Track Listing

1. Crystalline green
2. Train
3. Black cherry
4. Tiptoe
5. Deep honey
6. Hairy trees
7. Twist
8. Strict machine
9. Forever
10. Slippage

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1380 in Music
• Released on: 2003-04-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
Goldfrapp's Black Cherry inhabits a dark alley, bristling with urban menace and throbbing with a deep electronic pulse--a far cry from their breezy debut, which gently led the listener to a fairytale aural utopia occupied by Parisian pop, whistling divas and baroque masters.

Having given up the countryside for a neon-lit studio, Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory have infused Black Cherry with an intensity and brooding claustrophobia that's both exuberant and sensual. Simultaneously mellifluous and mechanical, tracks such as "Train" with its fiery industrial rhythm steer Goldfrapp dangerously close to the ailing electro-clash scene, before veering back to more familiar territory with the likes of the sultry, downbeat "Black Cherry" and languid dreamy ambience of "Forever". Elsewhere our Hampshire-bred heroine gets deep down and dirty on "Twist", an ode to oral that finds Goldfrapp waxing lyrical to a fierce driving Kraftewerk-esq synth: "Before you go and leave this town/I want to see you one more time/ put your dirty angel face/ between my legs and make it last. No Felt Mountain to get lost in, but at least there's "Hairy Trees" to make up for it. --Christopher Barrett

CD Description
Second album by unique and slightly sinister indie-dance duo, following 2000's 'Felt Mountain'. Eerily hypnotic and occasionally menacing, their sound combines folk, jazz, 60s pop, Weimar cabaret and trip-hop and tops off the eclectic mix with Alison Goldfrapp's otherwordly vocals. Includes the single 'Train'.

Customer Reviews

Black Cherry - An exciting change of pace!
(...) Black Cherry bears all the hallmarks of its predecessor. The haunting, ethereal beauty still lingers, despite the radical new direction that Alison Goldfrapp and her musical collaborator Will Gregory have taken. And what a direction!

A pounding, glam-rock-electro-funk-pop odyssey, it is catchy as hell, and with raunchier, sexier lyrics, is rather more tantalising than fairy tale mysteriousness of Felt Mountain. Opening track Crystalline Green is a terrific introduction, pretty much setting out the stall for the remaining nine tracks - hefty bass lines, lovely retro synths (can't beat 'em!), not to mention that gorgeous voice....

And although first single 'Train' cranks things up a notch, the title track brings us back to Felt Mountain territory, and together with the likes of 'Deep Honey' and 'Hairy Trees (excellent song titles!), should appease those who find the upbeat sound a bit heavy going. Particular favourites would have to be the sexy, catchy 'Twist'(containing the choice lyrics "Put your dirty angel face/Between my legs and knicker lace"), second single 'Strict Machine', and the brilliant opener 'Cystalline Green'. The album tails off slightly with the last two tracks, but this does not lessen the overall effect of the album.

Black Cherry is a more energetic, exciting and vibrant album than Felt Mountain, but Goldfrapp have not compomised their unique sound merely to knock out something more mainstream. (...)

Nu-electro
Goldfrapp emerged onto the music scene at the turn of the century with the debut album Felt Mountain. The excellent single Lovely Head got hijacked by mobile phone adverts and helped shift half a million units for Mute. Containing atmospheric John Barry inspired lo-fi songs, Felt Mountain became one of those coffee table albums filling a gap for those who mourned the passing of Portishead and The Sneaker Pimps. Personally, I could take or leave it and soon forgot about them.
Fans were expecting the follow-up to be a safe version 2.0 of Felt Mountain. You can imagine how shocked some are to find that Black Cherry is in fact an in-your-face electronic album with grinding analogue basslines, chattering synths and dominant beats. As the lead singer Alison said, ‘we went into the studio and turned on the machines’ and this welcome change in direction has thankfully provided a more varied album. Goldfrapp are no longer a band for 40-something dullards. This sleazy electro pop with suggestive lyrics (about the delights of oral sex on Twist) is aided by many weird sounds of invention. Analogue in nature with as many layers as the Human League’s 2001 Secrets album, Black Cherry is quite an achievement technically. This is the kind of album Madonna had tried to make with Music and American Life but she never quite pulled it off.
With no retro nods back to that era, all the tracks sound oddly modern. The first single released ‘Train’ was enough to win me over with its updated glam rock sound moulded into some very deep bass sounds. This track really owes more to the early 70s than anything released a decade later. The second single 'Strict Machine' (which deserves a rating of 9/10 on its own), has similar glam rock routes but with no guitars in sight. If 'Train' didn’t win you over, Strict Machine will blow you away. It is infectious and unforgettable and no pre-sets were used during the making of this record. Those not yet familiar would hace heard the pervy electro of Strict Machine many a time on TV trailers and adverts in recent months.
Although melodic throughout, this isn’t a conventional album in the classic pop sense. Crystalline Green’s title hints at how sharp this album sounds. You can hear every sound, crisp and clear as most electronic music should be. Fans of Felt Mountain shouldn’t be too despondent, there are still a few of those John Barry moments such as Deep Honey whilst Hairy Trees is very seductive like Saint Etienne at their peak.
Title track Black Cherry though is the real star of the pack. Warm analogue synths and beautiful string arrangements dominate this electro ballad with a vocal performance that simply gives you the shivers. It was seeing Goldfrapp perform this track live on BBC-2 that turned me into a committed fan and the album has rarely left the CD player. The final bonus is that Alison Goldfrapp has an enchanting voice and possibly one of the best female singers the UK has produced in quite a while.
Nu-electro for the cool kids

absolutely stunning beautiful magical has to be heard
how can you describe goldfrapp? after their first, frankly rather strange album, we all wondered what their return would sound like. well, i hate to say it, but it sounds better. their first album was also stunning, crazy mad stunning, whips, horses, but above it all rose creativity. and in black cherry, we have positively oodles more of the stuff. let me describe this album. dirty, filthy, beautiful, manic, calming, wide, narrow, quiet, loud, new sounds, old sounds, contraversial? not really, great lyrics (even if you cant hear allison that well), but come on, this is the most stunning album of 2003 yet.

listen to tiptoe, hear it build with the strings, and you can feel your body relaxing, then the riff hits and its just amazing. the string fadout, its so damn good.

deep honey sounds most like as if its off felt mountain, but its still lovely. forboding, strange, but always elegant. intense stuff.

hairy trees, well, this is just dream music, with brilliantly simple lyrics, and allison's voice, melting away in the background like caramel.

twist, well, this is strange, its good, but not standout. dirty again like train, with a good chorus, but frankly, it didnt do it for me.

train, try listening to it without swaying, really getting into the filthiest of basslines that goldfrapp can pump out with venom.recall debbie harry, think punk rock synth early 80's, deft lyrics that build to a brilliant crescendo.

black cherry is just gorgeous. talk about a lyric - "all my world in one grain of sand and i've blown it. all the world in one grain of sand and you own it." its a love song, but this isn't lovvy dovvy love, this is raw, this is us, with the silly, but sexy little trmupet noises, and crisp beats. genius.

forever is another stunner. just buy this album, i cant explain it.

this stuff is also extremely crisp and fresh, razor sharp noises that once they get into your brain, will not get out. the only way to calm them is to listen again. i guarantee you, three listens and you will be hooked.

dont be fooled into thinking that this album is just another one riding on the wave of current electro pop. yes, this is electronic, but this one stands so far away from the crowd that you cant even see the crowd.

everybody should own this album. goldfrapp, we salute you, you have made a beautiful, unique, timeless album, that i know i will be listening to in many years to come. we likey.