The Rainwater LP is Citizen Cope's fourth studio album, released 8 February 2010 on Amazon MP3, and digitally released elsewhere on 9 February 2010, and in-stores on 2 March 2010.[1]
| The Rainwater LP | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 8, 2010 | |||
| Recorded | Brooklyn Recording/The Document Room (Malibu, CA), 2009 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, indie rock | |||
| Length | 39:07 | |||
| Label | RainWater Recordings Inc. | |||
| Producer | Clarence Greenwood | |||
| Citizen Cope chronology | ||||
| ||||
Overview
editThe album is produced by Cope (Clarence Greenwood) and it is the first record released under his own record label - RainWater Recordings Inc. He explained the reason for releasing it himself: "I kept hearing things like 'Retail's gonna need you to do this,' or 'The artwork has to be like this.' I don't want to be led into those confines anymore. I want to be able to do it my own way."[2][3] The album's title is partially a reference to the commoditization of music, with musicians contractually obliged to provide a certain number of "LP"s; Cope stated "Now I'm not obligated to any record company, so I thought it was a nice play on that."[4] The album was recorded between Brooklyn Recording (Cobble Hill, Brooklyn) and The Document Room (Malibu, CA) during the course of 2009 and in between Cope's extensive touring.[1]
Cope worked on the album with musicians such as drummer Paul "Buggy" Edwards, legendary bass guitarists Michael "Funky Ned" Neal,[1] and Preston Crump,[1] keyboardist James Poyser (who previously has worked with acts such as The Roots, Jill Scott, and John Legend) and percussionist Bashiri Johnson.
The song "Keep Askin" was released as a free download on 14 June 2009 from the Citizen Cope website and announced as the first song from the forthcoming album.[5]
On 19 January 2010, the first official single from the album, "Healing Hands" was digitally released via digital service providers.[6]
Track listing
edit- "Keep Askin'" - 2:57
- "Healing Hands" - 5:28
- "I Couldn't Explain Why" - 3:43
- "Lifeline" - 3:45
- "Off the Ground" - 4:43
- "Jericho" - 4:19
- "The Newspaper" - 3:25
- "A Father's Son" - 4:13
- "Lifeline" (Barefeet version) - 3:47
- "Keep Askin'" (Acoustic version) - 2:49
Initial Pressing / Limited Edition B-Sides CD:
- "If There's Love" (Re-Recording)
- "Sideways" (Re-Recording)
- "Let the Drummer Kick" (Re-Recording)
- "The Gambler's Theme" (Shotguns LP)
- "Family" (Shotguns LP)
Critical reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [7] |
| MusicNow | |
Alex Henderson of Allmusic gave the album a 3.5/5 rating, calling it "one of Greenwood's more consistent efforts".[7] In the view of Hays Harris of Richmond.com, "The mix of rock, folk, blues and hip-hop elements" on the album formed "a defining portrait of considerable depth".[8] Nancy Dunham of The Washington Examiner described it as an album that is "easy to fall in love with", calling it "Cope at his finest".[9]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Sclafani, Tony (2010) "Citizen Cope The Rainwater LP", Prefix, retrieved 2010-02-09
- ^ Hall, Tara (2010) "Citizen Cope adds to 'Rainwater' winter run Archived 2010-01-21 at the Wayback Machine", Live Daily, January 19, 2010, retrieved 2010-02-09 NOTE: DEAD LINK December 26, 2015
- ^ Same link referenced via Internet Archive/Wayback Machine december 26, 2015
- ^ Oksenhorn, Stewart (2010) "Citizen Cope takes the long view of making an album", Aspen Times, September 3, 2009, retrieved 2010-02-09
- ^ "New Citizen Cope free download", citizencope.com, retrieved 2010-02-09
- ^ ""Healing Hands" is available today!", citizencope.com, retrieved 2010-02-09
- ^ a b Henderson, Alex "The Rainwater LP Review", Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation, retrieved 2010-02-09
- ^ Harris, Hays (2010) "Citizen Cope Hits the National", Richmond.com, February 5, 2010, retrieved 2010-02-09
- ^ Dunham, Nancy (2010) "Citizen Cope shows no signs of slowing down", The Washington Examiner, February 4, 2010, retrieved 2010-02-09