Lady in Gold is the second studio album by Swedish rock band Blues Pills. It was released on August 5, 2016, by Nuclear Blast Records. Lady in Gold consists of ten tracks including a cover of Tony Joe White's "Elements and Things" from the 1969 album ...Continued.

Lady in Gold
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 5, 2016 (2016-08-05)
Recorded2015–2016
Genre
Length40:08
LabelNuclear Blast Records
ProducerDon Alsterberg
Blues Pills chronology
Blues Pills
(2014)
Lady in Gold
(2016)
Holy Moly!
(2020)
Singles from Lady in Gold
  1. "Lady in Gold"

Promotion and pre-release

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In late 2015, the band started writing and preparing for their second album—their first with new drummer André Kvarnström. In November 2015, Elin Larsson posted a photo to the band Facebook page of her recording the vocals for the second album. The band then went on a two-month Europe tour between February and April 2016 before finalising the work for the second album.

On 22 April 2016, Blues Pills announced the title of the album and the ten track set-list via their Facebook page. Vocalist and co-songwriter Elin Larsson commented: "Lady gold is a character who symbolizes death. We wanted a twist on the typical stereotype of death being the grim reaper. So instead we made her a lady in gold." The band were happy to reveal that Don Alsterberg (Graveyard, Division of Laura Lee and Jerry Williams) once again took the production role of the album.[1]

Bassist, founding member and main songwriter Zach Anderson commented on the artwork of the album: "The design comes from the dutch artist Marijke Koger-Dunham [nl] who already worked with us for the first album cover. We are super proud to have the opportunity to work again with such a legendary artist who has even worked with The Beatles, Cream and many more. The original design was made by her 50 years ago. We worked together to adapt the colors to fit the mood of the album. Hopefully our fans will like it as much as we do."[2]

Track listing

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All songs written and composed by Elin Larsson, Dorian Sorriaux, Zach Anderson and André Kvarnström (except where noted). All lyrics by Zach Anderson and Elin Larsson except track 4/"I Felt a Change" by Elin Larsson.[3]

No.TitleLength
1."Lady in Gold"4:32
2."Little Boy Preacher"3:36
3."Burned Out"4:33
4."I Felt a Change"3:58
5."Gone So Long"4:17
6."Bad Talkers"3:11
7."You Gotta Try"3:39
8."Won't Go Back"3:56
9."Rejection"3:34
10."Elements and Things" (Tony Joe White)4:47
Total length:40:08

Personnel

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Blues Pills
  • Elin Larsson – vocals
  • Dorian Sorriaux – guitars, acoustic guitar
  • Zach Anderson – bass
  • André Kvarnström – drums
Additional personnel[4]
  • Tobias Winterkorn – Mellotron
  • Rickard Nygren – organ
  • Per Larsson – piano
  • Carl Lindvall, Elin Larsson, Ellinor Svensson, Sofie Lee Johansson – choir (Voodoo Chor)
  • Francis Rencoret – vocal arrangements (on tracks 1, 5 and 10)
  • Don Alsterberg – xylophone
Production[4]
  • Don Alsterberg – production, recording, mixing
  • Marijke Koger-Dunham – cover design
  • Hans Olsson Brookes – mastering
  • Kiryk Drewinski – logo design, layout, typography
  • John McMurtrie – photography

Charts

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Chart (2016) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[5] 12
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[6] 27
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[7] 21
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[8] 68
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[9] 6
French Albums (SNEP)[10] 55
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] 1
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[12] 36
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[13] 48
Scottish Albums (OCC)[14] 14
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[15] 99
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[16] 27
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[18] 31

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic73/100[19]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [20]

The album received generally favorable reviews.

AllMusic writer, Thom Jurek states in conclusion, "(the album) [...] goes way past the band's self-titled debut" and it "delivers on the promise of that first album and then some". Jurek calls the songwriting "more sophisticated, diverse, and confident".[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Blues Pills announce new album". Blues Pills (via Facebook). Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  2. ^ "Multi national sensations Blues Pills have revealed the cover artwork for their eagerly awaited second album". Nuclear Blast (via Facebook). Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  3. ^ a b Jurek, Thom. "Lady in Gold - Blues Pills | Songs, Reviews, Credits". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Blues Pills – Lady In Gold". discogs.com. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  5. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Ultratop.be – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  7. ^ "Ultratop.be – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  8. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  9. ^ "Blues Pills: Lady in Gold" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  10. ^ "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums Fusionnes - SNEP (Week 32, 2016)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  12. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold". Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  13. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  14. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  16. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  17. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Blues Pills – Lady in Gold". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  18. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  19. ^ "Lady in Gold by BLue Pills". MetaCritic.com. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  20. ^ Collar, Matt. "Live at the Royal Albert Hall". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
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