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Grey Eyes

The Salteens
1 disc

1. Last Train from London
2. You're Taking All of This Too Far
3. Everything They Know About Us
4. Weird Times
5. Hallowed Ways
6. Savings and Loans
7. If Love Is Gone Where Do We Go from Here
8. Go On
9. You Stayed Up with the Lights On
10. Don't Break My Heart
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 10422
Credits

Producer Scott Walker; Todd Simko
Engineer Shawn Penner; John Raham; Todd Simko
Personnel: Scott Walker (vocals, mandolin, piano); Carrie Tennant (vocals, clarinet, piano); Kevin Cooper (vocals, double bass, electric bass); Dion Willis (vocals, drums); Tim Sars (flute, baritone saxophone); Carol Dymond (flute); Bryan Milks (clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone); Alison Gorman, Robert Calder (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ellen Marple (trombone, tuba).
Audio Mixer: Todd Simko.
Recording information: Mushroom Studios; Ogre Studios.
Photographers: Ruth Nicholson; Justin Cathcart; Rob Seebacher.
Drawing upon the orchestral, wind instrument-driven sound of such '60s institutions as the Brill Building and Motown Records, lead singer Scott Walker and his band the Salteens have crafted a natural, moody piece of '60s pop on 2010's Grey Eyes. Moving away from the alternative indie pop sound of 2003's Let Go of Your Bad Days, Grey Eyes is an organic, beautifully produced large-ensemble pop album that is as sweetly melodic as it is introspective. Still exuding a shiny optimism that touches on '80s college rock and '90s twee pop, the Salteens have nonetheless expanded their palette here to include such supergraphic-era instruments as flutes, baritone saxophones, flgelhorns, and trumpets. To these ends, you get the driving leadoff track "Last Train from London" and several superb rainy-day ballads la Burt Bacharach, including the epic midtempo yearner "You're Taking All of This Too Far." Elsewhere, the propulsive, xylophone-inflected "Go On" features a huge trumpet/choir midsection, and "You Stayed Up with the Lights On" is a definite foot-tapper. Ultimately, by the time the heart-wrenching album closer "Don't Break My Heart" arrives, with its symphonic bowed bass tugging against Walker's sweet lyrical croon, it's clear that Grey Eyes isn't just something new for the Salteens, it's a kind of masterpiece. ~ Matt Collar