''East West'' is the fifth album by English musician

Julia Fordham Julia Fordham (born 10 August 1962) is a British singer-songwriter. Her professional career started in the early 1980s, under the name "Jules Fordham", as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and Kim Wilde, before signing a recording contract of h ...

, released in 1997. It was Fordham's final studio album for

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

Production

The album was produced by

Michael Brook Michael Brook (born 1951) is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, music producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores. His collaborations with musicians around the worl ...

. Members of

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

's band served as backing musicians.

Judith Owen Judith Owen (born 2 January 1969) is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her first North American album, ''Emotions on a Postcard'', was released in 1996 and has been followed by several additional albums. She is co-founder of Twanky Records with her hu ...

played piano on "More Than I Can Bear".

James Fearnley James Fearnley (born 9 October 1954, Worsley) is an English musician. He played accordion in the Celtic punk band The Pogues. Life and career As a child he was a choir treble before his voice changed at the age of sixteen. He took piano less ...

played accordion on "I Can Tell You Anything".

Critical reception

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' wrote that most of the musical settings "not only subtly highlight the sheer beauty of Fordham's voice, they quietly dramatize the emotional yearning and vulnerability that shapes the album's songs." The ''

Knoxville News Sentinel The ''Knoxville News Sentinel, also known as Knox News,'' is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: ''The ...

'' declared that "Fordham's rich voice is a marvel ... She conveys a cool British demeanor, but she is affecting and genuine." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' thought that "amid all the talk about '

girl power Girl power is a slogan that encourages and celebrates women's empowerment, independence, confidence and strength. The slogan's invention is credited to the US punk band Bikini Kill, who published a zine called ''Bikini Kill #2: Girl Power'' in 1 ...

' resounding in the media, some grown women continue to make lovely, complicated pop music about the ambiguities of maturity." ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' stated that Fordham's "smoldering soprano and confessional songs simmer in a soulful stew." The ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...

'' concluded that "with its tempo locked at a moderate swing and lots of innocuous strumming throughout, it quickly becomes stale."

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 databas ...

wrote that "Fordham possesses a gorgeous, dusky voice that is reminiscent of

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

and

Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard ( ; born 18 June 1961) is an English singer noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice. She came to prominence as half of the duo Yazoo (also known as Yaz), but has since mainly worked as a solo artist. Her ...

Track listing

All tracks written by

, except where noted.

Personnel

Adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

Musicians

– lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitars, keyboards *

–

Infinite Guitar The Infinite Guitar is a modified electric guitar created by Michael Brook, as a way of allowing a note to be held with infinite sustain (hence the name). It consists of an electronic circuit that takes the signal from a standard guitar pickup, amp ...

, guitars, keyboards *Lenny Castro – percussion, shaker *David Clifton – electric guitars, acoustic guitars *

–

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

*Mauricio Lewak – drums *Jason Lewis – percussion *Kevin McCormick – bass guitar *Paul PJ Moore – keyboards *

– piano *

Martin Tillman Martin Tillman (born 6 November 1964) is a Swiss cellist and composer. Biography Tillman was born in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1964. He arrived in the US in 1988. He has since performed/composed on numerous films, television shows, commercials and ...

– cello *Jeff Young – piano, keyboards,

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

Production

*Produced and arranged by Michael Brook and Julia Fordham *Recorded and mixed by Jeff DeMorris, except tracks 2 and 3 recorded by Michael Brook, mixed by Michael Brook and Julia Fordham; track 5 recorded by Jeff DeMorris, Bill Jackson and Michael Brook, mixed by Bill Jackson, Michael Brook and Julia Fordham; track 6 recorded by Julie Last, mixed by Bill Jackson *Programming by Michael Brook *Recorded at

Ocean Way Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

, Los Angeles, except for tracks 2 and 3 recorded at Hybrid, San Francisco; track 5 recorded at Ocean Way, Los Angeles and Hybrid, San Francisco *Mastered by

Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charles ...

at The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles *Art direction by Robbie Cavolina and Julia Fordham *Photography by Lisa Peardon

References

External links

''East West''
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{Julia Fordham Julia Fordham albums 1997 albums Virgin Records albums