Later...When the TV Turns to Static

Later...When The TV Turns To Static
Studio album by Glasvegas
Released 2 September 2013 (2013-09-02)
Recorded Glasgow, Scotland
Genre Indie rock
Label BMG
Producer James Allan
Glasvegas chronology
EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\
(2011)		 Later...When the TV Turns to Static
(2013)
Singles from Glasvegas
  1. "I'd Rather Be Dead (Than Be with You)"
    Released: 25 March 2013
  2. "If"
    Released: 8 July 2013
  3. "Later...When The TV Turns To Static"
    Released: 21 Nov 2013
  4. "Secret Truth"
    Released: July 2014

Later...When The TV Turns To Static is the third studio album by Scottish rock band Glasvegas. It was released on 2 September 2013 through BMG Records. The album was produced by lead singer James Allan. It received generally favourable reviews from critics but stalled at No.41 in the UK Charts; it is the first of the group's studio albums not to reach the Top 10. Later...When The TV Turns To Static was released in three formats. Standard CD, Heavyweight White Vinyl and Deluxe Almanac with the latter containing a full length stripped version of the album on DVD. 30mins of footage contained within the Deluxe Almanac DVD is still broadcast by Sky Arts.[1]

Background and recording

During their 2011 autumn tour the band debuted "If" live. They continued to perform and develop songs from the album throughout 2012 with "Later...When The TV Turns To Static", "I'd Rather Be Dead (Than Be with You)" and All I Want Is My Baby being among the first to be premiered. During the summer and autumn of 2012 the band went into the studio to record the album. It was recorded and mixed at the Gorbals Sound Studio in Glasgow. A tour was announced called "The Crying Onion" tour,[2] which would see the band perform throughout December 2012 and continue to perform new material.

In an interview with Louder Than War, bass player Paul Donoghue tells Katie Clare how singer James Allan had a vision of how he wanted the album to be "James really has a full idea how this album should be, he even co-directed the first video, it was his vision from start to finish, he worked really hard and it gave everything a real continuity. Even the artwork was planned and the deluxe edition will come with a 40 page booklet that was all part of the idea."[3] The album was also produced by lead singer Allan, Rab insisted: "We knew exactly what we wanted so there was no point in having anyone else but James working on it." James added: “It’s really hard to get to that point where you have a record out that you can sit and listen to that you totally adore.[4]

Writing

Talking about the songs on the album lead singer James Allan says "I guess whether it’s my life or my experience it’ll either be that, or it’ll be my perception of something." he goes on to say "whether the songs were about my experiences... well they were about my experiences, and if they weren’t about my experiences, they were about my thoughts on things."[5] Talking about If Allan explains "Quite a sympathetic song. It seems a shame the hardest, toughest things seem to define people. It’s not the times you hold the medal or wins that do it. The song is a spiritual view on things – without something evil, the kind-hearted man would walk on by, invisible."[6] He went on to explain the inspiration behind the song, "My idea for the song came about during a phone call a while back with my good friend Alan McGee. He was talking to me about something quite difficult that was going on at the time and I said to him, 'Alan, if we didn't go through the bad stuff, we wouldn't recognize the good stuff; it would be invisible to you."[7] Talking about the album's final track Finished Sympathy Allan says it's about the speed with which we're expected to shed naivety, how "people's expectations can be overwhelming. It's like when an infant trips and falls – people rush to pick them up and crowd around them going, 'Are you OK? Are you all right?' But as soon as you're out of that infant stage, when you trip and fall, everybody laughs at you. As you get older, it seems like sympathy is nowhere to be found."[8] Explaining the meaning behind the title track Allan explains "“I guess it’s a song that I was writing, kind of about the place between what has just happened, a chapter that has just passed, and moving into the next chapter, the new dawn, that in-between place, where the unknown lies ahead, the mystery lies ahead, and that can be quite scary."[9]

Reception

Critical response

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic61/100[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[11]
Clash[12]
Drowned in Sound(5/10)[13]
musicOMH[14]
NME(6/10)[15]
The Scotsman[16]
The Skinny[17]
The Independent[18]
PopMatters(5/10)[19]

Later...When The TV Turns To Static has received generally favourable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 61 based on 11 reviews.[10] Fiona Shepard at The Scotsman praised Allan's songwriting and later went on to single out "Choices" and "I'd Rather Be Dead (Than Be With You)" as highlights: "Most impressive of all are Choices and I’d Rather Be Dead (Than Be With You)".[16] Paul Mardles at The Observer also pinpoints "Choices" and the title track "Later...When The TV Turns To Static" as highlights.[20]

Commercial performance

Later...When The TV Turns To Static charted at number 41 in the UK Album Charts on 8 September 2013, selling less than 3,000 copies during its first week of release. This marked a decline in fortunes for the band whose first two albums charted in the top 10. It has sold only 6,248 copies in the UK as of July 2014.[21] The album debuted at number 30 on the Swedish Album Charts.

Singles

"I'd Rather Be Dead (Than Be With You)" was released as the lead single from the album on 25 March 2013 as a digital download, which featured an acoustic version of "All I Want Is My Baby". It was later released as a limited edition 7" vinyl on 22 April 2013 for World Record Store Day, which included the album track "Later...When The TV Turns to Static" as a special teaser for the album. "If" was released as the second single taken from the album on 8 July 2013. Title track "Later...When The TV Turns To Static" will be released as the album's third single.

Formats

Later...When The TV Turns To Static was released in three formats. Standard CD, Heavyweight White Vinyl and Deluxe Almanac. The Deluxe Almanac is presented with the iconic chevron foil embossed on a hardback almanac bound in linen with 40 stitched-in pages and ribboned page keeper.

Track listing

All tracks written by James Allan. 

No. Title Length
1. "Later...When The TV Turns To Static"   5:23
2. "Youngblood"   4:42
3. "Choices"   3:56
4. "All I Want Is My Baby"   2:51
5. "Secret Truth"   3:56
6. "I'd Rather Be Dead (Than Be With You)"   3:11
7. "Magazine"   3:46
8. "If"   4:28
9. "Neon Bedroom"   4:11
10. "Finished Sympathy"   8:22

Personnel

Glasvegas[22]
Technical[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Glasvegas Stripped: Live In Glasgow". Sky Arts. UK. 21 Nov 2013. Retrieved 21 Nov 2013.
  2. ↑ Boggis-Rolfe, Sam. "Glasvegas announce 'The Crying Onion' Tour". caughtoffside.com. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  3. ↑ Clare, Katie. "Louder Than War Interviews Glasvegas". Louder Than War. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  4. ↑ McMonagle, Mickey. "Scots rockers Glasvegas on their new album and why they chose to record it in their home town". Daily Record. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  5. ↑ Mackay, Emily. ""I'm Just On A Different Planet" Glasvegas Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  6. ↑ "Our man Mickey McMonagle gets the first listen to new Glasvegas album". Daily Record. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Glasvegas to Release "Later...When the TV Turns to Static" on September 3". Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  8. ↑ Nicolson, Barry. "Glasvegas: 'A lot of bands do what they're told. We didn't'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  9. ↑ "Glasvegas launches new album". euronews. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
  10. 1 2 "Metacritic Review". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  11. ↑ Collar, Matt. "Allmusic Review". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  12. ↑ Evans, James. "Clash Magazine". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  13. ↑ Shipman, Chris (2013-08-28). "Drowned in Sound review". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  14. ↑ Marsh, Graeme (2013-08-30). "MusicOMH Review". Musicomh.com. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  15. ↑ Renshaw, David (29 August 2013). "NME review". NME. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  16. 1 2 Shepherd, Fiona. "The Scotsman". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  17. ↑ McCall, Chris (27 August 2013). "The Skinny review". The Skinny. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  18. ↑ Price, Simon (31 August 2013). "Album: Glasvegas, Later… When the TV Turns to Static (BMG/Go Wow)". The Independent. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  19. ↑ Maçek III, J.C. (14 November 2013). "Glasvegas: Later... When The TV Turns To Static". PopMatters.
  20. ↑ Mardles, Paul. "Glasvegas: Later… When the TV Turns to Static – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  21. ↑ Eamonn Forde (9 July 2014). "From Robin Thicke to Mariah and Mick: five blockbuster albums that bombed". The Guardian.
  22. 1 2 Later...When The TV Turns To Static (Deluxe CD). Glasvegas. BMG Records. 2013.
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