Calm Animals Explained

Calm Animals
Type:	Album
Artist:	the Fixx
Cover:	The Fixx - Calm Animals.jpg
Released:	February 7, 1989^[1]
Recorded:	1988
Studio:	AIR (Salem, Montserrat)
Genre:	Rock
Length:	37:45
Label:	RCA
Producer:	William Wittman
Prev Title:	React
Prev Year:	1987
Next Title:	Ink
Next Year:	1991

Calm Animals is the fifth studio album by British band the Fixx, released on February 7, 1989.^[1] The single "Driven Out" gave them a No. 1 song on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in early 1989, and reached No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single "Precious Stone" reached the top 25 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart later that year. Calm Animals was the Fixx's only album to be released on RCA Records.

Critical reception

Trouser Press noted that "the rock-oriented Calm Animals ... has no songs worth mentioning."^[2] The Washington Post wrote that the album "has some familiar moments when they recapture their old seductive combination of sin and synth, but the ska-funkincense that powered early Fixx has been flattened to pop-metal."^[3]

Track listing

All songs are written by Cy Curnin, Adam Woods, Jamie West-Oram, Rupert Greenall, and Dan K. Brown, except where noted.

1. "I'm Life" – 3:19
2. "Driven Out" – 3:59
3. "Subterranean" – 3:43
4. "Precious Stone" (The Fixx, Woods) – 3:08
5. "Gypsy Feet" (Curnin, The Fixx) – 4:03
6. "Calm Animals" – 4:12
7. "Shred of Evidence" – 3:41
8. "The Flow" (Curnin, The Fixx) – 2:59
9. "World Weary" (Curnin, The Fixx) – 4:38
10. "Cause to Be Alarmed" (Curnin, The Fixx) – 3:46
11. "Never Mind What You Leave Behind" [*] (Curnin, The Fixx) – 3:17

* bonus track on 2001 CD re-issue

Personnel

The Fixx

• Cy Curnin – lead vocals, guitars
• Rupert Greenall – keyboards, backing vocals
• Jamie West-Oram – lead guitars, backing vocals
• Dan K. Brown – bass guitar, fretless bass, backing vocals
• Adam Woods – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Production

• William Wittman – producer
• John Agnello – engineer
• Richard Moakes – second engineer
• David Thoener – mixing
• Ted Trewhella – mix assistant
• Ed Spyra – art direction
• Chris Parker – photography
• George Underwood – paintings

Charts

Album - Billboard (United States)

Singles - Billboard (United States)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1989	"Driven Out"	Billboard Hot 100	55
1989	"Driven Out"	Mainstream Rock	1
1989	"Driven Out"	Modern Rock	11
1989	"Precious Stone"	Mainstream Rock	23

Notes and References

1. Though 1988 is listed as the copyright and publishing date on the initial pressings of Calm Animals, the booklet of Ultimate Collection notes January 1989 as the release date of its debut single "Driven Out". Additionally, the Fixx wrote on Twitter on February 7, 2015, "Back on this day....in 1989.....we released #CalmAnimals.....", implying that the album was released on February 7, 1989.
2. Web site: Robbins . Ira . Fixx . Trouser Press . 9 July 2024.
3. News: Zibart . Eve . Soporific Brit-Pop: Bring on the Frowns . The Washington Post . 24 Mar 1989 . N25.