ARTIST: Randy & The Bloody Lovelies
TITLE: Lift
LABEL: Cheap Lullaby Records
GENRE: Rock
TIME: 44:56 min
SIZE:  63,5 MB
RIP DATE: Oct-12-2005
RELEASE DATE: Oct-11-2005
WEBSITE: n/a

Track List:

01. Red Carpets                                03:21
02. New Disguise                               03:16
03. Why Ya 'spose                              02:35
04. Wondrous Things                            03:06
05. And I Do                                   01:10
06. Pop                                        03:24
07. Isabella                                   03:38
08. Beautiful Too                              03:19
09. Twilight Kids                              03:41
10. Blue Horizons                              04:08
11. Nadine                                     03:16
12. Under Starlight                            06:56
13. Intro                                      00:04
14. Cobblestones And You                       03:02

Release Notes:

Piano fronted pop rock. Bowie meets Beatles...

RANDY & THE BLOODY LOVELIES

"This record is me looking at myself through
characters. I would find that when I had met people,
I'd try to figure out what makes them tick. After a
while I began to realize that I was actually looking
at myself through the eyes of other people. In that
sense, it was almost scary to write these songs." -
Randy Wooten, June 2005

It's safe to assume that Wooten's keen observational
skills are partly attributable to his uniquely
eventful upbringing. It's an equally safe bet that
Lift will further fuel the ascent of Randy & The
Bloody Lovelies. With its tales of ordinary people
swimming valiantly against the tides of modernity,
Lift not only gives insight into the twenty-first
century consciousness, it also offers a glimpse
inside the mind of Randy Wooten himself.

"I think when you're at certain places in life,
other people become a Rorschach test for you,"
Wooten says. "So writing this was good for me. It
was a way for me to peel back some layers and
ultimately create some intimacy between myself and
the people listening."

Taking risks is apparently a habit for Mr. Wooten
and his musical cohorts. On their 2004 debut CD,
Some Truth and a Little Money," The Bloody Lovelies
performed 14 original songs that invited favorable
comparisons to Brian Wilson, Lennon & McCartney,
Todd Rundgren and Rufus Wainwright, among
distinguished others. "It's wonderful," effused
Rolling Stone editor, David Wild. "The Bloody
Lovelies have musical ability with a deep love of
pop-rock."

For Wooten, the bands sophomore release, Lift, is
the culmination of a musical career that would not
be denied. Born in Springfield, Missouri, Wooten
began taking piano lessons at age eight. But the
budding pianist put a stop to his formal training
after his teacher insisted he would never learn to
play or write songs.

The following year, the Wooten's Missouri home was
completely destroyed by a tornado. The tragedy
forced the family to spend the ensuing months living
in a motel. Luckily for Randy, the modest inn just
happened to be next door to a music store. "(That's
when) I started teaching myself the guitar and
really writing songs," Wooten recalls.

Six years later, with a head full of embryonic tunes
gestating in his head, Wooten picked up the piano
again, electing to teach himself.

Masterfully produced by Mark Plati (David Bowie,
Talking Heads, The Cure), Lift features 13 Randy
Wooten originals that explode from the speakers in a
hail of fanciful Brit-rock rhythms and Noel
Coward-like melodies. Just listen to how Wooten's
voice locks with the soulful choruses on "Why You
'Spose That Is?," or how the weepy pedal steel
guitar on "Wondrous Things" and "Beautiful, Too"
underscore the song's whimsical sentiments. From the
spiraling brass flourishes of "Twilight Kids," to
the luxuriant string embellishments of "Pop,"
"Isabella" and "Under Starlight," Lift raises the
pop-rock bar to breathless new heights.

Lurking below the surface of these songs -- one is
tempted to call them "numbers" -- lies a tragicomic
"libretto" about luckless dreamers, desperate
lovers, flawed heroes and beautiful losers. Indeed,
Wooten coined a phrase to describe his songwriting
approach: "Romanticizing the Unromantic."

Wooten explains, "I had a broader vision with these
new songs."

Eager to get his new ideas on tape, Wooten recruited
a stellar cast of musicians, including drummer Shawn
Pelton (Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Sheryl Crow,
"Saturday Night Live"), violinist / accordionist /
vocalist Lisa Germano (U2, John Cougar Mellencamp,
David Bowie, Indigo Girls), pedal steel guitarist
Greg Leisz (Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang, Beck, Matthew
Sweet), and trumpeter Lee Thornburg (George Benson,
Madeleine Peyroux, "The Tonight Show"), as well as
original Bloody Lovelies bassist, Eric Holden.

As Wooten himself admits, these remarkably talented
musicians helped give Lift its wings. "A lot of the
elements on this records, like trumpet, accordion
and strings, were created on non-traditional rock
instruments," Wooten says. "It was nice not to feel
the constraints of having to capture the sound of
four individuals. It was just a matter of me trying
to get across the sound in my head."

