Wikipedia

Drastic Fantastic

Drastic Fantastic is the second studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall. It features some unreleased tracks she wrote before Eye to the Telescope such as new tracks she wrote in 2003. The record was released by Relentless Records on 10 September 2007 in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, on 15 September in Australia, and 18 September 2007 in the United States and Canada. However, the album was leaked on P2P networks on 3 September 2007.

Drastic Fantastic
Tunstall stands against a black background wearing a white dress and heeled boots, facing to her left. She holds a glimmering guitar. Below her is the title "Drastic Fantastic" and in the top left, the name "KT Tunstall".
Studio album by
KT Tunstall
Released10 September 2007 (2007-09-10)
Recorded2006–2007
Studio
Genre
Length39:50
LabelRelentless
ProducerSteve Osborne
KT Tunstall chronology
KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza
(2006) 		Drastic Fantastic
(2007) 		Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas
(2007)
Singles from Drastic Fantastic
  1. "Hold On"
    Released: 16 July 2007
  2. "Saving My Face"
    Released: 12 November 2007
  3. "If Only"
    Released: 3 March 2008
  4. "Little Favours[2]"
    Released: January 2009 (Brazil only)

Some additional tracks features other unreleased songs such as "Mothgirl", "Bad Day" and "Journey", and during the Drastic Fantastic Tour, Tunstall covered "La Vie En Rose", which is on the U.K Bonus tracks, "My Sharona", The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" and Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" which features on the DVD. Also, three singles were taken from Drastic Fantastic: "Hold On", the lead single, "Saving My Face" and "If Only", which all charted in the UK Top 100.

On the US Billboard 200 chart, Drastic Fantastic debuted at number nine, selling about 50,000 copies in its first week, and sold around 225,000 copies in 2007.[3]

The album was reissued on 15 January 2021 in vinyl, triple-disc, and digital formats as Drastic Fantastic: Ultimate Edition, consisting of previously unreleased songs and remixes.[4]

Artwork

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According to Tunstall, the album cover is based on Suzi Quatro.[5]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic68/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [7]
Robert Christgau [8]
Entertainment.ie     [9]
The Guardian     [10]
The Observer     [11]
Rolling Stone     [12]
The Times     [13]
Uncut     [14]

The album received warm, though conservative, praise by most critics. Music critics from The Observer gave Drastic Fantastic five stars, stating the album was "bursting with so many hits that Tunstall's comic-book life is about to go stratospheric".[11] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, and said that the album's sound was a "flashback" to 1997 by noting similarities between the songs on Drastic Fantastic and songs written 10 years earlier.[12] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album four out of five, calling Drastic Fantastic "a rare beast: a pop album with a songwriter's heart".[7]

However, some critics were less impressed, stating that the album was overproduced and lacked the "folksy" touch of her previous album Eye to the Telescope.[citation needed] The Guardian gave it three stars, stating "Tunstall could do better".[10]

Track listing

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All tracks produced by Steve Osbourne.

All tracks are written by KT Tunstall except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Little Favours" 3:09
2."If Only"KT Tunstall, Jimmy Hogarth3:46
3."White Bird" 3:13
4."Funnyman"KT Tunstall, Martin Terefe2:56
5."Hold On"KT Tunstall, Ed Case2:57
6."Hopeless" 3:41
7."I Don't Want You Now" 3:48
8."Saving My Face" 3:38
9."Beauty of Uncertainty" 5:01
10."Someday Soon"KT Tunstall, Jimmy Hogarth, Samuel Dixon3:53
11."Paper Aeroplane" 3:16
Total length:39:50
Digital bonus tracks[15]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Journey" 4:39
13."La Vie en rose" (Edith Piaf cover)Louis Guglielmi, Edith Piaf2:29
UK iTunes bonus tracks[16]
No.TitleLength
12."Bad Day"4:09
13."Suddenly I See" (Live)6:03
Australian bonus track[17]
No.TitleLength
12."Suddenly I See"3:21
Japanese bonus track[18]
No.TitleLength
12."Suddenly I See" (Live)6:03
UK Amazon MP3 bonus tracks[19]
No.TitleLength
12."Mothgirl"5:01
13."Bad Day"4:09
14."Suddenly I See" (Live)6:03

In addition with the Deluxe edition, a documentary DVD with the album.

Most songs on Drastic Fantastic are not new songs. An acoustic version of "Little Favours" and "Paper Aeroplane" appeared on the 2000 demo album Tracks in July. "Little Favours" also appeared as the B-side to "Under the Weather". "If Only", "Funnyman", and "Saving My Face" appeared on the demo album Toons March '03. Finally, Tunstall mentioned writing two new songs, "Hopeless" and "White Bird", in a blog entry from 2003.

The bonus track "Journey" appeared on KT Tunstall's early band Red Light Stylus' album Roughworks, under the title "The Journey's the Thing".

The original studio version "Suddenly I See", which appeared on Tunstall's first album Eye to the Telescope in 2004, was included as a bonus track on the Australian release due to the song's popularity in the country.

Singles

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  • "Hold On" was released as the album's lead single on 16 July 2007 in the United States, and on 27 August in the United Kingdom.
  • "Saving My Face" was chosen as the second single; it was released on 12 November 2007.
  • "If Only" was released on 3 March 2008.
  • A video for the song "Little Favours" was released in many music channels of Brazil (such as MTV Brasil & Multishow).[20] The video is directed by Chris Bran, did not feature KT and only shows a KT Tunstall fan and ex-teacher Mr. Fritte with a puppet with strings, that he calls The Tunstallator.[21]

The song is featured on the Brazilian soap opera Três Irmãs.[2]

"Someday Soon" is available as a single on Internet music stores such as iTunes and Rhapsody. It was featured in the film The Women in a montage featuring Annette Bening and Meg Ryan.

Personnel

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  • KT Tunstall – vocals, guitar, piano
  • Luke Bullen – drums, percussion
  • Sam Lewis – backing guitar
  • Steve Osborne – bass, backing guitar, keyboards
  • Arnulf Lindner – bass, double bass
  • Kenny Dickenson – piano, keyboards
  • Cat Sforza – backing vocals
  • Gita Harcourt – backing vocals

Charts and certifications

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Release history

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Region Date
Europe 10 September 2007 (2007-09-10)
Australia 15 September 2007 (2007-09-15)
Canada 18 September 2007 (2007-09-18)
United States

References

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  1. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Drastic Fantstic - KT Tunstall". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Som Livre". Som Livre. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  3. ^ Katie Hasty, "Reba Outmuscles Kanye, 50 To Score First No. 1", Billboard.com, 26 September 2007.
  4. ^ Sexton, Paul (18 November 2020). "KT Tunstall Readies 'Ultimate Edition' Of Second Album 'Drastic Fantastic'". uDiscover Music.
  5. ^ "andPOP Interviews KT Tunstall - ANDPOP.com". www.andpop.com. Thornhill, Ontario, Canada: andPOP. Archived from the original on 27 May 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Album Review". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  7. ^ a b "Drastic Fantastic". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  8. ^ "Robert Christgau: CG: KT Tunstall". www.robertchristgau.com.
  9. ^ [1][permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ a b Clarke, Betty (7 September 2007). "CD: KT Tunstall, Drastic Fantastic". The Guardian. London.
  11. ^ a b Raphael, Amy (12 August 2007). "CD: K T Tunstall, Drastic Fantastic". The Guardian. London.
  12. ^ a b Sheffield, Rob (7 September 2007). "KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  13. ^ Asthana, Anushka. "CD: K T Tunstall, Drastic Fantastic". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011.
  14. ^ "KT Tunstall - K.T. Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic - Review - Uncut.co.uk". Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  15. ^ "Drastic Fantastic – AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  16. ^ "iTunes – Music – Drastic Fantastic by KT Tunstall". iTunes. Archived from the original on 14 September 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  17. ^ "KT Tunstall – Drastic Fantastic (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  18. ^ "Music: Amazon.com: Drastic Fantastic". Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  19. ^ "Drastic Fantastic: KT Tunstall: Amazon.co.uk: MP3 Downloads". Amazon UK. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  20. ^ "Little Favours – KT Tunstall (Letra e Vídeo) no Kboing". Letras.kboing.com.br. Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  21. ^ "KT Tunstall – Little Favours – The Tunstallator". YouTube. Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  22. ^ Austrian Top 75 Albums Chart Archived 11 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine – Accessed 20 February 2008
  23. ^ Top 50 Albums Chart – Australian Record Industry Association Archived 22 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Nielsen SoundScan JAM! Music Charts[usurped] – Top 100 Albums: Accessed 27 September 2007
  25. ^ French Albums Chart – acharts.us Accessed 20 September 2007
  26. ^ German Top 100 Albums Chart Archived 25 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Accessed 26 September 2007
  27. ^ KT Tunstall – Drastic Fantastic Archived 20 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. IRMA. Accessed 14 September 2007
  28. ^ Italian Albums Chart Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine – Accessed 20 September 2007
  29. ^ Oricon. "ＫＴ タンストール". oricon.com. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  30. ^ "KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic". Official Charts. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  31. ^ Megacharts Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Accessed 17 September 2007
  32. ^ New Zealand Albums Top 40 – acharts.us Accessed 20 September 2007
  33. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  34. ^ "KT Tunstall - Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  35. ^ "KT Tunstall - Chart History (Billboard Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  36. ^ "KT Tunstall - Chart History (Billboard Digital Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  37. ^ "KT Tunstall - Chart History (Billboard Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  38. ^ Gumble, Daniel (14 November 2016). "Women In Music: Inspirational Artist KT Tunstall". Music Week. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  39. ^ "British album certifications – KT Tunstall – Drastic Fantastic". British Phonographic Industry.
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