''Great Expectations'' is the debut album by English singer-songwriter

Tasmin Archer Tasmin Archer (born 3 August 1963) is a British pop singer from Bradford, England. Her first album, ''Great Expectations'', spawned the hit "Sleeping Satellite", which reached number one in the United Kingdom and Ireland. She won the Brit Awa ...

, released in late 1992 on

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

. The first single released from the album, "

Sleeping Satellite "Sleeping Satellite" is a song by British singer-songwriter Tasmin Archer, released in September 1992 as the first single from her debut album, '' Great Expectations'' (1992). Co-written by Archer, the song received favorable reviews from music ...

", went to number one both in the UK and Ireland, while sitting just outside the top 10 in Germany (No. 12). Three more UK singles were released from the album in the wake of Archer's initial success: " In Your Care" (UK No. 16), " Lords of the New Church" (UK No. 26) and " Arienne" (UK No. 30). The album was later released in the United States on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, and was mildly successful due to the single "Sleeping Satellite", which peaked at number 32 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album itself reached a peak of number 115 in the US. The single and album fared better in other parts of the world, however, such as Australia (single reached No. 14; album peaked at 56).

Critical reception

Nancy Culp from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' wrote, "Tasmin is something of a vocal find, her strong, pure tones can imbue even the limpest tune with pathos. It's when she lets rip with the ballads that she really shines."

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

– vocals *

Tessa Niles Tessa Margaret Niles ( ''née'' Webb; born 27 January 1961 in Ilford, Essex) is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of contemporary artists. She began her professional singing career in 1979. Early life and ca ...

Carol Kenyon Carol Kenyon (sometimes spelt Karol; born 1959) is a British singer. She is best known for her vocals on the Heaven 17 hit song "Temptation", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1983. When the song was re-released as a remix by ...

– backing vocals *John Hughes – guitars, keyboards *Peter Kaye – guitars, Fairlight programming *Steve Blades,

Robbie McIntosh Robbie McIntosh (born 25 October 1957) is an English guitarist. McIntosh is well known as a session guitarist and member of The Pretenders from 1982 until 1987. In 1988 he began doing session guitar work for Paul McCartney joining his band fu ...

Phil Palmer Philip John Palmer (born 9 September 1952) is a rock sideman and session guitarist who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous artists. He is best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Dire Straits. Biography Palmer grew up in nort ...

Elliott Randall Elliott Randall (born June 15, 1947) is an American guitarist best known for being a session musician with popular artists. Randall played the well-known guitar solos from Steely Dan's song "Reelin' in the Years" and Irene Cara's song " Fame". The ...

, Tony Wimshurst – guitars * John Beck – keyboards *

Paul Wickens Paul Wickens (born 27 March 1956) is an English musician, composer, and record producer, professionally known as Wix. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Wickens has worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bon J ...

– keyboards, accordion *Gary Maughn – Fairlight programming *

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...

– double bass * Charlie Morgan – Drums

Production

*Tracks 1, 4, 5, and 11 produced by

Julian Mendelsohn Julian Mendelsohn is an Australian record producer, audio engineer and mixer. Early life After completing school in Australia, Mendelsohn moved to the United Kingdom. He secured his first job in 1974 at Milner Sound Fulham Rd. Chelsea, run b ...

& Paul "Wix" Wickens *Tracks 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 produced by Julian Mendelsohn & Peter Kaye *Track 10 produced by John Hughes and

Steve Fitzmaurice Stephen Fitzmaurice is an Irish mixer and producer based in London, England. His credits include albums for Depeche Mode, Seal, Sam Smith, Ian Brown, Kylie Minogue, Sting, Paloma Faith, Olly Murs, The Kooks, Alicia Keys, U2, Hikaru Utada, an ...

*All songs recorded by Steve Fitzmaurice except tracks 4, 5, and 11 (recorded by Julian Mendelsohn). *Mixed by Julian Mendelsohn

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1992 debut albums Tasmin Archer albums EMI Records albums Capitol Records albums Albums produced by Julian Mendelsohn