| Don't Get Weird on Me Babe | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Lloyd Cole |
| Cover: | Lloyd Cole - Don't Get Weird on Me Babe.png |
| Released: | 1991 |
| Recorded: | Late 1990 – 1991 |
| Studio: | Axis Studios, New York City; Right Track Recording, Manhattan, New York City; Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California |
| Genre: | Alternative rock |
| Label: | Polydor[1] |
| Producer: |
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| Prev Title: | Lloyd Cole |
| Prev Year: | 1990 |
| Next Title: | Bad Vibes |
| Next Year: | 1993 |
Don't Get Weird on Me Babe is the second solo album by the English musician Lloyd Cole, released in 1991.[2] [3] The title comes from a Raymond Carver expression.[4] Unlike the original release, the American version of the album leads with the "rock" half and ends with the orchestral songs.
The album peaked at No. 40 on Billboards Heatseekers Albums chart.[5] It peaked at No. 21 on the UK Albums Chart.[6] Cole promoted the album by touring with Robert Forster and Grant McLennan.[7]
The album was produced by Cole, Fred Maher, and Paul Hardiman.[8] The string parts were arranged by Paul Buckmaster.[2] Robert Quine, Matthew Sweet, and Maher joined Cole on the "rock" half of the album.[9]
Upon its release, Jon Wilde of Melody Maker felt the album provided "reason enough for some kind of modest assessment" of Cole's work, commenting, "Divided between orchestral arrangements and more familiar chastened rockers, it somewhat surprisingly offers some of his sharpest, smartest-writing since Rattlesnakes." He noted that the first side "suggests that Cole might yet venture where Iggy Pop feared to tread after the disintegration of The Stooges" and is characterised by the "lush string arrangements" of Paul Buckmaster. He considered side two to be "more uneven" with a mix of "chunky-knit rockers and picked-clean guitar pop".[10] Stuart Maconie of NME described it as "a great pop record featuring Lloyd's perennial concerns all set to great, big-screen arrangements" and that the "prevalent mood of the record is tousle-haired, whiskey flavoured, a dog-eared Salinger paperback of a thing". He noted that the "terrific" side one "primarily features orchestral tracks and a new-found fascination with the truckstop romanticism of '68 period Jim Webb/Glen Campbell", whereas side two is "a more usual collection of crumpled, glamorous, guitar-driven pop". Maconie also noted Cole's "attractively exasperated voice".
Entertainment Weekly, noting the string arrangements on six of the songs, wrote that "Cole’s no dilettante, and Don’t Get Weird is a strong record ... But Cole should perhaps concentrate on delivering real rock & roll goods over a full album." Trouser Press called Don't Get Weird on Me Babe "a great record," writing that "Cole’s uncomplicated romantic angst [is] made fleshy and devastating by the surrounding lushness of woodwinds, strings, percussion, piano and female backing vocals."[11]
Stereo Review deemed it "one of the most genuinely nervy and idiosyncratic major-label rock albums of the year."[12] Rolling Stone declared: "Lloyd Cole has made a late-Sixties pop album. Think drums with brushes, Hammond B-3 organ, a big string section; think Neil Diamond, Glen Campbell and Sinead [O'Connor]'s pal Frank."[13] The St. Petersburg Times called the album "a masterpiece" and "a breathtaking record full of inspired writing, smooth melodies and eloquent instrumentation."
AllMusic wrote that the album was initially "considered a self-indulgent oddity ... In retrospect, however, it's clearly one of Lloyd Cole's finest works."[4]
All tracks composed by Lloyd Cole; except where noted.
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