Totem and Taboo (album)

Last updated
Totem and Taboo
Totemandtaboo.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJune 2012
RecordedDecember 2011
Studio Electrical Audio, Chicago
Length45:38
Label HIS (self-release)
Cadiz Music (UK)
Red River Entertainment (North America)
Hugh Cornwell chronology
Hooverdam
(2008)
Totem and Taboo
(2012)
Monster
(2018)
Singles from Totem and Taboo
  1. "God Is a Woman"
    Released: 22 October 2013 [1] [2]

Totem and Taboo is the eighth studio album by English musician Hugh Cornwell, released in 2012. It was funded via PledgeMusic [3] and initially self-released in June 2012 on Cornwell's own HIS Records, before coming out in September 2012 through Cadiz Music in the UK, and in June 2013 through Red River Entertainment in North America. [4] The album was recorded in Chicago with recording engineer Steve Albini.

Contents

The album title is taken from a collection of essays by Sigmund Freud from 1913. [5]

Background

When preparing for the recording of Totem and Taboo, Hugh Cornwell was looking to make an album without any constraints from a record label, regarding ownership and how to record it. And through PledgeMusic, he managed to get it financed. [6] From a list of engineers and producers to work with, Cornwell chose Steve Albini (Pixies, PJ Harvey, Nirvana), who was at the top of the list, available, and willing to do it. [7] Cornwell's previous album, 2008's Hooverdam , was recorded on an eight-track recorder, a confined system he found interesting to work with. "I realized that to make a big record you don't need a lot of things. Less is more," he said. "So I took that forward this time even further. A lot of the guitar parts are just single notes. They're not even chords." [5]

According to Cornwell, Albini doesn't like to be called a producer, he likes to be an engineer. He prefers working with people who have a clear idea of what they want, and then he'll facilitate getting those ideas recorded. "He loved it when we turned up and everything had been decided," Cornell said. He and his band, bassist Steve Fishman and drummer Chris Bell, sat down with Albini for the first day and worked out how many tracks they were going to need for each song, managing to get it all on 16-track. [8] The album was recorded in 10 days [8] at Albini's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago in December 2011. [9] [10] "Steve Albini was a perfect choice to work with," Cornwell said, "because he is very good at recording simple things and getting great sounds on simple things. He found it very easy working with us because we didn’t want anything complicated." [5]

Themes and composition

Talking about the theme of the album in 2014, Cornwell said, "As you get older you come to realise that nothing ever changes, only the characters change. So why try to change anything that's outside yourself? The songs explore different totems and different taboos." [11] Cornwell has described the title track as a song of desperation and resignation. It is a song saying, "I have my way of looking at things and you have your way and they don't necessarily align." [6]

"Love Me Slender," a bastardization of the title "Love Me Tender," has been described by Cornwell as a "black-comedy song". He explained that in art, "the definition of beauty has changed dramatically throughout the years. A couple of hundred years ago, a woman was beautiful if she were fat. And the reason why you were beautiful if you were fat is it meant you had money." [12]

"Gods, Guns and Gays" is an observation about America and the word "gays" in the title represents freedom of speech. [7] Musically, Cornwell was trying to write his impression of an Arthur Lee song, incorporating punk, psychedelia and pop all at once. [5] "God Is a Woman" is built around the bass riff of Cream's 1969 song "Badge." "Hopefully people will consider, as I do," Cornwell said of the lyrics, "that this is a modern day "Peaches".

"The Face" is about an evening when Cornwell was invited along to the release of one of Madonna's albums in the 1990s. At one point during the party, he had to go to the bathroom and joined a queue. After waiting in line for a long time, Cornwell suddenly realised he'd joined the queue to meet Madonna in the bathroom, where she was holding meet and greets with her fans. "So I rushed out of the queue and hoped no one had seen me." In the song, Cornwell also name-checks Paul Roberts, who replaced him in the Stranglers in 1990. The two met briefly at the Madonna party. [8]

Elsewhere, "I Want One of Those" concerns consumerism, [13] and "In the Dead of Night" deals with mortality. [14]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Classic Rock Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Ox-Fanzine Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [16]
The UpcomingStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
WitchdoctorStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [18]

Classic Rock described the album's sound as "gloriously raw and vibrant," and wrote, "Cornwell's endearingly sardonic observations on freedom, consumerism and Madonna Louise Ciccone crackle with energy. Whether gently poking fun at middle-class myopia on "Stuck in Daily Mail Land" or smirking wryly at American morality on "Gods, Guns and Gays," he sounds more engaged and intense than he has in years." [15] The Liverpool Sound and Vision website didn't feel that Totem and Taboo was quite as impressive as previous albums like Hooverdam (2008) or Hi Fi (2000), even though the album is "striking for its generosity of guitar and the spirit that pours of it." Among the website's album highlights were "God Is a Woman," which was described as a "self-admission of guilt and realisation of male mistakes made in the past," the "biting criticism" of "Stuck in Daily Mail Land," and what they called "the bizarrely titled but insanely brilliant" "Gods, Guns and Gays". [19]

The Glasgow Herald wrote that Cornwell "continues to produce compelling, individual work," and that the album "has some of the propulsive, gritty energy of early Stranglers, driven by Chris Bell's drumming and Steve Fishman's driving bass work." They also noted the album's "eloquent" lyrics. [13] Witchdoctor magazine described Totem and Taboo as "musically orthodox and stripped-back" with a "gritty, raw" sound. Lyrically, they felt that Cornwell "is still as unflinching, as honest as ever, and still telling it like it is without any decoration or attempt at tarting it up." They concluded that Totem and Taboo "is proof positive that [Cornwell is] neither mellowed, nor a spent force." [18]

Many reviewers noted album closer "In the Dead of Night", calling it the best track on the album and one of Cornwell's finest and most epic solo tracks. [15] [13] [20] [21] The Louder Than War website described the track as "10 minutes of steamy music noir." [20]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Hugh Cornwell.

No.TitleLength
1."Totem and Taboo"4:29
2."The Face"4:20
3."I Want One of Those"4:06
4."Stuck in Daily Mail Land"3:55
5."Bad Vibrations"3:56
6."God Is a Woman"4:09
7."Love Me Slender"3:22
8."Gods, Guns and Gays"3:42
9."A Street Called Carroll"3:53
10."In the Dead of Night"9:36

Personnel

Musicians
Technical

Related Research Articles

The Stranglers English rock band

The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK Top 40 singles and 19 UK Top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the UK punk scene.

<i>The Raven</i> (The Stranglers album) Album by The Stranglers

The Raven is the fourth studio album by English new wave band the Stranglers, released on 15 September 1979, through record label United Artists.

<i>Rattus Norvegicus</i> (album) 1977 album by The Stranglers

Rattus Norvegicus is the debut studio album by the Stranglers, released on 15 April 1977.

<i>Black and White</i> (The Stranglers album) 1978 studio album by the Stranglers

Black and White is the third studio album by English new wave band the Stranglers. It was released on 12 May 1978, through record label United Artists in most of the world and A&M in America.

<i>Live</i> (X Cert) 1979 live album by the Stranglers

Live is the first live album by the Stranglers, released in February 1979 by United Artists. It contains tracks recorded at The Roundhouse in June and November 1977 and at Battersea Park in September 1978.

<i>The Gospel According to the Meninblack</i> 1981 studio album by the Stranglers

The Gospel According to the Meninblack is the fifth album by English rock band the Stranglers, an esoteric concept album released in 1981 on the Liberty label. The album deals with conspiratorial ideas surrounding alien visitations to Earth, the sinister governmental men in black, and the involvement of these elements in well-known biblical narratives. This was not the first time the Stranglers had used this concept; "Meninblack" on the earlier The Raven album and subsequent 1980 single-release "Who Wants the World?" had also explored it.

<i>La folie</i> (album) 1981 studio album by the Stranglers

La folie is the sixth studio album by English new wave band the Stranglers. It was released on 9 November 1981, through the EMI record label Liberty.

Hugh Cornwell English musician

Hugh Alan Cornwell is an English musician, singer-songwriter and writer, best known for being the vocalist and guitarist for the punk rock/new wave band the Stranglers from 1974 to 1990. Since leaving the Stranglers, Cornwell has gone on to record a further eight solo albums and continues to record and perform live.

<i>10</i> (The Stranglers album) 1990 studio album by the Stranglers

10 is the tenth studio album by English rock band the Stranglers, released in March 1990 by Epic Records. It was the last to feature guitarist/lead singer Hugh Cornwell. 10 peaked at No. 15 and spent four weeks in the UK Albums Chart.

<i>The Stranglers and Friends – Live in Concert</i> 1995 live album by the Stranglers

The Stranglers and Friends: Live in Concert is a live album by English rock band the Stranglers, released in 1995 by Receiver Records. In 2002, the album was re-released on the Castle Music label, digitally remastered from the original master tapes with new artwork and sleeve notes.

<i>Beyond Elysian Fields</i> 2004 studio album by Hugh Cornwell

Beyond Elysian Fields is the sixth studio album by Hugh Cornwell, released by Invisible Hands Music on 4 October 2004 in the UK, with a worldwide release in 2005. It was produced by Tony Visconti and Danny Kadar.

<i>Peaches: The Very Best of The Stranglers</i> 2002 greatest hits album by the Stranglers

Peaches: The Very Best of The Stranglers is a compilation album by The Stranglers, released in 2002 by EMI. It reached No. 21 in the UK Albums Chart in June 2002.

The following is a comprehensive discography of the Stranglers, an English rock band.

<i>IV</i> (The Stranglers album) 1980 compilation album by the Stranglers

IV is a compilation album by the Stranglers, released on 24 September 1980 on I.R.S. Records and only available in the US and Canada.

<i>Hooverdam</i> (album) 2008 studio album by Hugh Cornwell

Hooverdam is the seventh studio album by Hugh Cornwell, released in June 2008 by Invisible Hands Music, initially as a free digital download with a compact disc and vinyl version released later. A short movie entitled "Blueprint" chronicling the recording of the album had a limited release in cinemas in the UK and was released on a DVD which came with the CD. Some tracks, like "Philip K. Ridiculous" and "Delightful Nightmare," echo the heavy bass lines previously present in early Stranglers records.

<i>Guilty</i> (Hugh Cornwell album) 1997 studio album by Hugh Cornwell

Guilty is the third solo studio album by Hugh Cornwell, released in 1997 on the Madfish label.

<i>Wolf</i> (Hugh Cornwell album) 1988 studio album by Hugh Cornwell

Wolf is Hugh Cornwell's first solo album, released in June 1988 on Virgin Records and produced by Cornwell and Ian Ritchie, with additional production on two tracks by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. The other musicians involved included drummers Graham Broad and Manny Elias, keyboardists Jools Holland and Simon Clark, brass players Don Weller, Pete Thoms, Steve Dawson and Alex Gifford, singer Haywoode, and guitarist Gus Isadore.

<i>People, Places, Pieces</i> 2006 live album by Hugh Cornwell

People, Places, Pieces is a 3-CD live album by English musician Hugh Cornwell, released through Invisible Hands Music in October 2006. It was recorded at the London Carling Academy over three nights between 12 and 14 April 2005. Containing 45 tracks, the set spans the whole of Cornwell's career and includes tracks from his time with the Stranglers and from the majority of his solo albums. It was available by mail-order only, and accompanied by a 12-track "highlights" CD entitled Dirty Dozen, which was available in stores.

"Duchess" is a single by The Stranglers from the album The Raven. The ninth track on the album, it peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart. The supporting video for the song was banned by the BBC, as they deemed it blasphemous for its content, which featured the band dressed up as choirboys.

<i>The Fall and Rise of Hugh Cornwell</i> 2015 compilation album by Hugh Cornwell

The Fall and Rise of Hugh Cornwell is a compilation album by English musician Hugh Cornwell, released on 28 August 2015 by Invisible Hands Music on both CD and vinyl.

References

  1. "God Is a Woman EP". Apple Music . 22 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  2. "Hugh Cornwell preps new EP & shares mariachi version of "Golden Brown"". cristinarocks.com. 2 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  3. Stickler, Jon (27 September 2011). "The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell To Release New Album 'Totem And Taboo' Through PledgeMusic Partnership". stereoboard.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  4. Newall, Phil (4 July 2013). "Hugh Cornwell 'God Is A Woman' Video – Louder Than War Exclusive". Louder Than War . Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Bartalos, Greg (24 June 2013). "Interview With Hugh Cornwell". The Big Takeover . Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  6. 1 2 Urlocker, M. Zack (20 May 2012). "Hanging Around with Hugh Cornwell". Guitar Vibe. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  7. 1 2 Bond, Dan (9 October 2012). "Interview: Ex-The Stranglers Lead Singer Hugh Cornwell". Geeks of Doom. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 Wyatt, Malcolm (5 July 2013). "From Kentish Town to Chicago, via Shalford – the Hugh Cornwell interview". writewyattuk.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  9. Fricke, David (31 October 2011). "U.K. Punk's Dark Lord, the Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell, Brings New Aggro". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  10. "22.12.2011 – God is a Woman – Steve working on backing vocals". YouTube . 23 December 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  11. "Music – interviews – Hugh Cornwell". stereoboard.com. 27 November 2014. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  12. "The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell: Brit Punk's Renaissance Man". OC Weekly . 24 March 2011. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  13. 1 2 3 Leadbetter, Russell (5 September 2012). "CD review Hugh Cornwell Totem and Taboo Cadiz Music". The Herald . Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  14. Breimann, Kate (8 May 2013). "Hugh Cornwell Explores the Silence on 'In the Dead of Night' – Song Premiere". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  15. 1 2 3 Lawson, Dom (15 August 2012). "Hugh Cornwell – Totem and Taboo review". Classic Rock . Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  16. Kerpen, Thomas (October 2012). "Hugh Cornwell – Totem and Taboo review". Ox-Fanzine (in German). Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  17. "Hugh Cornwell – Totem and Taboo review". The Upcoming. 19 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  18. 1 2 Steel, Gary (9 October 2014). "Hugh Cornwell – Totem & Taboo (Cadiz/Southbound) CD REVIEW". Witchdoctor. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  19. Hall, Ian D. (12 September 2012). "Hugh Cornwell, Totem And Taboo. Album Review". Liverpool Sound and Vision. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  20. 1 2 Ray, Mark (30 June 2012). "Hugh Cornwell: Totem and Taboo – album review". Louder Than War . Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  21. "Hugh Cornwell – Totem & Taboo". Mr Kinski's Music Shack. 18 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 14 February 2022.