (04:11) 12 Way Beyond Blue (04:36) 13 Gyda Gwên [with a Smile] [orginal hidden track] (03:53) 1 Blow the Millennium, Blow (02:06) 2 Beautiful Sailor (02:01) 3 Tourist (02:03) 4 Acapulco Gold (03:05) 5 Cut You Inside [demo] (01:40) 6 To and Fro (02:47) 7 All Girls Are Fly (02:47) 8 Indigo Blind (02:54) 9 Sweet Catatonia [live] (02:35) 10 Whale [live] (02:52) 11 Bleed (version 2) (02:25) 12 Do You Believe in Me? (05:11) 13 Dimbran (03:26) 14 You Can (03:00) 15 All Girls Are Fly [Da-De? remix] (03:14) 16 Blow the Millennium, Blow [Splott remix] (02:44) 17 Do You Believe in Me? [live] (05:16) 18 Way Beyond Blue [live] (04:06) 19 Painful [live] (03:18) 20 Bleed [live] (02:38) |
| Way Beyond Blue : Allmusic album Review : Catatonias major-label debut, Way Beyond Blue, is an infectious set of jangle pop, injected with the punkish attitude of indie rock. The guitars ring as if they were recorded in the late 80s, but it has a muscular backbone, and vocalist Cerys Matthews has a tough edge to her voice, which never makes the music sound weak. And a good majority of the songs -- from "Sweet Catatonia" and "Youve Got a Lot to Answer For" to "Painful" and "Way Beyond Blue" -- are excellent, shimmering pop gems, making it an impressive debut. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 11 Title: The Sublime Magic Of... Released: 1996-01-20 Tracks: 9 Duration: 28:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Cariadon Ffôl & Bleed (06:04) 2 This Boy Cant Swim (02:02) 3 Painful (02:04) 4 Dream On (02:35) 5 Whale (02:57) 6 You Can (02:59) 7 Hooked (03:40) 8 Fall Beside Her (03:14) 9 Difrycheulyd (03:23) |
 | Album: 5 of 11 Title: International Velvet Released: 1998-02-02 Tracks: 12 Duration: 45:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Mulder and Scully (04:11) 2 Game On (02:51) 3 I Am the Mob (03:09) 4 Road Rage (05:09) 5 Johnny Come Lately (04:36) 6 Goldfish and Paracetamol (03:50) 7 International Velvet (04:23) 8 Why I Cant Stand One Night Stands (02:40) 9 Part of the Furniture (04:08) 10 Dont Need the Sunshine (03:49) 11 Strange Glue (03:44) 12 My Selfish Gene (02:26) |
| International Velvet : Allmusic album Review : Prior to International Velvet, Catatonia offered modest, lovely pleasures -- pretty, ringing pop songs filled with sweet and sour melodies. Apparently, the band was concerned that they were a little too precious, a little too similar to late-80s indie pop groups like the Primitives, so they beefed up their sound, turned up the guitars and toughened up their attack for International Velvet, their second major-label album (the first to be released in America). Its a gambit that fails as often it succeeds. Part of the problem is that the hard rock sounds forced, never quite rocking with the abandon it should and keeping much of the album grounded. More problematically, Cerys Matthews has a captivating voice but a weakness for gimmicks -- "I Am the Mob" and "Mulder and Scully" have terrific hooks, but its hard to get with their self-conscious pop culture references. Still, at least they bring memorable melodies to the songs. When their songwriting comes up short, there isnt enough attitude or snarl to the performances to make them enjoyable -- which is precisely what the sonic revamping should have given them. Even with the flaws, International Velvet has its fair share of pop delights -- it just doesnt deliver as many as Way Beyond Blue, which had a surplus of melody and grace. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 11 Title: Mulder and Scully EP Released: 1998-09-15 Tracks: 10 Duration: 37:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Mulder and Scully (album version) (04:12) 2 Road Rage (radio edit) (04:01) 3 Jump or be Sane (03:58) 4 No Stone Unturned (03:28) 5 Mantra for the Lost (02:48) 6 Im Cured (02:50) 7 Blow the Millennium Pt.2 (02:28) 8 I am the Mob (Luca Brasi mix) (03:37) 9 Mulder & Scully (The Ex Files) (04:54) 10 Road Rage (ghia) (04:52) |
 | Album: 7 of 11 Title: Equally Cursed and Blessed Released: 1999-04-12 Tracks: 13 Duration: 54:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Dead From the Waist Down (04:16) 2 Londinium (04:36) 3 Postscript (04:57) 4 Shes a Millionaire (04:22) 5 Storm the Palace (02:38) 6 Karaoke Queen (05:07) 7 Bulimic Beats (03:44) 8 Valerian (04:20) 9 Shoot the Messenger (03:58) 10 Nothing Hurts (03:11) 11 Dazed, Beautiful and Bruised (03:42) 12 Road Rage (05:10) 13 Mulder and Scully (04:12) |
 | Album: 8 of 11 Title: 1993/1994 Released: 1999-10-19 Tracks: 8 Duration: 26:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 For Tinkerbell (03:48) 2 New Mercurial Heights (02:49) 3 Dimbran (03:26) 4 Sweet Catatonia (03:12) 5 Gyda Gwên / New Mercurial Heights (Welsh mix) (02:50) 6 Hooked (03:40) 7 Fall Beside Her (03:14) 8 Difrychwelyd (Snail Ambition) (03:28) |
 | Album: 9 of 11 Title: Paper Scissors Stone Released: 2001-08-06 Tracks: 17 Duration: 57:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Godspeed (04:17) 2 Immediate Circle (02:54) 3 Fuel (03:27) 4 What It Is (03:31) 5 Stone by Stone (03:59) 6 The Mother of Misogyny (03:34) 7 Is Everybody Here on Drugs? (03:08) 8 Imaginary Friend (03:18) 9 Shore Leave (03:19) 10 Apple Core (01:23) 11 Beautiful Loser (03:42) 12 Blues Song (03:27) 13 Village Idiots (02:48) 14 Arabian Derby (04:10) 15 Apple Core (full length version) (03:06) 16 Long Time Lonely (03:25) 17 Stone by Stone (radio edit) (03:33) |
| Paper Scissors Stone : Allmusic album Review : For awhile there, Catatonia sounded novel and fresh in the middle of a British music scene warped on maudlin self-respect but, now that theyve gone and suffered through their own euphemistically-tinged bouts of exhaustion and pop star rehabilitation, the rot has set in. With its sobered, Veruca Salt-style drift and gospel-orchestrated ill assessments, Paper Scissors Stone is, more than anything else, a warning against ever misunderstanding what it means to have most of the people like you only some of the time. In reality, theres nothing like chugging indie sung with the ferocity of a grown woman laying an egg to give a little polish to your record collection, but even the most committed fan should admit that there can be too much of an odd thing. Guitarist and core songwriter Mark Roberts offers very little for ex-girlfriend Cerys Matthews sense of loss, fiddling with pops bellybutton in the feathery "Shore Leave" or beside the ridged energy of "Stone by Stone," and he goes to great lengths to remind you of empty batteries and the terrible, regrettable reconciliation of ex-lovers. Perhaps given more time to situate itself against the shifting British indie community, Paper Scissors Stone would be viewed as a welcome return. Instead, it sounds like the clumsier, brittler answer to International Velvet, the natural pop thrills cut off at the knees and the music an unmemorable parenthesis to a career built on reactionary sleight of hand. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 11 Title: Greatest Hits Released: 2002-09-02 Tracks: 25 Duration: 1:36:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Mulder and Scully (04:11) 2 The Ballad of Tom Jones (04:10) 3 Strange Glue (03:44) 4 Road Rage (05:09) 5 Stone by Stone (03:59) 6 Londinium (04:36) 7 Game On (02:51) 8 Dead From the Waist Down (04:15) 9 You’ve Got a Lot to Answer For (03:17) 10 Baby, It’s Cold Outside (03:41) 11 Karaoke Queen (05:03) 12 Lost Cat (02:33) 13 I Am the Mob (03:09) 14 Sweet Catatonia (02:43) 15 Bleed (02:30) 1 Do You Believe in Me? (05:10) 2 The Mother of Misogyny (03:34) 3 Indigo Blind (02:53) 4 Godspeed (04:17) 5 Imaginary Friend (03:18) 6 Way Beyond Blue (04:36) 7 Dream On (02:37) 8 Whale (02:54) 9 Branding a Mountain (01:55) 10 Acapulco Gold / All Girls Are Fly / Blues Song (09:17) |
| Greatest Hits : Allmusic album Review : A sensibly titled 15-track epitaph to one of the most premature of all the Brit-pop bandwagons many casualties, Greatest Hits rounds up each of Catatonias major U.K. hits, alongside a clutch of well-chosen album cuts and, by way of completeness, the two duets that further established vocalist Cerys Matthews among the countrys best-loved performers, "The Ballad of Tom Jones," cut with Space, and "Baby Its Cold Outside," a hit alongside Tom Jones. Elsewhere, "Strange Glue," "Road Rage," "Dead From the Waist Down," and "I Am the Mob" deliver a chain of pop confections that are as memorable as their titles, with Matthews distinctively half-husky voice imbibing the daftest lyric with a deft vulnerability: "I put horses heads in peoples beds," indeed. From the opening "Mulder and Scully"s heartfelt dismissal of parenthood ("As for some happy ending, Id rather stay single and thin"), to "Game On"s defiant, "I know that I could never fall from grace, Im much too clever," Catatonia in general, and Matthews in particular, packed an electricity that left much of the rest of the pop pack simply gasping in their wake. That fact is reinforced across the bonus disc attached to early pressings of Greatest Hits, wrapping up ten B-sides dating back to 1996 and the deceptively sweet "Do You Believe in Me?" Its a scattershot selection that omits far too many gems to be anything more than a pleasant distraction, but if you were luckless enough to have missed the original singles, youll be pleased to have it anyway. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 11 Title: Road Rage: The Best of Catatonia Released: 2011-06-20 Tracks: 36 Duration: 2:07:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Mulder and Scully (04:11) 2 The Ballad of Tom Jones (04:10) 3 Stone by Stone (03:56) 4 Londinium (04:35) 5 Game On (02:49) 6 Youve Got a Lot to Answer For (03:16) 7 International Velvet (04:23) 8 Karaoke Queen (remix) (04:12) 9 Lost Cat (02:30) 10 I Am the Mob (03:07) 11 Sweet Catatonia (02:42) 12 Bleed (02:30) 13 For Tinkerbell (04:10) 14 Shes a Millionaire (04:15) 15 Bulimic Beats (03:39) 16 This Boy Cant Swim (02:59) 17 Apathy Revolution (02:56) 18 Thats All Folks (06:06) 1 Road Rage (03:59) 2 Strange Glue (03:40) 3 Dead From the Waist Down (03:50) 4 The Mother of Misogyny (03:34) 5 Way Beyond Blue (04:35) 6 Dream On (02:37) 7 Indigo Blind (02:52) 8 Godspeed (04:16) 9 Imaginary Friend (03:18) 10 Whale (02:54) 11 Storm the Palace (02:38) 12 Dazed, Beautiful and Bruised (03:40) 13 Goldfish & Paracetamol (03:47) 14 All Girls Are Fly (02:44) 15 Blues Song (03:28) 16 Is Everybody Here on Drugs? (03:10) 17 Blow the Millennium, Blow (Part 2) (02:28) 18 Nothing Hurts (03:13) |