This Fire (album)

Last updated

This Fire
PaulaCole-ThisFire.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 15, 1996 (1996-10-15)
Studio
Genre Pop
Soft rock [1]
Length50:59
Label
Producer Paula Cole
Kevin Killen (on Hush, Hush, Hush)
Paula Cole chronology
Harbinger
(1994)
This Fire
(1996)
Amen
(1999)
Singles from This Fire
  1. "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?"
    Released: March 25, 1997
  2. "I Don't Want to Wait"
    Released: October 14, 1997
  3. "Me"
    Released: February 2, 1998 [2]

This Fire is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Paula Cole, released on October 15, 1996. According to the RIAA, the album has gone double platinum, selling over two million copies in United States [3] and peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200. [4] According to the booklet, the album is dedicated to "the inner fire of all life. May our seeds of light open, brighten, and sow peace on earth".

Contents

Writing and producing the album herself, she recorded all of it in roughly two weeks. Cole released three official singles from the album. The lead single, "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" (1997), peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the Adult Top 40. The second single, "I Don't Want to Wait" (1997), peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was used as the theme song for The WB's teen drama series Dawson's Creek . The third and final single, "Me", was released in mid-1998 and peaked at number 35 on the Hot 100 Airplay. The song "Feelin' Love" was featured on the original motion picture soundtrack to the film City of Angels (1998). [5]

The album was nominated for seven awards at the 40th Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Best Pop Album, "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Cole was also nominated for Producer of the Year and Best New Artist, winning the latter.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Entertainment Weekly A− [7]
The Village Voice C+ [8]

With the album, Cole was hailed by critics. Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly in December 1996, Beth Johnson regarded This Fire as a departure from the "sweet safeness" of Cole's debut album Harbinger , while calling her "a feisty poet with a soaring voice and a funky groove, [who] seems to be nipping at Tori Amos' heels". [7] Critic Glenn McDonald "presciently declared Cole the new queenpin of a female tradition he traced from Kate Bush through Peter Gabriel, Melissa Etheridge, and Sarah McLachlan." [8] McDonald found Cole's genre of music to be a counterpart of the masculinity of heavy metal music, while Robert Christgau said both genres appear "beholden to 'classical' precepts of musical dexterity and genitalia-to-the-wall expression." [8] Appraising the album as merely a "subpeak" of the female-identified genre, Christgau wrote in The Village Voice : "Where Kate Bush overwhelms petty biases as inexorably as Led Zep, Cole is just a romantic egotist who can't resist turning ordinary human problems into three-act dramas. Kate Bush fans will love her." [8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Paula Cole

CD
No.TitleLength
1."Tiger"4:18
2."Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?"4:26
3."Throwing Stones"3:46
4."Carmen"3:45
5."Mississippi"5:07
6."Nietzsche's Eyes"5:32
7."Road to Dead"3:41
8."Me"5:02
9."Feelin' Love"5:37
10."Hush, Hush, Hush"4:22
11."I Don't Want to Wait"5:19
Total length:50:59

Personnel

Musicians

Technical personnel

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) [14] 2× Platinum2,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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References

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  8. 1 2 3 4 Christgau, Robert (December 2, 1997). "Consumer Guide: Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice . Retrieved February 26, 2020.
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