Work on Babelsberg began when producer/engineer Ali Chant contacted Rhys in early 2016. Chant's Toybox Studios were about to be demolished by property developers and he offered Rhys some studio time before this happened. Rhys had a batch of new songs, but no record label: Chant's proposal provided the motivation to finish off the lyrics.
Rhys swiftly put together a band from local musicians, comprising former Flaming Lips drummer Kliph Scurlock, pianist Osian Gwynedd and bassist Stephen Black. Over three days of recording in Bristol, the new songs were laid down live in the studio – a working method he'd been developing across the American Interior album and his soundtrack for Set Fire to the Stars. “I wanted to make a live-based record, very simple and straightforward.”[8]
“On the morning of the first recordings I had the worst migraine,” Rhys later said. “I left the building and threw up in the street. I wanted to commit to the lyrics and sing live so I think I was stressed about getting them ready to sing.”[9] The songs reflected Rhys's negative feelings about the state of the world, and after recording was completed “I sat on the songs for almost two years. I didn’t play them to anyone – the songs in their raw state reflected the gloom for me and I was worried they would age badly and seem dated.”[10]
The delay in releasing the songs was partly down to Rhys’ decision to give them some uplift by bringing in orchestral composer Stephen McNeff, with whom he'd been working on an opera about the World War I poet Hedd Wyn. “He could do all those things that are in the ’60s orchestral records I love,” said Rhys.[11] McNeff was busy with other projects and couldn't tackle Babelsberg for 18 months: in the meantime Rhys allayed his concern over the songs becoming dated by playing them once a month. He also wrote an extra song, “Selfies In The Sunset”, which was initially recorded with just Rhys on vocals before being reworked as a duet with Lily Cole.
By the time the accompaniment from the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales was recorded, “the world was still pretty bad,”[12] so Rhys felt the songs still stood up. The album's artwork was created by Uno Moralez.[13]
On 29 August 2020 Rhys released (Don’t) Welcome The Plague As A Blessing / The Babelsberg Basement Files, a vinyl-only LP for Record Store Day, featuring the original recordings of the tracks from Babelsberg, without the orchestral overdubs, in the same sequence as the finished record.
babelsberg, album, babelsberg, fifth, studio, album, welsh, musician, gruff, rhys, released, june, 2018, under, rough, trade, records, babelsbergstudio, album, gruff, rhysreleasedjune, 2018, 2018, length40, 57labelrough, tradegruff, rhys, chronologyamerican, i. Babelsberg is the fifth studio album by Welsh musician Gruff Rhys It was released in June 2018 under Rough Trade Records BabelsbergStudio album by Gruff RhysReleasedJune 8 2018 2018 06 08 Length40 57LabelRough TradeGruff Rhys chronologyAmerican Interior 2014 Babelsberg 2018 Pang 2019 Professional ratingsAggregate scoresSourceRatingAnyDecentMusic 7 8 10 1 Metacritic82 100 2 Review scoresSourceRatingAllMusic 3 The Guardian 4 DIY Mag 5 MusicOMH 6 PopMatters8 10 7 Contents 1 Recording 2 Track listing 3 Accolades 4 Charts 5 ReferencesRecording editWork on Babelsberg began when producer engineer Ali Chant contacted Rhys in early 2016 Chant s Toybox Studios were about to be demolished by property developers and he offered Rhys some studio time before this happened Rhys had a batch of new songs but no record label Chant s proposal provided the motivation to finish off the lyrics Rhys swiftly put together a band from local musicians comprising former Flaming Lips drummer Kliph Scurlock pianist Osian Gwynedd and bassist Stephen Black Over three days of recording in Bristol the new songs were laid down live in the studio a working method he d been developing across the American Interior album and his soundtrack for Set Fire to the Stars I wanted to make a live based record very simple and straightforward 8 On the morning of the first recordings I had the worst migraine Rhys later said I left the building and threw up in the street I wanted to commit to the lyrics and sing live so I think I was stressed about getting them ready to sing 9 The songs reflected Rhys s negative feelings about the state of the world and after recording was completed I sat on the songs for almost two years I didn t play them to anyone the songs in their raw state reflected the gloom for me and I was worried they would age badly and seem dated 10 The delay in releasing the songs was partly down to Rhys decision to give them some uplift by bringing in orchestral composer Stephen McNeff with whom he d been working on an opera about the World War I poet Hedd Wyn He could do all those things that are in the 60s orchestral records I love said Rhys 11 McNeff was busy with other projects and couldn t tackle Babelsberg for 18 months in the meantime Rhys allayed his concern over the songs becoming dated by playing them once a month He also wrote an extra song Selfies In The Sunset which was initially recorded with just Rhys on vocals before being reworked as a duet with Lily Cole By the time the accompaniment from the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales was recorded the world was still pretty bad 12 so Rhys felt the songs still stood up The album s artwork was created by Uno Moralez 13 On 29 August 2020 Rhys released Don t Welcome The Plague As A Blessing The Babelsberg Basement Files a vinyl only LP for Record Store Day featuring the original recordings of the tracks from Babelsberg without the orchestral overdubs in the same sequence as the finished record Track listing editNo TitleLength1 Frontier Man 3 352 The Club 4 033 Oh Dear 3 164 Limited Edition Heart 3 385 Take That Call 3 426 Drones in the City 3 497 Negative Vibes 5 158 Same Old Song 4 099 Architecture of Amnesia 4 4110 Selfies in the Sunset 4 49Accolades editPublication Accolade Rank Ref Drift Records Top 100 Albums of 2018 55 14 Fopp Top 100 Albums of 2018 71 15 Mojo Top 75 Albums of 2018 32 16 Rough Trade Top 100 Albums of 2018 98 17 Uncut Top 75 Albums of 2018 7 18 Charts editChart Peakposition UK Albums OCC 19 23References edit Babelsberg by Gruff Rhys Review Anydecentmusic com Retrieved 28 November 2018 Metacritic Review Metacritic com Retrieved 28 November 2018 Erlewine Stephen Thomas Babelsberg Gruff Rhys AllMusic com Retrieved 28 November 2018 Hann Michael 8 June 2018 Gruff Rhys Babelsberg review never mind dystopia feel the orchestra Theguardian com Retrieved 28 November 2018 Goggins Joe 8 June 2018 Gruff Rhys Babelsberg Diymag com Retrieved 28 November 2018 Murphy John 7 June 2018 Gruff Rhys Babelsberg Musicomh com Retrieved 28 November 2018 Blum Jordan 7 June 2018 Gruff Rhys Babelsberg Album Review Popmatters com Retrieved 28 November 2018 Shindig 79 May 2018 Sleevenotes for Don t Welcome The Plague As A Blessing The Babelsberg Basement Files Sleevenotes for Don t Welcome The Plague As A Blessing The Babelsberg Basement Files Shindig 79 May 2018 Sleevenotes for Don t Welcome The Plague As A Blessing The Babelsberg Basement Files Mark James Works Records of the Year 2018 Driftrecords com Archived from the original on 28 November 2018 Retrieved 28 November 2018 Best Albums of 2018 Fopp com 22 November 2018 Retrieved 28 November 2018 MOJO s Best Albums of 2018 Albumoftheyear org Retrieved 28 November 2018 Album of the Year 2018 Roughtrade com Retrieved 28 November 2018 Sam Richards 21 December 2018 Uncut s best new albums of 2018 Uncut Retrieved 1 May 2021 Official Albums Chart Top 100 Official Charts Company Retrieved November 28 2018 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Babelsberg album amp oldid 1178767403, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
