Can You Do Me Good? Explained
Can You Do Me Good? is the sixth studio album by Del Amitri, released on 8 April 2002 by Mercury / A&M.[1]
The album showcased a radically different sound from which Del Amitri fans had become used to. With five years having elapsed since Some Other Sucker's Parade (1997), Can You Do Me Good? featured a new approach: drum loops, samples and synthesisers were the band's new tools. Though the songs retained their usual melodic characteristics, the overall impression was a very different one.
Theme
Guitarist and songwriter Iain Harvie admitted in the run-up to the album's release that the band's record company considered Can You Do Me Good? to be Del Amitri's last chance. "It's a pretty straightforward equation. If we don't sell 300,000 copies of the new album, we're out. It's that simple."[2] With this in mind, many of the album's lyrics seem to convey a tone of finality; the feeling that this is a band's last stand. Song titles like "One More Last Hurrah" and "Last Cheap Shot at the Dream" contribute to this, and "Just Getting By" seems almost to lament a career spent as rock's nearly-men:
Look at me
I'm the one who got away
The one who could've shone
I tried to do my best
But I guess your best don't last for long
Look at me
Standing with my tattered pride
Of toothless little lions
We tried to make a difference
Do something no one else had tried[3]
Even for a lyricist like Justin Currie, whose songs have often dealt with missed opportunities and failure, Can You Do Me Good? is significantly more concerned with these concepts than previous albums.
Track listing
All songs written by Justin Currie, except as noted.
- "Just Before You Leave" (Currie, Iain Harvie) – 5:14
- "Cash & Prizes" – 4:38
- "Drunk in a Band" – 2:44
- "One More Last Hurrah" (Currie, Harvie) – 4:52
- "Buttons on My Clothes"[4] – 4:05
- "Baby, It's Me" – 3:34
- "Wash Her Away"[5] (Currie, Harvie) – 3:07
- "Last Cheap Shot at the Dream" – 4:12
- "Out Falls The Past" – 3:13
- "She's Passing This Way" – 2:44
- "Jesus Saves" – 3:39
- "Just Getting By" – 7:35
- "Just Getting By" is followed by a hidden track: an instrumental excerpt from "The Septic Jubilee" (a song released as a B-side on the "Just Before You Leave" single) which lasts for roughly 2:20.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album liner notes.[6]
- Del Amitri
- Justin Currie – vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
- Iain Harvie – guitar, acoustic guitar, programming, backing vocals
- Kris Dollimore – guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- Andy Alston – piano, organ, synthesiser
- Mark Price – drums, drum loops
- Additional musicians
- Technical
- Gordon "Commissioner Gordon" Williams – producer (tracks 2-4, 7, 9-11), additional producer (tracks 1, 12), mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4-9, 11, 12) (at The Headquarters, Teaneck, New Jersey)
- Pete Smith – producer (tracks 1, 3, 10, 12), mixing (tracks 3, 10) (at Livingston Studios, London)
- Kevin Bacon – producer (tracks 5, 6, 8)
- Jonathan Quarmby – producer (tracks 5, 6, 8)
- Jamie Siegel – engineer (tracks 2-4, 7, 9-11)
- Ben Darlow – mixing (tracks 3, 10) (at Livingston Studios, Wood Green), additional mixing (track 7) (at Westside Studios, London)
- Dave Bascombe – mixing (track 5) (at Whitfield Street Studios, London)
- Stylorouge – design, art direction
- Jeff Cottenden – photography
- Kevin Westenberg – photography (Del Amitri portrait)
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: UK chart peaks . . 24 June 2022.
- http://delamitri.com/articles/printmedia/londonindependent2.html Official Del Amitri website
- Currie, Justin (2002). In Can You Do Me Good? [CD liner notes]. London: Mercury Records.
- The track is named once as "The Buttons on My Clothes" in the CD inlay booklet, but twice as "Buttons on My Clothes".
- The track is named once as "Can't Wash Her Away" in the CD inlay booklet, but twice as "Wash Her Away".
- Can You Do Me Good? . . 2002. Mercury / A&M.
- Presumably producer Jonathan Quarmby.
