'Sleeping Satelite' is a staple of radio stations, and remains gorgeous, but no one should dismiss the album, for each of the remaining 10 tracks are concrete strong.
Aching, heart-rending ballads, with a delicious minimalist approach ('Ripped Inside', 'In Your Care', 'When It Comes Down To It') puts her winsome, aching vocals forefront.
Subjects here range from disregarding the world for space-exploration (the big hit), financially decimated townships, bogus religious leaders on the enticing swoop of intriguingly chosen third single 'Lords of the New Church', to the impoverished and the build-'em-up-to-knock-em-down regime of the business the lady now finds herself in; since her long-awaited but disappointing sophomore album consigned her to the scrapheap!
Disc Two - Bloom (Expanded Edition) (1996):
1. 'Sweet Little Truth'
2. 'After Hell'
3. 'One More Good Night With The Boys'
4. 'Rain Falling'
5. 'I Like It So'
6. 'Breaking My Back'
7. 'I Would Love To Be Right'
8. 'You Made a Fool of Me'
9. 'Memory'
10. 'Give In With Grace'
11. 'In Your Garden'
12. 'Guilty'
13.' Itchycoo Park'
14. 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds'
15. 'Obeah Wedding' (Live)
16. 'Shipbuilding'
17. 'Deep Dark Truthful Mirror'
18. 'All Grown Up'
19. 'New Amsterdam'
As aforementioned, and since her long-awaited, but disappointing sophomore album ('Bloom') consigned her to the scrapheap, personally, I don't see why it was so torn apart by the press / media at the time.
Tasmin still featured songs that were multi-pronged, intelligently approached and featured pure good-old fashioned instrument playing, alongside a select choice of well-constructed melody and winning choruses, but listening to it again today (with fresh ears, so to speak), sure, it's massively lacking in the hook-filled memorable winners arena, but it's just not that bad, truly.
That all said, you can listen to many good songs on Bloom, like 'Sweet Little Truth', 'One More Good Night with the Boys', 'I Would Love to Be Right', 'You Made a Fool of Me', 'Give in with Grace' and even the magical 'In Your Garden.
On a couple of the songs, cellist Caroline Lavelle is one of the musicians, while Mitchell Froom is the producer and one of the musicians too.
Oh, and this expanded edition now also contains her cover of Elvis Costello's brilliant 'Shipbuilding,' which she actually had released in 1994 as a stand alone EP (that itself featured a wonderful 8 tracks), along with her very rare version of ‘Itchycoo Park.’
As for why it "failed," well, it's an age old business story, I'm afraid. EMI Records were not supportive of the material that Tasmin had recorded, deeming it too uncommercial and too removed from the sound of her debut album.
Indeed, Tasmin and her songwriting partner John Hughes had to fight for almost a year with EMI executives to get the album released in the form they wanted it to be. Sadly, that didn't help their cause as it only reached #95 on the UK Albums Chart that year of release.
Disc Three - One More
1. 'Sleeping Satellite' (Extended Version)
2. 'Lords of the New Church' (Remix)
3. 'Ripped Inside' (12” Version)
4. 'The Higher You Climb' (Remix)
5. 'When It Comes Down To It' (12” Version)
6. 'Ripped Inside' (Ben Chapman Mix)
7. 'Sleeping Satellite' (Fitz Mix)
8. 'In You Care' (Live)
9. 'Lords of the New Church' (Live)
10. 'Steeltown' (Live)
11. 'Man At The Window' (Live)
12. 'After Hell' (Live)
13. 'Rain Falling' (Live)
14. 'Sleeping Satellite' (Rock Version)
The third and final disc is entitled One More and is a collection of 14 fully remastered alternative and extended mixes of her singles, but moreover features nearly all the aforementioned Shipbuilding EP live collection of songs (which include covers of songs written by Elvis Costello).
Given that, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Tasmin parted ways with her major label back in the day after her sophomore slump, she actually didn't make another album for 10 years, and then brought out 2006’s On.
So, and with not much having been heard of her since, and her only other release that comes close to this expanded feel being EMI’s 2009 The Best of Tasmin Archer - which also includes remixes, 12″ extended versions, et al - this new Cherry Red UK 3CD release 'Sweet Little Truths: EMI Years 1992-1996 is the dawn of yet another joyous deep dive back into an era of music seemingly long since forgotten, and yet resounding still has a heartbeat much stronger than most all music being force fed us today!
This 3CD Box-Set also adds detailed liner notes, photos and a complete discography to the package.
www.CherryRed.co.uk