''Movement in Still Life'' is the third
studio album by American
electronica artist
BT. It was released in the United Kingdom on October 8, 1999, and a different version released in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 2000. A transition towards
hip hop, it includes the singles "Godspeed", "Dreaming", and in the US, "Never Gonna Come Back Down". The original cover art is a
photogram
A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light.
The usual result is a negative shadow image th ...
, ''Invocation'', by
Adam Fuss
Adam Fuss (born 1961) is a British photographer.
Early life
Adam Fuss was born in England in 1961. His father manufactured women's coats and his mother was an Australian fashion model. Fuss's father suffered a stroke in 1963 and required cons ...
.
Background
In the United States, ''Movement in Still Life'' was entirely revamped for an American audience. This version edits every track by a few minutes and appears in an unmixed format with pauses between songs. The tracks were also rearranged: The original closer, "Satellite", was moved to the middle and replaced by the
hip hop track "Love on Haight Street", while the opening song was also moved to the centre of the record and replaced by "Madskills Mic-Chekka" and the US single "Never Gonna Come Back Down", featuring
Mike Doughty
Michael Ross Doughty ( ; born June 10, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and author. He founded the band Soul Coughing in 1992, and as of '' The Heart Watches While the Brain Burns'' (2016), has released 18 studio albums, live albums, and ...
of
Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing was an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty (also known as M. Doughty), keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. Soul Coughing developed a d ...
on vocals. "Ride", "The Hip Hop Phenomenon", "Giving Up the Ghost" and "Namistai" were replaced with "Shame" and "Smartbomb"; the latter of which was later sampled for
*NSYNC's international hit "
Pop", also produced by BT. The album's
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 version uses the UK track listing, but replaces "The Hip Hop Phenomenon" with "Never Gonna Come Back Down", mixing it into its surrounding tracks with transitions.
A song called "Far From Goodbye (Later My Love)" was released in a sampler of the album in 1999, but never released officially.
There are two versions of the album on vinyl: a double LP, with a variant of the UK track listing; and a four-LP version with eight tracks, with one song per side, featuring extended mixes. Several of these extended mixes were later added to a Special Edition double-CD set from
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, which also included other extended mixes.
Singles
''Movement in Still Life'' ties ''These Hopeful Machines'' with the most singles BT ever released from one album, largely due to the differences between the UK and US versions. Tracks like "Godspeed" and "Mercury and Solace" did well in the UK, but would not fare well on US radio, where "Never Gonna Come Back Down" and "Shame" performed well on American
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
stations. "Smartbomb" was used in several films, most notably in ''
3000 Miles to Graceland
''3000 Miles to Graceland'' is a 2001 American heist black action comedy film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Demian Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein co-wrote the script with Richard Recco. The film stars Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Courte ...
'', and was used in the video game ''
FreQuency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...
''. The
Plump DJs
Plump DJs are an English dance music duo consisting of Lee Rous and Andy Gardner, considered to be early pioneers of the breakbeat genre in late 1990s. Throughout the 2000s, they have been very prolific creatively, releasing many celebrated und ...
remix of "Smartbomb" and "Hip Hop Phenomenon" were featured in the video game ''
SSX Tricky
''SSX Tricky'', also known as ''SSX 2'' or ''SSX 2: Tricky'', is a snowboarding video game, the second game in the ''SSX'' series published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label and developed by EA Vancouver. A direct sequel to ''S ...
''. The
Plump DJs
Plump DJs are an English dance music duo consisting of Lee Rous and Andy Gardner, considered to be early pioneers of the breakbeat genre in late 1990s. Throughout the 2000s, they have been very prolific creatively, releasing many celebrated und ...
remix also appears in ''
Wipeout Fusion''. A remix of "Never Gonna Come Back Down" was featured in ''
FIFA Football 2002
''FIFA Football 2002'', commonly known as ''FIFA 2002'' and known in North America as ''FIFA Soccer 2002: Major League Soccer'', is a football simulation video game released in 2001, produced by Electronic Arts and released by EA Sports. FIFA 20 ...
''. "Ride" was originally released in 1998 as a single by 2 Phat Cunts, a group comprising BT and
Sasha.
The track "Satellite" contains excerpts from the crew of NASA space shuttle mission
STS-51-A during their post-mission press conference.
Track listing
2x vinyl version
Personnel
*
BT – all other vocals, instruments and programming
Musicians
*
Peanut Butter Wolf
Christopher George Manak (born October 8, 1969 ), better known by his stage name Peanut Butter Wolf, is an American disc jockey and record producer from San Jose, California. He is based in Los Angeles, where he moved to in 2000. He is the found ...
– record scratching on "Movement in Still Life" and "Love on Haight Street"
*
Planet Asia
Jason Cullen Green (born October 24, 1976), better known as Planet Asia, is a rapper from Fresno, California. He is prominent for being one half of the now reunited hip-hop duo the Cali Agents and is currently a member of the groups Gold Chain ...
–
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
on "Madskillz-Mic Chekka"
* Hutchi – vocals on "Madskillz-Mic Chekka"
*
Rasco
Keida Brewer (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as Rasco (a bacronym for "Realistic, Ambitious, Serious, Cautious, and Organized"), is an American rapper.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Rasco became associated with hip hop in California. ...
– vocals on "Madskillz-Mic Chekka", "Smartbomb" and "Love on Haight Street"
* DJ Davey Dave – "cuts" and "scratching" on "Madskillz-Mic Chekka" and "Smartbomb"
*
Jan Johnston
Jan Johnston (born 13th October 1968, Salford, England) is an English professional singer & songwriter, best known for collaborating with some of the world's top trance music DJs and producers.
Career
In the early 1990s, she was signed to Co ...
– vocals on "Mercury and Solace" and "Sunblind", backing vocals on "Dreaming"
*
DJ Rap
Charissa Saverio (born 7 December 1969), and better known as DJ Rap, is a British drum and bass, house and progressive electronic music producer and DJ.
While the majority of her work is in the jungle style, her more successful work is ...
– vocals on "Giving Up the Ghost"
*
Kirsty Hawkshaw
Kirsty Hawkshaw (born 26 October 1969) is an English electronic music vocalist and songwriter. In addition to her work as a solo artist, she is known as the lead vocalist of early 1990s dance group Opus III, and her collaborative work with oth ...
– vocals on "Dreaming" and "Running Down the Way Up"
* Scott Frassetto – live drums on "Satellite"
*
Richard Fortus
Richard Fortus (born November 17, 1966) is an American guitarist. He has been a member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has recorded one studio album, since 2001. Fortus has also collaborated extensively with The Psychedelic Fur ...
– guitars on "Shame", "Running Down the Way Up" and "Smartbomb"
*
Mike Doughty
Michael Ross Doughty ( ; born June 10, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and author. He founded the band Soul Coughing in 1992, and as of '' The Heart Watches While the Brain Burns'' (2016), has released 18 studio albums, live albums, and ...
– vocals on "Never Gonna Come Back Down"
* Fifty Grand – vocals on "Love on Haight Street"
Production
*
Sasha – co-production on "Ride"
*
Adam Freeland
Adam Freeland (born 7 August 1973) is an English record producer and DJ. He is also the owner and creative director of the record label Marine Parade, which has released material by artists including Evil Nine, ILS, Alex Metric and Jape. Born ...
– co-production on "Madskillz-Mic Chekka"
* Kevin Beber – co-production on "Madskillz-Mic Chekka"
* Tsunami One (
Adam Freeland
Adam Freeland (born 7 August 1973) is an English record producer and DJ. He is also the owner and creative director of the record label Marine Parade, which has released material by artists including Evil Nine, ILS, Alex Metric and Jape. Born ...
& Kevin Beber) – co-production on "The Hip Hop Phenomenon"
*
Paul van Dyk
Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...
– co-production on "Namasté"
*
Hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
– co-production on "Running Down the Way Up" and co-credited with "Godspeed"
Charts
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Movement In Still Life
1999 albums
2000 albums
BT (musician) albums
Nettwerk Records albums
Breakbeat albums