''Drastic Fantastic'' is the second studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall. It features some unreleased tracks she wrote before '' Eye to the Telescope'' such as new tracks she wrote in 2003. The record was released by

Relentless Records Relentless Records is a British boutique and independent record label currently headed by co-founder Shabs Jobanputra. Originally known for UK garage singles such as Artful Dodger's " Re-Rewind" and B-15 Project's " Girls Like Us", Relentle ...

on 10 September 2007 in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, on 15 September in Australia, and 18 September 2007 in the United States and Canada. However, the album was leaked on

P2P P2P may refer to: * Pay to play, where money is exchanged for services * Peer-to-peer, a distributed application architecture in computing or networking ** List of P2P protocols * Phenylacetone, an organic compound commonly known as P2P * Poin ...

networks on 3 September 2007. Some additional tracks features other unreleased songs such as "Mothgirl", "Bad Day" and "Journey", and during the Drastic Fantastic Tour, Tunstall covered " La Vie En Rose", which is on the U.K Bonus tracks, "

My Sharona "My Sharona" () is the debut single by the Knack. The song was written by Berton Averre and Doug Fieger, and it was released in 1979 from their debut album, '' Get the Knack''. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart, ...

The Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including " Manic Monday" (1986), " Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), "Hazy Shad ...

' "

Walk Like an Egyptian "Walk Like an Egyptian" is a song recorded by the American band the Bangles. It was released in 1986 as the third single from the album ''Different Light''. It was the band's first number one single, being certified gold by the RIAA, and became ...

" and Chaka Khan's "

Ain't Nobody "Ain't Nobody" is a song by American funk band Rufus and American singer Chaka Khan. It was released on November 4, 1983, as one of four studio tracks included on their live album, ''Stompin' at the Savoy'' (1983). "Ain't Nobody" quickly gather ...

" which features on the DVD. Also, three singles were taken from ''Drastic Fantastic'': "

Hold On Hold On may refer to: Music Albums and EPs * ''Hold On!'' (album), by Herman's Hermits, 1966 * ''Hold On'' (Trapeze album), or the title song, 1978 * ''Hold On'' (High Inergy album), 1980 * ''Hold On'' (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album), 1987 * ...

", the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

, " Saving My Face" and "

If Only If Only may refer to: * ''If Only'' (film), a 2004 film directed by Gil Junger * ''If Only'' (TV series), an Armenian TV series * ''If Only'' (book), Geri Halliwell's 1999 autobiography * "If Only" (Dove Cameron song), 2015 * "If Only" (KT Tunstall ...

", which all charted in the UK Top 100. On the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, ''Drastic Fantastic'' debuted at number nine, selling about 50,000 copies in its first week, and sold around 225,000 copies in 2007. The album was reissued on 15 January 2021 in vinyl, triple-disc, and digital formats as ''Drastic Fantastic: Ultimate Edition'', consisting of previously unreleased songs and remixes.

Artwork

According to Tunstall, the album cover is based on

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, reaching No. 1 in th ...

Critical reception

The album received warm, though conservative, praise by most critics. Music critics from ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' gave ''Drastic Fantastic'' five stars, stating the album was "bursting with so many hits that Tunstall's comic-book life is about to go stratospheric". Rob Sheffield of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, and said that the album's sound was a "flashback" to 1997 by noting similarities between the songs on ''Drastic Fantastic'' and songs written 10 years earlier. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of ''

Allmusic 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 databa ...

'' gave the album four out of five, calling ''Drastic Fantastic'' "a rare beast: a pop album with a songwriter's heart". However, some critics were less impressed, stating that the album was overproduced and lacked the "folksy" touch of her previous album '' Eye to the Telescope''. ''The Guardian'' gave it three stars, stating "Tunstall could do better".

Track listing

All tracks produced by Steve Osbourne. In addition with the Deluxe edition, a documentary DVD with the album. Most songs on ''Drastic Fantastic'' are not new songs. An acoustic version of "Little Favours" and "Paper Aeroplane" appeared on the 2000 demo album ''Tracks in July''. "Little Favours" also appeared as the B-side to " Under the Weather". "If Only", "Funnyman", and "Saving My Face" appeared on the demo album ''Toons March '03''. Finally, Tunstall mentioned writing two new songs, "Hopeless" and "White Bird", in a blog entry from 2003. The bonus track "Journey" appeared on KT Tunstall's early band Red Light Stylus' album ''Roughworks'', under the title "The Journey's the Thing".

Singles

" was released as the album's

on 16 July 2007 in the United States, and on 27 August in the United Kingdom. *" Saving My Face" was chosen as the second single; it was released on 12 November 2007. *"

" was released on 3 March 2008. * A video for the song " Little Favours" was released in many music channels of Brazil (such as

MTV Brasil MTV Brasil was a Brazilian over-the-air television network owned by Grupo Abril focused on the youth. The network was launched on 20 October 1990, as the first specialty television network to broadcast over-the-air, becoming the local version ...

Multishow Multishow is an entertainment channel owned by Canais Globo, Grupo Globo's cable television, cable and satellite television channel operator. It was launched in 1991, as one of the company's first four channels (with Rede Telecine, Telecine, Top ...

). The video is directed by Chris Bran, did not feature KT and only shows a KT Tunstall fan and ex-teacher Mr. Fritte with a puppet with strings, that he calls The Tunstallator. The song is featured on the Brazilian soap opera Três Irmãs. "Someday Soon" is available as a single on Internet music stores such as iTunes and

Rhapsody Rhapsody may refer to: * A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time ** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry Computer software * Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...

. It was featured in the film The Women in a montage featuring

Annette Bening Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominati ...

and

Meg Ryan Meg Ryan (born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra; November 19, 1961) is an American actress. She began her acting career in 1981 when she made her acting debut in the drama film ''Rich and Famous''. She later joined the cast of the CBS soap oper ...

Personnel

* KT Tunstall – vocals, guitar, piano *

Luke Bullen Luke Bullen (born 9 February 1973 in Norwich, England) is an English drummer and percussionist. Bullen studied at London drum school Drumtech and joined the band Addict in 1995; the band was signed to V2 Records in 1996. Bullen left Addict in 2 ...

– drums, percussion * Sam Lewis – backing guitar *

Steve Osborne Stephen John "Steve" Osborne (born 1963) is a British record producer, living in Bath, England. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, including Suede, the B-52s, A-ha, New Order, Elbow, U2, Happy Mondays, Placebo, Gregory Porter, Do ...

– bass, backing guitar, keyboards * Arnulf Lindner – bass, double bass * Kenny Dickenson – piano, keyboards * Cat Sforza – backing vocals * Gita Harcourt – backing vocals

Charts and certifications

Chart positions

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2007 albums KT Tunstall albums Albums produced by Steve Osborne Virgin Records singles Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios