Wonderland (The Charlatans album)
Wonderland is the seventh studio album by British rock band the Charlatans, released on 10 September 2001 through Universal. Following promotional efforts for their sixth studio album, Us and Us Only, vocalist Tim Burgess and guitarist Mark Collins wrote new material at the former's house in Los Angeles, California. Cocaine would have an impact on the writing and, later on, recording; sessions were held at producer Danny Saber's house studio, Krevorkian's Lab, also in Los Angeles. The band worked with him for seven weeks in October 2000, only completing five tracks, and later went to their own studio, Big Mushroom in Middlewich, Cheshire, in early 2001. Wonderland is a funk-soul and electronica record, evoking the work of John Mellencamp, Oasis, and Primal Scream. Burgess remarked that Los Angeles itself became a member of the band; critics referred to it as a drug-enhanced party album. He employed a falsetto in the vein of Curtis Mayfield and Kurt Wagner.
Wonderland received generally positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised its sound, while Burgess' falsetto drew mixed responses. It charted at number one in Scotland, number two in the UK, and number nine in Ireland, later being certified gold in the UK. "Love Is the Key" reached the top 20 in Scotland and the UK, while "A Man Needs to Be Told" made it to the top 40 in both territories. Bookended by two European festivals, the Charlatans played a few shows in the United States. "Love Is the Key" was released as the lead single from the album in August 2001; they promoted the album with club nights where people could hear it prior to its release. They went on a tour of the UK in October 2001, and in the following month, "A Man Needs to Be Told" was released as the next single. They closed out the year with a three-date arena tour with Starsailor, who would then support the band on their US tour in early 2002. Over the next few months, they performed at a mixture of festivals and did sporadic headlining shows.
Background and writing
The Charlatans released their sixth studio album, Us and Us Only, in October 1999 through Universal, which peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart. All three of its singles reached the top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, with both "Forever" and "Impossible" sitting in the top 15. It was promoted with two UK tours and a North American trek with Stereophonics. The first track that was written for their next album was "A Man Needs to Be Told", which vocalist Tim Burgess, guitarist Mark Collins, and James Spencer made a demo of. Burgess sang over it in a falsetto, which he was inspired to do after listening to Nixon by Lambchop and After the Gold Rush by Neil Young. In June 2000, Collins visited Burgess at his place in Los Angeles, California, to write material. The band had several discussions about him living there while the rest of them remained in Manchester and whether they would be able to make it work.Burgess wanted their music to find success in Los Angeles, which he kept in mind while working on songs for their next album. He planned out where it would be written, what it would be called, and who would be picked to produce it. He explained that drugs had an impact on the process: "LA coke, lots of it, dealers at the house 24/7 And the environment changed the sound, the sun flooded in, the shutters were open and the ideas were flowing". Burgess and Collins wrote together for two weeks, coming up with "Love Is the Key", "Right On", and "Love to You" in the process. When they were seeing the sights and driving along the freeways, they would be listening to the classic rock stations, playing the likes of Isaac Hayes and Sly and the Family Stone. On one occasion, "Be Thankful for What You Got" by William DeVaughn came on, and the pair looked at each other, deciding that this was the type of song they wanted the next album to emulate. The pair then met with producer Danny Saber, who was a friend of Collins; when the Charlatans previously played the city, Saber and the band would always hang out. The trio made a version of "Love Is the Key", which they sent to the rest of the band and asked if they wanted to work with Saber.
Recording
Burgess said that while Us and Us Only received ample promotion, it was not the type of album their label had expected, and thus decided not to tell them that the band was working on another in the meantime. A week before recording was due to commence, the rest of the band arrived in Los Angeles and initially visited clubs and watched other artists perform. They stayed at the Oakwood Apartments on Barham Boulevard, close to Universal Studios Hollywood, and made a set-up in Collins' room where they could record potential ideas for songs. In October 2000, the NME reported that the band would release their next album in early 2001. That same month, recording was underway at Saber's residence on Wonderland Avenue in Los Angeles, dubbed Krevorkian's Lab. Burgess intentionally wanted them to record here in an attempt to leave the band's comfort zone, such as the members not being able to see their family on a nightly basis, which he felt hampered the making of Us and Us Only. He wanted to be as far away as possible from Manchester, thinking that Los Angeles had as wide a musical palette to take from as Manchester did, naming a variety of artists from the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, among others.Burgess would be dropped off at the band's apartments around midday, and they would drive to the studio. He mentioned that the atmosphere in Saber's place affected the songs; they spent the daytime writing and would later be recording in a blacked-out room on the third floor that they referred to as the "junkie den". The rest of the band had brought some of the ideas they had from the UK and would continue writing in Saber's kitchen. According to Burgess, each member at one point exclaimed that they were either "not going to have a mad one or we weren't going to go crazy at all" as they worked. By this point, they had finished 5 songs out of the planned 16 they were aiming to do. Though work was initially continuous, with them starting at 3 p.m., the work period would start later, eventually beginning at 4 a.m. Burgess' sole explanation was taking a large amount of cocaine, to the point he would have a dealer around him constantly who would take to sleeping on the sofa at Collins' apartment. Burgess praised Saber's expertise as a producer and a multi-instrumentalist, though he would brand him an egomaniac for being under the impression that bassist Martin Blunt, drummer Jon Brookes, and keyboardist Tony Rogers were holding the band back.
After making his debut with the band on their previous album, Rogers wanted to be more involved on Wonderland. Burgess said Saber was not receptive to this, as he only wished to work with Burgess and Collins. Saber slowly started to give Rogers respect after learning of his contributions to "You're So Pretty – We're So Pretty" and "Is It in You?". Burgess and Collins would perform over beats that Saber created; Saber or Twiggy Ramirez would play bass, and Stacy Plunk would sing additional vocals. Plunk was Saber's girlfriend and was previously a backing vocalist for the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Ann Peebles. As she could sing for a variety of musical styles, the Charlatans would create melodies with her in mind. While they worked with Saber for seven weeks, Rogers said they were only able to finish five tracks with Saber before they went home. In early 2001, the band then returned to the UK to do additional production work at their own studio, Big Mushroom, in Cheshire, Greater Manchester. The band and Spencer produced all of the songs; Saber is also credited with producing six of them. Though Saber had promised to mix the album, it was instead mixed by Spencer at Big Mushroom. The band realised that Saber would not be able to function outside of Los Angeles, with Blunt in particular being disappointed. Burgess said that with Saber absent, "some of the space began to get filled up", ending up more polished than if Saber had done it, as he would have "kept it completely stripped down".
Composition and lyrics
Overview
Musically, Wonderland has been described as funk-soul and electronica, drawing comparisons to the work of John Mellencamp, Oasis, and Primal Scream, particularly the latter'sGive Out But Don't Give Up. Burgess said it was directly influenced by Californian soul music; he added that they allowed "Los Angeles to join as a sixth member and take over the band". Neil Leeds of Drowned in Sound described it as the band's "soundtrack to an after show party", with an "effervescent theme is maintained throughout, that theme being the good times". NME writer Ted Kessler called it a "great party record We're talking about an ecstasy and cocaine party, to be precise", and the "various mood swings that any party fuelled by those chemicals involves". Burgess said the band had disregarded their former "church organ sound and that's a great religious, spiritual moment for us", though it returns on "Judas". Throughout the album, he sang with a falsetto, leading to comparisons of Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner and Curtis Mayfield, which was a shift away from the Bob Dylan tone that he used on Us and Us Only. In a contemporary interview, Burgess explained that he was not "consciously looking for new influences" and that "when the sun's shining you want to make music that's appropriate." In his autobiography Telling Stories, he said that he found a copy of Mayfield's Back to the World in his wife's collection but was otherwise unaware of his other music outside of the Impressions and Super Fly.
Various musicians contributed to the recordings: Ged Lynch with percussion on "Judas", "Love Is the Key", "Wake Up", and "Ballad of the Band"; Plunk with backing vocals on "Love Is the Key", "A Man Needs to Be Told" and "Is It in You?"; Yvonne Marx with backing vocals on "Love Is the Key" and "Ballad of the Band"; Daniel Lanois with pedal steel on "A Man Needs to Be Told"; and Jim Keltner with percussion on "A Man Needs to Be Told". Alongside this, Ramirez and Bernard Fowler sang backing vocals on "You're So Pretty – We're So Pretty", with the former also performing additional bass. Burgess said these two, who would be around Saber's house, were initially left uncredited in the album's liner notes. He was aware of Lanois from his past work with U2, but focused on him more when he appeared on Dylan's Time Out of Mind, which also featured Keltner.