| Cross Purpose | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 23 February 1999 | |||
| Recorded | 22 July 1997 – 8 November 1998 | |||
| Length | 42:36 | |||
| Label | Brilliant Recording Company, USA | |||
| Producer | Chris Stainton, Chris Blackwell | |||
| Spooky Tooth chronology | ||||
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Cross Purpose is the seventh and final studio album by Spooky Tooth, released on Ruf Records in 1999. It was the band's first album in 25 years, following The Mirror, released in 1974.
The album was initially planned in 1997, when three tracks ("How", "Kiss it Better" and "Sunshine") [1] were recorded by Harrison, Kellie, Grosvenor and Ridley in England. The project then became stalled due to the distances between band members. The songs were originally to be released in 1998 as part of the album tentatively called Sunshine, which would have combined the three tracks with a 1968 BBC concert [2] and an unreleased track from Deep Feeling, a 1960s band with which both Luther Grosvenor and Dave Mason had been associated. [3] Instead, the owners of Ruf Records heard the three new tracks and persuaded the band to record more new material. Ruf Records financed the costs of relocating the band to record at Andapoe Sound in Weimar, Germany, where seven additional songs were recorded in September 1998. The album was released in Europe and the United States in February 1999. [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
In their retrospective review, AllMusic assessed the album's material as "not quite up to the level of the group's best", while noting that the band's sound is much the same as it was before their original breakup. They concluded the album to be of interest to fans of the group but not to casual listeners. [5]
Spooky Tooth were an English rock band originally formed in Carlisle in 1967. Principally active between 1967 and 1974, the band re-formed several times in later years.
Luther James Grosvenor is an English rock musician, who played guitar in Spooky Tooth, briefly in Stealers Wheel and, under the pseudonym Ariel Bender, in Mott the Hoople and Widowmaker.
Gary Malcolm Wright is an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive", and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and pop music. Wright's breakthrough album, The Dream Weaver (1975), came after he had spent seven years in London as, alternately, a member of the British blues rock band Spooky Tooth and a solo artist on A&M Records. While in England, he played keyboards on former Beatle George Harrison's triple album All Things Must Pass (1970), so beginning a friendship that inspired the Indian religious themes and spirituality inherent in Wright's subsequent songwriting. His work since the late 1980s has embraced world music and the new age genre, although none of his post-1976 releases have matched the same level of popularity as The Dream Weaver.
Alfred Gregory Ridley was an English rock bassist and a founding member of Humble Pie.
Michael Alexander Kellie was an English musician, composer and record producer.
Supernatural Fairy Tales is the only album by Art, who were formerly known as The V.I.P.'s. The album contains mostly band compositions plus a cover of The Young Rascals' "Come on Up" and Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth". Unusual for 1967, the album was issued in mono only.
The V.I.P.'s were a British R&B musical ensemble formed in Carlisle, Cumberland, England in late 1963, out of an earlier outfit known as The Ramrods, who had formed in Carlisle in 1960. From a musical reorientation the band changed their name to Art in 1967, and released the album Supernatural Fairy Tales.
Mike Harrison was an English musician, most notable as a principal lead singer of Spooky Tooth and as a solo artist. He was also the lead singer in The V.I.P.'s, Art and the Hamburg Blues Band, among others.
It's All About is the 1968 debut album by British band Spooky Tooth, released in the United Kingdom by Island Records on 26 July 1968.
Ceremony is a 1969 album by progressive UK rock band Spooky Tooth in collaboration with French experimental composer Pierre Henry. The world premier was on September 2, 1970 at Olympia, Paris, France. The album was dedicated to Béatrice.
"Better by You, Better than Me" is a 1969 song by the English rock band Spooky Tooth. The song appeared on the album Spooky Two and was composed by keyboardist Gary Wright.
The Last Puff is an album by British rock band Spooky Tooth, released in 1970.
The Mirror is an album by the British rock band Spooky Tooth. It was the only Spooky Tooth album to be released without contributions from Mike Harrison. It also was their last album for nearly twenty-five years, until Cross Purpose in 1999. The Mirror was released in October 1974, one month before group members had permanently disbanded. Members went on to form such bands as Foreigner and The Only Ones.
Mike Harrison is the first solo album by Spooky Tooth principal lead singer Mike Harrison, released on Island Records in 1971.
Smokestack Lightning is the second solo album by Mike Harrison, most notable as a principal lead singer for Spooky Tooth. The album was released on Island Records in 1972 and was co-produced by Chris Blackwell and Mike Harrison. The album was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
Rainbow Rider is the third solo album by Mike Harrison, most notable as a principal lead singer for Spooky Tooth. It was released in 1975, on Island Records in North America, and Goodear Records in the United Kingdom. In addition to being part of Harrison's body of solo work, the album is notable as containing one of the earlier and comparatively rare recordings of the Bob Dylan song, "I'll Keep It With Mine", written in 1964 and recorded by Nico, Fairport Convention and Marianne Faithfull, among others. The album was recorded in Nashville, subsequent to Harrison's departure from Spooky Tooth, following the release of Witness (1973). The album features a number of Nashville's best known session musicians of that time, as well as Morgan Fisher, then of Mott the Hoople, and Mick Jones, formerly of Spooky Tooth and later founder of Foreigner. The album was produced and engineered by Chris Kimsey, whose reputation as a recording engineer had developed when he was the engineer on the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, released in 1971. Rainbow Rider was one of Kimsey's first engagements as a producer. Still at an early stage of his career, Kimsey had produced Monkey Grip, the first Bill Wyman solo album, released in 1974, one year prior to Rainbow Rider.
Spooky Two is the second studio album by the English rock band Spooky Tooth. It was originally released in March 1969, on the label Island Records.
You Broke My Heart So ... I Busted Your Jaw is an album by Spooky Tooth, first released in 1973 on Island Records. It was the first album to be released after the band re-formed, following their 1970 breakup. Founding guitarist Luther Grosvenor did not rejoin the band, as he had joined Mott The Hoople as a guitarist, adopting the stage name of Ariel Bender. Grosvenor was replaced by Mick Jones, who later co-founded Foreigner while founding drummer Mike Kellie was replaced by Bryson Graham. The album was remastered and re-released with a bonus track on compact disc (CD) in January 2005 by Repertoire.
Witness is an album released by Spooky Tooth in 1973. For this album, original drummer Mike Kellie returned and substantially replaced Bryson Graham. Gary Wright remained the dominant songwriter at this stage of the band's history. Co-lead singer Mike Harrison left the band following the release of the album. The album was remastered and re-released on compact disc (CD) in January 2005 by Repertoire Records.
Touch is an album released on Ruf Records in 2001 by Mike Harrison and the Hamburg Blues Band.
