| Trip the Light Fantastic | ||||
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| Studio album by Sophie Ellis-Bextor | ||||
| Released | 21 May 2007 | |||
| Recorded | 2005–2007 | |||
| Genre | Pop, dance-pop, nu-disco, electropop, pop rock | |||
| Length | 53:27 | |||
| Label | Fascination | |||
| Producer | Greg Kurstin, Matt Prime, Jeremy Wheatley, Brio Taliaferro, Matt Rowe, Richard Stannard, Dimitri Tikovoi, Liam Howe, Xenomania, Pascal Gabriel | |||
| Sophie Ellis-Bextor chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Trip the Light Fantastic | ||||
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Trip the Light Fantastic is the third solo album by British pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor. It was released on 21 May 2007 following the release of the lead single, "Catch You" and the second single, "Me and My Imagination". The album was available to stream via the internet on 18 May 2007, three days before the official release date. It debuted on the UK Albums Chart at #7, however, fell out of the Top 40 after just three weeks. "Today the Sun's on Us" was the third single released from the album on 13 August 2007, and such caused the album to re-enter the UK Albums Chart at #39. In an interview with Digital Spy, Sophie confirmed that the fourth single from the album was to be "If I Can't Dance",[2], and on 5 May 2008, the single was released exclusively via the iTunes store. The song also appeared on the soundtrack to the film St Trinian's. The album became Sophie's second album to be available digitally in the United States, being able to be purchased via Amazon.com. To date, the album has sold 42,753 copies in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
In an interview for Digital Spy, Ellis-Bextor claimed she recorded four duets for the album, however, decided not to include any of them on request of her record label.[3] Despite this, Dan Gillespie Sells provides backing vocals for two songs on the album, and Fred Schneider provides backing vocals on another. Originally, Ellis-Bextor claimed she would not appear on the album's cover, however, she later claimed that she had changed her mind. She commented, "It's sparkly, but hopefully it's got a bit more depth than just a nice picture of me on the cover!"[4] Ellis-Bextor worked on the album with someone she regarded as "a French guy named Dimitri", who was rumoured to be Dimitri from Paris, but turned out to be Dimitri Tikovoi.[5] She also worked on the album with her ex-band mate Kerin Smith, of theaudience. The opening line in "If I Can't Dance" is, according to Sophie in an interview for The Times website, a famous quote by feminist anarchist Emma Goldman. She also revealed that she wrote around eighty songs for the album, and later admitted, "That's how many demos exist. Overall, it's probably knocking on for triple figures I'd say." She revealed that she had plans to release a song called "Hype", which sampled Kraftwerk's "The Model", but the record label denied her permission. Following its release in Australia, the album went top ten on the Australian iTunes pop albums chart and top forty on the main albums chart, but failed to chart on the ARIA Charts.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [6] |
| Digital Spy | [7] |
| Metro | [8] |
| The Sun | [9] |
| This Is Fake DIY | [10] |
| Yahoo! | [11] |
The album received positive reviews from the British press, with The Sun awarding the album 4 stars, The Times 4 stars and The Guardian 4 stars. All the reviews can be read on her official website. Sophie also received comments from Grazia magazine, who called her "the best pop artist around", and Metro, who named it the album of the week. The album was critically acclaimed, and peaked at #4 on the Keith Caulfield Billboard best albums of 2007.[12] Pitchfork Media ranked "Me and My Imagination" #87 on its list of the 100 greatest tracks of 2007.[13]
| Track listing | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | |||||
| 1. | "Catch You" | Cathy Dennis, Greg Kurstin | Kurstin | 3:19 | |||||
| 2. | "Me and My Imagination" | Ellis-Bextor, Matt Prime, Hannah Robinson | Prime, Jeremy Wheatley*, Brio Taliaferro* | 3:27 | |||||
| 3. | "Today the Sun's on Us" | Ellis-Bextor, Steve Robson, Nina Woodford | Wheatley, Taliaferro | 4:18 | |||||
| 4. | "New York City Lights" | Ellis-Bextor, Matt Rowe, Richard "Biff" Stannard | Rowe, Stannard | 3:53 | |||||
| 5. | "If I Can't Dance" | Ellis-Bextor, Dimitri Tikovoi | Tikovoi, Wheatley*, Taliaferro* | 3:27 | |||||
| 6. | "The Distance Between Us" | Ellis-Bextor, Liam Howe | Howe | 4:26 | |||||
| 7. | "If You Go" | Ellis-Bextor, Brian Higgins, Miranda Cooper, Tim Powell | Higgins, Xenomania | 3:27 | |||||
| 8. | "Only One" | Ellis-Bextor, Dan Gillespie Sells | Tikovoi, Wheatley* | 3:46 | |||||
| 9. | "Love Is Here" | Ellis-Bextor, Sells | Wheatley, Taliaferro | 4:35 | |||||
| 10. | "New Flame" | Ellis-Bextor, Tikovoi | Tikovoi, Wheatley*, Taliaferro* | 2:52 | |||||
| 11. | "China Heart" | Ellis-Bextor, Pascal Gabriel, Robinson | Gabriel | 3:44 | |||||
| 12. | "What Have We Started?" | Ellis-Bextor, Gabriel, Robinson | Gabriel | 4:08 | |||||
| UK bonus tracks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | |||||
| 13. | "Can't Have It All" | Ellis-Bextor, Eg White | Wheatley, Taliaferro | 4:08 | |||||
| 14. | "Supersonic" | Ellis-Bextor, Fred Schneider, Bruce Brody, James Staub | Wheatley, Taliaferro | 4:03 | |||||
(* - additional production)
Sophie originally planned embark on a 14-date concert tour beginning on 14 August and ending on 5 October 2007. The tour was scheduled to be a nationwide tour of the UK, including festivals such as T4 on the Beach (22 July), twice at V Festival (18 and 19 August and at Summer Sundae (11 August). However, the entire tour was postponed due to Ellis-Bextor's involvement with Take That's 34 tour dates. The Trip the Light Fantastic tour was rescheduled to resume in early 2008 "better and bigger than ever" according to Ellis-Bextor. Despite this, it was postponed once again and was said to be getting rescheduled for Autumn, but it was finally cancelled.
Sophie was also said to have had plans to also tour Ireland, continental Europe and Australia to support the album and promote the singles around the world. However, the world tour component was never officially confirmed.