''Design for Living'' is the fifth solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n singer/songwriter

James Reyne James Michael Nugent Reyne OAM (born 19 May 1957) is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter both in solo work and, until 1986, with the band Australian Crawl. Biography Early years Reyne was born in Lagos, Nigeria. His father, Ro ...

released in February 1999. The album follows a four-year hiatus from recording, which saw Reyne's band

Australian Crawl Australian Crawl (often called Aussie Crawl or The Crawl by fans) were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano/harmonica), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David R ...

inducted into the

ARIA Hall of Fame In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

, and Reyne working in theatre ( Little Shop of Horrors) and television ( State Coroner). The album was recorded with friends and brothers Scott and Brett Kingman and further cemented his position as a unique, witty, thoughtful and challenging songwriter and singer. "Not Waving Drowning" and "Wonderful Today" were released as singles. A limited edition 2CD was released featuring live recordings of Reyne's tracks. The album was re-issued by

Liberation Records Liberation Records is an American record company based in the Los Angeles area known for do it yourself ethos and pioneering guerrilla marketing strategies. It was formed by then 16-year-old underground rock music fanzine publisher David Taba i ...

in 2006

Review

The album has been named a "critically lauded masterwork" and a "classic Australian album by one of Australia's true icons." From the opening track, "Wonderful Today", to the closing track, "Stranger than Fiction" (which looks at the incredibly odd Baptist boycott of the

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

), this album covers a huge spectrum of musical styles. Tomas Mureika of

All Music AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said "Without question, ''Design for Living'' is James Reyne's happiest album. After a four-year hiatus from recording, Reyne returned with the dynamite one-two-three punch of "Wonderful Today," "Oh Oh Kimberley," and the title track, and he had never sounded lighter or more enthusiastic. This is not to say Reyne had softened his touch. His lyrics are still enigmatic, his trademark angst-ridden delivery intact but this is an album chock-full of potential radio-friendly singles." adding "A turn-of-the-millennium album that echoes the last of the carefree innocence of the 20th century".

Track listing

;CD (4509980932) # "Wonderful Today" - 2:59 # "Oh Oh Kimberley" - 4:16 # "Design For Living" - 3:31 # "Poetry In Motion" - 2:50 # "Nothin's Too Good For My Baby" - 4:27 # "Reno"- 5:17 # "Little Criminals" - 4:24 # "I Don't Get Out Much Anymore" - 4:52 # "Every Tooth a Tombstone" - 4:24 # "Sleeping My Way To The Top" - 5:01 # "After You've Gone" - 4:45 # "Lizards From Lounges" - 3:58 # "Not Waving, Drowning" - 2:53 # "Stranger Than Fiction" - 3:35 ; Limited Edition Bonus Disc (''

James Reyne Live 99 ''Live 99'' is a live album by Australian singer songwriter James Reyne. The album was recorded in 1999, during the promotional tour of the album ''Design for Living''. The album was originally included as a bonus disc on the limited edition of t ...

'') # "

Fall of Rome The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...

" - 5:26 # "Ferris Wheel" - 3:51 # "Harvest Moon" - 4:20 # "Take a Giant Step" - 4:59 # "Land of Hope and Glory"- 4:08 # " Any Day Above Ground" - 3:28 # "Heaven on a Stick" - 4:22 # "

Slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

" - 3:52 # "Some People" - 4:53 # "Water Water" - 5:05

Credits

* Bass – Chris Bekker, Mark Gray (tracks: 1,2,11,13) * Drums – John Watson (tracks: 1,11,13) * Electric Piano – Mark O'Connor (tracks: 1,13) * Guitar, E-bow, Strings, Vocals – Brett Kingman * Guitar, Vocals, Sequenced By rogramming– Scott Kingman * Organ, Piano – Dan Knight (tracks: 8,11) * Vocals – Lindsay Field (tracks: 1,10), Tracy Kingman (tracks: 7, 8) * Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Bass, Keyboards, Strings, Percussion – James Reyne

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1999 albums Liberation Records albums James Reyne albums