Nostalgia (Annie Lennox album)

Last updated

Nostalgia
Annie Lennox - Nostalgia.jpg
Studio album by
Released30 September 2014 (2014-09-30)
RecordedOctober 2013 – mid-2014
Genre
Length42:31
Label Island
Producer
Annie Lennox chronology
A Christmas Cornucopia
(2010)
Nostalgia
(2014)
Singles from Nostalgia
  1. "I Put a Spell on You"
    Released: 15 September 2014
  2. "Summertime"
    Released: 30 September 2014

Nostalgia is the sixth solo studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Annie Lennox. It was released on 30 September 2014 by Island Records. [1] It was Lennox's first album in four years, and her third album of covers. The album consists entirely of cover versions, mainly of compositions from the Great American Songbook originally written in the 1930s; two compositions initially date from the 1950s. The material was researched and learned by Lennox as she studied archival footage uploaded to YouTube. [2]

Contents

Nostalgia debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Lennox's sixth UK top-10 solo album. It has since been certified Gold by the BPI for sales in excess of 100,000 copies in the UK. It debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 32,000 copies, earning Lennox her third top-10 solo album on the chart, as well as her first-ever number-one album on both Billboard's Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts. [3] It had sold 139,000 copies in the United States as of April 2015. [4] Nostalgia peaked inside the top ten in Austria, Canada, Italy and Switzerland. The album was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 57th Grammy Awards. [5]

Background and release

On 15 August 2014, Lennox published a blog post on her official website announcing the upcoming release of Nostalgia. She stated that the album would initially be released on vinyl LP format [1] on 30 September 2014 as a three-week vinyl exclusive. [2] Nostalgia was previewed to a small audience at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles on 12 August 2014. [2]

Promotion

Lennox explained that she did not plan to tour as extensively as she did in support of her album Songs of Mass Destruction (2007). She told Billboard that "at this point in time, less is more for me. I'm more about quality than quantity, and I think this is quite a niche place to be." [2]

The single "I Put a Spell on You" received its first radio play on 15 September 2014 by Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2. [6] Lennox performed the song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015, and coupled with the inclusion of the track as the opening song of the film Fifty Shades of Grey , pushed it into the Billboard Hot 100 at number 97 in February 2015. It also entered the UK Singles Chart at number 63 that same month. Despite a relatively lowly chart peak, in October 2022 the single was certified Silver by the BPI denoting sales/equivalent streams of 200,000 copies in the UK, making it one of Lennox's most popular singles.

Critical response

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 68/100 [7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [8]
The Boston Globe Positive [9]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [10]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
New York Daily News Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [13]
PopMatters 7/10 [14]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [15]

Nostalgia received generally favourable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, the album has a score of 68 out of 100 based on eight reviews.

Mojo gave the album a positive review, stating it was "Straight and true, without a trace of rear-view-mirror sentimentality." Mike Wass of Idolator wrote that Lennox "breathes new life into the much-covered gems with perhaps the best vocal performance of her long and varied career", noting the assistance given by the "haunting arrangements". He stated that it would be an understatement to call the album "a departure from Annie's usual oeuvre," and that Lennox "puts her own inimitable spin" on the tracks. [16] In a mixed review, The Guardian stated "Lennox can't hope to approach the anguish or disgust of Billie Holiday's original 'Strange Fruit', so why even try, unless you're going to totally reinvent the song like the Cocteau Twins did? Lennox is at her best when she sounds most involved, and her beautiful takes on 'Georgia on My Mind', 'God Bless the Child' and 'You Belong to Me' are full of poignancy and yearning." [11]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Memphis in June"2:47
2."Georgia on My Mind"
3:55
3."I Put a Spell on You" Screamin' Jay Hawkins 3:32
4."Summertime"5:12
5."I Cover the Waterfront"2:59
6."Strange Fruit" Abel Meeropol 3:46
7."God Bless the Child"3:03
8."You Belong to Me"3:22
9."September in the Rain"2:53
10."I Can Dream, Can't I?"2:56
11."The Nearness of You"
2:32
12."Mood Indigo"5:34
Deluxe edition bonus DVD
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Annie Lennox Discusses Nostalgia"  
2."I Put a Spell on You" (live)Screamin' Jay Hawkins 

Personnel

Credits for Nostalgia adapted from Tidal. [17]

Musicians

Technical

Artwork

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [49] Gold100,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Release history

RegionDateFormat(s)EditionLabelRef.
United States30 September 2014 LP Standard Blue Note [50]
21 October 2014 CD + DVD Limited (Amazon exclusive) [51]
Digital download Standard [52]
Germany24 October 2014
  • CD
  • LP
  • digital download
Universal [53] [54] [55]
CD + DVDDeluxe [56]
France27 October 2014
  • CD
  • digital download
Standard [57] [58]
Digital downloadDeluxe [59]
United Kingdom
  • CD
  • LP
  • digital download
Standard Island [60] [61] [62]
  • CD + DVD
  • digital download
Deluxe [63] [64]
Australia31 October 2014
  • CD
  • digital download
StandardUniversal [65] [66]
Digital downloadDeluxe [67]

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