"Little Favours[2]" Released: January 2009 (Brazil only)
Drastic Fantastic is the second studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall. It features some unreleased tracks she wrote before the release of her debut album, Eye to the Telescope, in 2004, including tracks she initially wrote in 2003 but did not make the final track listing for her debut album.[3] The record was released by Relentless Records on 10 September 2007 in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, on 15 September in Australia, and 18 September 2007 in the United States and Canada. However, the album was leaked on P2P networks on 3 September 2007.
The album spawned three internationally released singles – "Hold On", "Saving My Face" and "If Only". The album track "Little Favours" was released in Brazil as a promotional single only.[2] "Hold On" marked an international return to the singles charts for Tunstall, peaking at number one on the US Adult Alternative Airplay charts,[4] number four on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100,[5] the top twenty in her native Scotland and Norway,[6][7] as well as the top thirty in the United Kingdom, Italy and Switzerland.[8][9][10]
Background and release
During the recording sessions for the album, Tunstall claimed it to be a "challenge", and began to accept the "rock star" image that was trying to be forced upon her "would never work".[3] Tunstall recalled in an interview with Paul Sexton fifteen years after the albums release that she was "100% completely immersed in the difficulty of making my second album".[3] She faced increased pressure from her record label to match the success of her debut album, Eye to the Telescope (2004) and struggled with the pressure. Mentally and physically exhausted, Tunstall did not have enough time to write new material for Drastic Fantastic in which she had experienced with Eye to the Telescope, as the whole process was completely new and did not have any pressure in the same way that recording and writing for her second album did.[3] As a result, Tunstall used some "older" and unreleased material for inclusion on Drastic Fantastic as a result of feeling rushed and pressured for the album to be finalised and released.[3]
Some similarities continued between the release of Eye to the Telescope and Drastic Fantastic, with Tunstall continuing with the same record label and public relations representatives.[3] Despite this, in a later interview following the albums release, she said that she would have liked "stronger creative bridges between Drastic Fantastic and my debut", but cited greater similarities between the two albums than what people may notice.[3] During the recording sessions and leading up to the albums release, relations between Tunstall and her record label had become "turbulent", and Tunstall struggled to connect with producer Steve Osborne.[3] Some additional tracks features other unreleased songs such as "Mothgirl", "Bad Day" and "Journey", and during the Drastic Fantastic Tour, Tunstall covered "La Vie En Rose", which is on the U.K Bonus tracks, "My Sharona", The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" and Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" which features on the DVD. Also, three singles were taken from Drastic Fantastic: "Hold On", the lead single, "Saving My Face" and "If Only", which all charted in the UK Top 100.
Release
Drastic Fantastic was released, firstly in Europe, on 10 September 2007, and had become the "highly anticipated" follow up to her debut album.[11] In Australia, it was released on 15 September, and on 18 September in both the United States and Canada. The album was reissued on 15 January 2021 in vinyl, triple-disc, and digital formats as Drastic Fantastic: Ultimate Edition, consisting of previously unreleased songs and remixes.[12]
According to Tunstall, the album cover is based on Suzi Quatro.[13] On the albums title, Tunstall said that she felt she got the title "dead right", crediting the time as being "incredible what was happening at that time, but it was also terrifying".[3]
The album received warm, though conservative, praise by most critics. Music critics from The Observer gave Drastic Fantastic five stars, stating the album was "bursting with so many hits that Tunstall's comic-book life is about to go stratospheric".[19] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, and said that the album's sound was a "flashback" to 1997 by noting similarities between the songs on Drastic Fantastic and songs written 10 years earlier.[20]Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album four out of five, calling Drastic Fantastic "a rare beast: a pop album with a songwriter's heart".[15]
However, some critics were less impressed, stating that the album was overproduced and lacked the "folksy" touch of her previous album Eye to the Telescope.[citation needed]The Guardian gave it three stars, stating "Tunstall could do better".[18]
Commercial performance
It debuted atop to the albums charts in her native Scotland, remaining within the Top 100 Albums on the Scottish charts for a combined total of thirty weeks.[23] It beat competition from the likes of Kanye West and 50 Cent to reach number one in Scotland.[24] On the US Billboard 200 chart, Drastic Fantastic debuted at number nine, selling about 50,000 copies in its first week, and sold around 225,000 copies in 2007.[25]Drastic Fantastic also debuted atop the US Billboard Alternative Albums and US Billboard Rock Albums.
It sold over 290,000 copies in the United Kingdom,[32] later being awarded a Gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in July 2013.[33]
In addition with the Deluxe edition, a documentary DVD with the album.
Most songs on Drastic Fantastic are not new songs. An acoustic version of "Little Favours" and "Paper Aeroplane" appeared on the 2000 demo album Tracks in July. "Little Favours" also appeared as the B-side to "Under the Weather". "If Only", "Funnyman", and "Saving My Face" appeared on the demo album Toons March '03. Finally, Tunstall mentioned writing two new songs, "Hopeless" and "White Bird", in a blog entry from 2003.
The bonus track "Journey" appeared on KT Tunstall's early band Red Light Stylus' album Roughworks, under the title "The Journey's the Thing".
The original studio version "Suddenly I See", which appeared on Tunstall's first album Eye to the Telescope in 2004, was included as a bonus track on the Australian release due to the song's popularity in the country.
Singles
"Hold On" was released as the album's lead single on 16 July 2007 in the United States, and on 27 August in the United Kingdom.
"Saving My Face" was chosen as the second single; it was released on 12 November 2007.
A video for the song "Little Favours" was released in many music channels of Brazil (such as MTV Brasil & Multishow).[39] The video is directed by Chris Bran, did not feature KT and only shows a KT Tunstall fan and ex-teacher Mr. Fritte with a puppet with strings, that he calls The Tunstallator.[40]
The song is featured on the Brazilian soap opera Três Irmãs.[2]
"Someday Soon" is available as a single on Internet music stores such as iTunes and Rhapsody. It was featured in the film The Women in a montage featuring Annette Bening and Meg Ryan.
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