Product Description

TRAILER PARK, the debut album by British songstress Beth Orton, is a swirling voyage that soars beyond the sonic limitations that are the Achilles heel of singer/songwriters. Recorded with producer Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Tindersticks), TRAILER PARK's lush, sinewy string arrangements, imaginative sound effects, and tasteful accompaniment contribute a complexity that lifts, rather than smothers, the stark, up-front vocals and breezy, melodic guitar playing. Somehow, the busier things get, the more room she seems to have.
Orton's lyrics are just introspective and plaintive enough--she neither pleads nor lectures. Overall her message is wistful beyond her years, and sad without being self-indulgent. Smart and skilled, but also honest and strong, she possesses a modern edge that pushes her out of the folk-singer mold and into the realm of inventive, innovative pop music.

Track Listing

1. She Cries Your Name
2. Tangent
3. Don't Need A Reason
4. Live As You Dream
5. Sugar Boy
6. Touch Me With Your Love
7. How Far
8. Someone's Daughter
9. I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine
10. Galaxy Of Emptiness

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3202 in Music
• Released on: 2000-02-11
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Having collaborated with such dance acts as Red Snapper and the Chemical Brothers, singer-songwriter Beth Orton is sometimes regarded as a young folky hitching a ride on the electronica bandwagon. On Trailer Park, however, she harks back to a lost Seventies tradition whose exponents included Traffic, Tim Buckley and especially John Martyn, all of whom worked in a hazy interface between jazz, blues and folk. Fleshed out with multiple layers of vibes, strings and keyboards, Trailer Park is at once a soul-searching and sensual album, with Orton's flat-edged and indistinct lyrics often seeming to melt in her own mouth. Only "Sweetest Decline", featuring Dr John on keyboards seems slightly twee. Otherwise on the likes of "Couldn't Cause Me Harm" and "Feel To Believe", the pleasures and pains of love are conveyed so tangibly it almost hurts. --David Stubbs

Customer Reviews

The Soundtrack To My London
Beth Orton's official debut was a milestone in music especially at the time of it's release we saw britpop and dance music dominated the charts,Beth opted for a more Folk/Eletronica feel for he album."Trailer Park" is one of those brilliantly crafted british albums that makes you feel proud of our music scene.

1.She Cries Your Name - One of her most known songs although not making a big splash when it was first released it has a more cult status today much like the album. The song is a very chilled out song but with a sense of sadness and fragilty mostly from the tone and utter gorgeousness of Orton's voice.The subtle strings and the gentle guitar riff backed up by the almost sonar-like bleeps throughout the song just give it that bit more of a 'chilling' feel,very atmospheric. 10/10

2.Tangent - Now this song is one of the most prominent trip-hop songs on the album following suit from the likes of Portishead, I've always had a sof spot for this song and maybe one of the best performances, vocally on the album.A song maybe alot of us cant relate to never getting to the point we wanna make so you procrastinate and go off on a tangent to hide the truth.I just can't get over how beautiful she sounds. 10/10

3.Don't Need A Reason - This is one of my favorite songs by Beth Orton, she captivates the feeling of hurting others so perfectly in her lyrics for this song.It has more of an acoustic feel with beautiful swooping strings maybe one of her most heartbreaking work, lyrically anyway.I usually like songs that are very reflective and sad, this song is no exception because she sings her heart out and towards the end you hear the hope and somewhat healing in her voice, you don't mean to hurt people just being hurt yourself it's like second nature I love this song. 10/10

4.Live As You Dream - Really the only upbeat song full of hope and promise and probably her most pop orientated song shes ever recorded, It's a nice song, short but sweet after picking yourself up from the previous song this is almost like summer in London walking down the street with a smile on your face and headphones blaring without a care in the world. 10/10

5.Sugar Boy - It's obvious this song is about a woman with a younger man that seemed to use her for her money. I love the lyrics "Told you I loved you / You beat my heart black and blue." So beautiful. Now that the woman told him she loved him hes gone maybe the pressure of that word and the reciprocation isn't what she was expecting a very sad song and things like this happen which makes it even more depressing I do like it but it's probably my least favourite song. 7/10

6.Touch Me With Your Love - Now this song to me, its just perfection and so happens to be my favourite song,I love the spoken word intro at the start hearing Beth speak is cute.See for me this song isnt as gloomy as it seems, yeah it has a very mournful and downtempo beat which seems to have inspiration from Massive Attack, she sounds beautiful as always the song itself is basically saying I'm here come and get me, just love me and i'll love you.This was also a single which didn't do very well (like much of the albums singles) but the video is great, shot in black and white you can see how London was 11 years ago.10/10

7.Whenever - A folk inspired piece of glory! It really is I love this song it's again a nice pick you up, doesn't necessarily have to be about a lover maybe a friend, whenever your lonely and need someone to talk to a friend will always be there. I always thought maybe this song goes on longer than it should be it's still a great one.The jangly guitar and the subtle percussion gives it a happy,sweet feel to it, very summery 10/10

8.How Far - I've always thought this song had a slight americana feel to it, very americanised but it's a great song but just standard rock/folk music not much of a stand out.I've had this CD for a long time, in fact it was one of the first albums I owned,but almost 8 years of owning it I still can't get into this one fully, I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a filler because that wouldn't be fair but it's just a bit of a slow growing maybe I'll appreciate it one day 6/10

9.Someone's Daughter - Beth weaves her voice around the song like a tapestry, grooving until the end with the beat to create a sublime piece of art, It's a nice song another uptempo song. A sweet love song possibly being intimate with someone but Beth simply asking for the person in question not to take it too far,'coz after all she is someones daughter and you would want the best for your own,Love the message. 10/10

10.I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine - Now I have heard the original I can honestly say I prefer Beth version, It's quite original.
This song is painful to listen to. It is such a great song, but it actually hurts to listen to it.A song clearly about depression never seeming to be able to be happy, As it can be such an emotionally consuming state of mind it's hard to who you want to be, I think it was very beautiful for Beth to cover this,she truly bring the emotion out of the song 10/10

11.Galaxy Of Emptiness - This song is the longest on the album running just over 10 minutes, going back to the more trip-hop feeling, I could see this being maybe the inspiration for Air's work years later the build up is beautiful and almost perfect in itself, almost 4 minutes of instrumental before she starts to sing, I mean I do really like it, but again its not one that instantly grabs you maybe if it was shorter not that I mind long tracks, but this one just didn't need to be. 8/10

Top 5
1.Touch Me With Your Love
2.I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine
3.Don't Need A Reason
4.She Cries Your Name
5.Tangent

One of our best unsung heroes, and a great album to soundtrack London i've always felt this way listen to it while walking around the westend at night and you'll really get the true feel of the album.

The Boss knows best
Bruce Springsteen once exclaimed in an interview that Trailer Park was his favourite album over the past decade. Now if the Boss says that about an album, you know it's gonna be good.

Can't get it out of my head!
I bought this album two years ago and at first just enjoyed it. However two years later I not only enjoy it but realise just how special it is. It gets inside you and makes you keep going back for more. The lyrics are fantastic. It sweeps you along through so many emotions then sends you out into a "Galaxy of Emptiness" in the last track. I love Beths other albums but this one still has my vote.