''Gathering Mercury'' is the eleventh studio album by
Colin Hay, released on 9 May 2011, on
Compass Records.
Regarding the album's thematic content, Hay said, "I think it’s about life and loss and the injustice of the way the universe is set up; how we lose people we love."
Background and recording
The album is partly inspired by the death of Hay's father in 2010. On the album's release, Hay noted, "The loss of my father last year brought an unavoidable emotional contingent to writing and recording. I don’t have a definitive belief in an afterlife, but I do feel like I had his help when I was working on this album, especially alone late at night, in the studio.
..The night my father died, I was in
Glasgow on the
River Clyde
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
, about twenty streets away from where he was born. There’s some kind of bleak poetry in that, very bleak."
''Gathering Mercury'' was recorded at Hay's home studio, The Washroom.
Reception
Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album a positive review, writing, "Although it’s a full production with electric guitars, pianos, backing voices, and drums, it leaves the impression of an intimate acoustic performance, partially because the songs are so casually lyrical in their description of the everyday."
Track listing
#"Send Somebody" (Georgiades, Hay) – 4:37
#"Family Man" (Hay) – 4:24
#"Invisible" (Hay) – 4:03
#"Dear Father" (Hay) – 3:19
#"Gathering Mercury" (Hay, Noel) – 4:21
#"Half A Million Angels" (Georgiades) – 4:03
#"Far From Home" (Hay) – 3:53
#"Where The Sky Is Blue" (Hay) – 4:05
#"A Simple Song" (Hay) – 3:30
#"Goodnight Romeo" (Hay) – 2:49
;Deluxe edition tracks
#"Send Somebody (Stripped Mix)" (Hay) - 4:35
#"Invisible (Stripped Mix)" (Hay) - 3:51
#"Half A Million Angels (Stripped Mix)" (Hay) - 4:03
#"Where The Sky Is Blue (Stripped Mix)" (Hay) - 4:05
Personnel
Musicians
*
Colin Hay - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, gryphon twelve-string guitar (''4''), harmonium (''4, 10''), lap steel guitar (''8''), banjo (''8''), woodskin (''9'')
*
Chad Fischer
Chad Fischer is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer from Santa Monica, California, also known as the frontman of the band Lazlo Bane.
Early years
Chad Fischer's early work was being a drummer for the ban ...
- drums (''1, 8'') percussion (''1, 2, 5, 7'') piano (''1, 5''), backing vocals (''1, 5''), bass guitar (''5''), xylophone (''1''), bells (''2''), mellotron (''4'')
*Joe Karnes - bass guitar (''1, 7, 8'')
*Jeff Babko - piano (''2, 6, 8''), organ (''3, 7'')
*
Jimmy Earl
James Christopher Earl (born 1957) is an American jazz bass guitarist who is a member of the ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' band.
Early life and education
In 1957, James Christopher Earl was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to James and Sylvia Earl. He i ...
- bass guitar (''2, 3, 6'')
*Cecilia Nöel - harmony and backing vocals (''3, 6, 7, 8''), maracas (''9'')
*Charlie Paxson - drums (''2'')
*Michael Georgiades - acoustic and electric guitars (''1''), backing vocals (''1'')
*
Randy Cooke - drums (''3, 6, 7'')
*Sean Woolstenhulme - electric guitar (''3, 6'')
*
Luis Conte - percussion (''3, 6'')
*
Oliver Kraus
Oliver Kraus (born 1970 in Shepherd's Bush, London) is an English musician best known for his work as a cellist and string arranger/ producer and composer for film and television.
String Arrangements and Performance
Kraus has performed with nume ...
- cello, viola and string arrangements (''4'')
*
Rob Clores
Rob Clores is an American, New York-based keyboard player and composer who has toured and recorded with Jesse Malin, The Black Crowes, Tom Jones,
Men at Work frontman Colin Hay, Marius Muller Westernhagen, Enrique Iglesias, Blues Travele ...
- piano and harmonium (''5'')
*
Kaveh Rastegar
Kaveh Rastegar is a Persian-American Grammy-nominated songwriter, record producer, composer, and bass guitarist. Rastegar was born in Montreal and raised in Denver, Colorado. He currently resides in the Los Angeles/Pasadena area with his fiancé ...
- double bass (''9'')
Recording personnel
*
Colin Hay - producer, engineer
*Chad Fischer - co-producer (''1, 5''), additional engineering, mixing
*Randy LeRoy - mastering
Artwork
*Martin Smith - photography
*Robert Hakalski - package design, booklet photos
References
External links
*
Colin Hay is still at workMan at Work: A Colin Hay Q&AColin Hay a working man from way back
{{Authority control
Colin Hay albums
2011 albums