Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Nectar
2. Tyed
3. Sweet Man Part 1
4. Whiskey And Water
5. Blood
6. City Sickness
7. Patchwork
8. Marbles
9. The Walt Blues
10. Milky Teeth
11. Sweet Man - Part Two
12. Jism
13. Piano Song
14. Tie-Dye
15. Raindrops
16. Sweet Man - Part Three
17. Her
18. Tea Stain
19. Drunk Tank
20. Paco De Renaldo's Dream
21. The Not Knowing

Disc 2:

1. The Sorrow The Joy Brings
2. Fruitless
3. Whiskey And Water
4. For Those
5. Blood
6. City Sickness
7. Patchwork
8. Raindrops
9. Piano Song
10. A Sweet Sweet Man
11. Visiting
12. Drunk Tank

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26134 in Music
• Released on: 2004-06-14
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

Tindersticks finest
The Tindersticks first album is still arguably their finest, mainly because the highpoints are much more numerous than on their following offerings. Added to that now is the bonus of early demo material, mostly related to the ‘proper’ versions found on the first CD, but a worthwhile addition to an already great package.
Strings, piano, brass and all manner of instruments plus Stuart Staples voice combine to make Tindersticks what they are, at worst a late night working men’s establishment/cruise ship combo, with the voice of Vic Reeves club singer (alright it’s a cheap shot, really the guy has one of those fantastically original voices), at best a band that sum up the atmosphere of a smoky evening in a city bar, capable of tugging your heartstrings in a hundred different directions. True they may be an acquired taste but over the last twelve years or so they have produced some fine records with this as their pinnacle.
Once you come to terms with the melancholy subject matter of many of the songs you soon realise how accomplished the lyrics and musical accompaniment is; the lazy drawl of ‘nectar’ contrasting with its up tempo strings lures you in, ‘blood’ is understated and sublime, ‘city sickness’ is slick and was obvious single material, whereas ‘patchwork’ and ‘the not knowing' are simply beautiful. Added to this the rage of ‘Jism’ which builds to crescendo and ‘the drunk tank’ which is both poignant and moving, it all comes together as a fine collection of songs. Perhaps the only criticism of this album which in the original format I owned (double vinyl LP) is the almost experimental feel to some of the filler songs in between the more palatable three to four minute songs, note – ‘sweet sweet man’ pts 1-3 and tyed/tie-dye.
On this note it is worth mentioning that the bonus CD comes with some very listenable demos for fans and newbie’s alike, including a fine full version of ‘sweet sweet man’ and the quite simply sexy ‘for those…’. It’s well worth five stars and once you have realised your life has been emptier without the Tindersticks in it, check out their second album (including possibly their best song ever ‘My sister’) and also the soulful ‘Simple pleasures’. They may have waned in recent years with some of their releases (and I would steer clear of their film soundtracks!), but this album in particular shows what fine songwriters and musicians they are and that they really deserve the highest praise.

Where it all began for a most undervalued band
The first Tindersticks album is a melange of slow hypnotically building ballads, spoken narratives, instrumental interludes and some twisted pop songs ('City Sickness'). Tindersticks belong to a lineage that includes such greats as Cohen, Waits, Cave, and Morricone. It's fair to say that the mood of this album is largely one of despair and resignation, leavened with their typical black humour. Indeed, late night melancholia pervades most Tindersticks albums, invoking memories of desolate rain soaked city streets and fractured love affairs. For this debut strings and brass are used to great effect and Stuart Staples deep grave voice is brilliantly suited to this material. Tindersticks would actually manage to better this album, and improve and refine the ideas here on their later albums, but this is an amazingly well formed debut. It does take a number of plays (and it is a long album) before the songs work their way into your psyche but its well worth the effort. This remastered version of the CD sounds much better than the initial one. The extra disc basically consists of the first album demos. It would actually be quite a good album in its own right. Despite guitars sounding a bit watery in places, it's relatively fully formed. The track 'Visiting' which never made the leap to the first album proper is one of those trademark spoken narrative pieces. I can see why it didn't make the cut but I still quite like it.
This was an extraordinary piece of work for an emerging band, the first of a number of Tindersticks classics and with the addition of the bonus disc this is a very satisfactory purchase