Catherine Wheel. Chrome (1993)

Chrome is the second full-length album by the U.K. band Catherine Wheel, released in 1993. Chrome, produced by former Pixies producer Gil Norton, has a more metallic musical edge (hence the title) than the band's previous album Ferment and EPs. Peaking at number 26 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, the album was supported by the single "Crank", a top five Modern Rock track. Music videos were filmed for singles "Crank", "Show Me Mary", and "The Nude". The video for "Crank" featured the band playing in a hotel's elevator and lobby to a motley cast of hotel guests; "Show Me Mary" had the band being driven around in a taxi; "The Nude" featured the smearing of wet clay across a topless woman's torso. The cover photo was shot in an indoor swimming pool by Storm Thorgerson of the Hipgnosis design company. In 1999, the cover of this album appeared as the cover of the Hipgnosis/Thorgerson retrospective book Eye Of The Storm: The Album Graphics Of Storm Thorgerson (Sanctuary Publishing, 190 pgs.). The CD version was also available in a limited-edition version with a shiny chrome-looking cover with embossed writing on it.

The track "Ursa Major Space Station" was named after an obscure guitar effects pedal, but it is not known if the band used that pedal on the album. "Fripp" was named after King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. "Strange Fruit" is not a cover of the famous Billie Holiday song of the same name.

Catherine Wheel embarked on tours with Slowdive, Chapterhouse, and INXS, among others, to promote this album.

Track Listing

1. "Kill Rhythm" – 3:51
2. "I Confess" – 3:56
3. "Crank" – 3:45
4. "Broken Head" – 4:43
5. "Pain" – 6:31
6. "Strange Fruit" – 3:06
7. "Chrome" – 3:53
8. "The Nude" – 3:51
9. "Ursa Major Space Station" – 5:09
10. "Fripp" – 7:34
11. "Half Life" – 4:08
12. "Show Me Mary" – 3:19

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Catherine Wheel. Adam and Eve (1997)

Adam and Eve is the fourth full-length album by the U.K. band Catherine Wheel. Released in 1997, the album peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers and number 178 on the Billboard 200. The album featured more adventurous instrumentation than any prior Catherine Wheel LP, and completely shed the heavy metal sound of their previous studio album, Happy Days.

The Big Takeover magazine named Adam and Eve its album of the year for 1997, with Radiohead's OK Computer at #2.

An alternative cover design was released in some European countries, featuring primarily a green cover with only a few of the nude models in boxes in the center. Some of the band's concerts promoting this album featured actual nude models positioned in boxes onstage behind the band members.

Track Listing

1. (intro) – 1:23
2. "Future Boy" – 5:15
3. "Delicious" – 5:10
4. "Broken Nose" – 5:20
5. "Phantom of the American Mother" – 5:43
6. "Ma Solituda" – 5:12
7. "Satellite" – 5:14
8. "Thunderbird" – 6:39
9. "Here Comes the Fat Controller" – 5:31
10. "Goodbye" – 7:02
11. "For Dreaming" – 7:15
12. (outro) – 3:00

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