Texas-Red Book

The Scottish band Texas has been together for 20 years with only a slight retooling to their line-up. Their sound, however, has evolved from the country and blues influenced tunes of their first albums into full-blown, lush pop music. While they are a band, the vocal and visual identity of Texas is Sharleen Spiteri. But it is her collaboration with founder and bassist Johnny McElhone that produces the pop confections that have made them superstars in Europe.

Formed in 1986 by McElhone after Altered Images broke apart and his short stint with Hipsway, but not releasing their first album until 1989's Southside, the band found some attention with their organic slide guitar leanings on "I Don't Want a Lover" and "Everyday Now". But over the years the band moved steadily towards luxurious synthesizer pop, reaching their high watermark with 1997's White on Blonde: a perfect pop album with roots-rock and soul moments that keep it engaging from start to finish. Two years later they released The Hush, a super-slick, summery album.

After stumbling a bit with 2003's disappointing Careful What You Wish For, Texas has returned with what amounts to a near-perfect blend of their strongest efforts. Red Book contains both the hits and heart-felt songwriting that defines their sophisticated adult-pop. The first single, "Getaway", is the kind of flourishing, ringing song they found success with on their late '90s albums. Swirling guitars and synthesizers propel the song from its opening notes, giving way to Spiteri's velvety, maturing vocals that are only improving with age. Keeping with the theme of most Texas songs, it tells the tale of a relationship beautifully falling apart. "Cry" is another typical Texas moment, sounding like it came right off of White on Blonde, both sonically and in sentiment.

The moments where they build off of their signature sounds and try something different are some of the finest on the album. "What About Us" takes Spiteri's storytelling and pits it against a slow synthesizer line and a lazy beat. Keeping the focus on both Spiteri's voice and words, your heart breaks when she asks, "What about you? / What about me? / What about love?" And "Get Down Tonight" finds Spiteri at her moody, sultry best. A dirty beat backs a tussled Spiteri telling her lover to "pull up beside me and lay me on the ground" and asking him to "come slip inside me." On "Sleep", Paul Buchanan from The Blue Nile duets with Spiteri as separated, misunderstood lovers begging, "Let me sleep, so I can dream of you / Let me sleep, so I can be with you." While not necessarily the perfect partner for Spiteri because Buchanan sometimes overpowers her, it is good to hear a male voice on a Texas album that isn't from the hip-hop world, as is often the case with their remixes.

A band whose b-sides ("Superwrong", "Early Hours", and "Like Lovers (Holding On)") are often stronger than other artist's a-sides, for whatever reason, Texas is getting some questionable press for being too "poppy" with Red Book, which completely confounds because they are one of the best pop bands around. And Red Book is a return to form for the Glaswegian group who briefly strayed with their previous effort.

来自苏格兰的老牌乐队Texas将于11月8日发行他们的最新专辑《Red Book》。这张专辑除了秉承他们一贯的另类摇滚风格以外，还带有更多电子化的成分，钢琴和键盘占有了突出的比重。主唱虽然减少了一些即兴发挥的变调，但显得更加沉稳和实力派了。
　　不少乐队都是走的这条道路，即成立初期通过架子鼓和吉他搭建的原声摇滚平台取得广泛的成功。在发行几张专辑后，他们虽然有了更加丰富的经验，但不可能再像年轻的时候激情了，于是他们尽力发挥创作和后期制作的优势，加入多音轨的配乐，使作品变得厚重，更有欣赏价值。
　　《Red Book》的制作堪称精良，尽管Texas已经无可奈何的走入音乐生涯的尾声，我还是感谢他们能给我们带来如此令人回味的作品。
每一支成功的国际乐队，都有其鲜明的特点，不然在风云变幻的国际乐坛里，只能昙花一现，转瞬即逝。Texas(德州合唱团)的特点就是女主唱Sharleen Spiteri与众不同而极富表现力的嗓音，就像在繁星点点的夜空里，一眼就能识别Texas的这颗星，从此便无法再忘怀了。

Texas虽名为德州，但却是支成立于1986年的苏格兰乐队，由80年代苏格兰知名的青春流行组合Altered Images的核心人物Johnny McElhone一手组建。Johnny 为 Texas 设计了一条“慢热型”的成功之路， 在持久的信心和平静的历炼下，乐队的进步循序渐进。Sharleen作为乐队中至关重要的人物， 她倔强随性的个性所经历的演化描绘了乐队逐渐成熟的轨迹。Texas基本上没两三年出一张专辑，一路走来，至1997年发行《White On Blonde》让Texas攀上专辑高峰，创下全球四百万销售量，也正是这张专辑使我第一次接触Texas，从此留下不可磨灭的印象。于是继续收集99年发行的《The Hush》，03年的《Careful What You Wish For》，至最近的Texas的第七张专辑《Red Book》。乐队成立20年来，你会发现Texas一直都没有丧失其骨子里所特有的坚韧：决不媚俗，永不妥协！

试听下载：
red_book
just_hold_on
masterthief
bad_weather
nevermind
get_down_tonight
sleep_(feat_paul_buchanan)       Texas: Sleep (Feat. Paul Buchanan)
cry
what_about_us
cant_resist
getaway     Texas: Getaway
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