''Shangri-La'' is the sixth studio album by
The Blackeyed Susans ''For the American band with a similar name, see Blackeyed Susan.''
The Blackeyed Susans are an Australian rock band, which formed in Perth in 1989. Long serving members are Phil Kakulas on bass guitar, guitar and vocals; and Rob Snarski on vo ...
, released in July
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
. After initial writing sessions in mid-1999, recording of the album was scheduled for 2000. It was postponed when the band’s then record company, Mds, was bought by
Festival Records
Festival Records (later known as Festival Mushroom Records) was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005.
Festival was a wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to ...
. The band eventually returned to the project in 2002, after their covers album
Dedicated to the Ones We Love
''Dedicated to the Ones We Love'' is the fifth studio album by the Australian folk rock group The Blackeyed Susans and was released on 23 April 2001. It is the first issued on their own label, Teardrop, and was distributed through Shock Records. ...
. It was released on their own label, Teardrop, the following year.
The title of the album
Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...
, refers to an illusory island paradise, a lost utopia that exists only in imagination and metaphor an
apt
Apt. is an abbreviation for apartment.
Apt may also refer to:
Places
* Apt Cathedral, a former cathedral, and national monument of France, in the town of Apt in Provence
* Apt, Vaucluse, a commune of the Vaucluse département of France
* A ...
name considering it was almost abandoned as an impossible project. In an interview Phil Kakulas commented
''"It was named before, back when I still had all faith that it would be released," Kakulas begins, "but it seems almost prophetic in that we did almost lose it. The name 'Shangri-La' seems to sum up a lot of what the album is about. The songs seem to deal with what happiness might be and where you might find happiness. Also I've been listening to a lot of the Shangri-Las, the girl group, and I like that seedy neon lights appeal. My vision of Shangri-La is much more like Vegas or something like that. It's a fools paradise."''
''Shangri-La'' was nominated for 'Best Adult Contemporary Album' at the
2003 ARIA Awards, missing out to
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a Teen idol, teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an Adu ...
's ''
The Last Time''.
Track listing
All songs written by Phil Kakulas and
Rob Snarski, except where noted.
[ Note: requires user to input song title e.g. A CAT NEEDS A MOUSE]
# "A Cat Needs A Mouse" (Phil Kakulas, Dan Luscombe, Rob Snarski) – 3:15
# "End Of Time" – 5:04
# "Open All Hours" (Kiernan Box, Phil Kakulas, Dan Luscombe) – 4:47
# "My Body (Has A Mind Of Its Own)" (Kiernan Box, Phil Kakulas, Dan Luscombe) – 3:27
# "Deliver Me" – 5:26
# "Lost Horizon" (Kiernan Box, Phil Kakulas, Dan Luscombe, Rob Snarski) – 4:43
# "Hard Stuff" (Phil Kakulas, Dan Luscombe, Smith) – 3:48
# "The Eastern States" (Phil Kakulas, Dan Luscombe) – 5:52
# "Shangri-La" (Kiernan Box, Phil Kakulas) – 3:27
# "It’s Gonna Rain" – 5:34
# "Indian Summer" (Kiernan Box, Matt Habben) – 2:57
# "Endless Night" (Mark Dawson, Phil Kakulas, Rob Snarski) – 7:50
Personnel
Blackeyed Susans
* Mark Dawson
* Phil Kakulas
* Kiernan Box
* Dan Luscombe
* Rob Snarski
Additional musicians
* Matt Habben - clarinet, saxophone
* Adam Hutterer - trombone
* Craig Pilkington – trumpet
* Jen Anderson – violin, viola
* Helen Mountford – cello
References
{{Authority control
The Blackeyed Susans albums
2003 albums