Tigers and Fireflies

Tigers and Fireflies is an album released by Lynsey de Paul^[1] in 1979 on the Polydor record label.^[2][3][4][5] It was launched at a special event at the Mayfair Club in London, with de Paul looking similar to the 1940s film star Veronica Lake. Recorded at Long View Farm Studios^[6][7] and produced by Rupert Holmes,^[8][9] the album features lead single "Hollywood Romance"^[10] (co-written by de Paul and David Jordan) which was well received and became a radio hit,^[11] and the follow-up single "Tigers and Fireflies".^[12] Other tracks include "Losin' the Blues for You" and "Melancholy Melon", both co-written by de Paul and her boyfriend at the time,^[13][14] the actor James Coburn,^[15][16][17] "'Twas" was a piano bar song with a blues tinged feel that was co-written with the album's producer, Rupert Holmes.^{[18][11][19][20]} De Paul teamed up with former Eurovision singing partner Mike Moran to write the jaunty, jazzy and uptempo "Without You". The album also featured an updated, rerecording of her earlier hit single "My Man and Me", giving it a more blues/country style than the original ballad.^[4][21]

As noted elsewhere, de Paul's vocals has never sounded stronger, in a style somewhere between Crystal Gayle and Maria Muldaur, in spite of her having a bout of hay fever at the time.^[22] The album also received positive reviews in the music press.^[23]

Tom "Bones" Malone played brass, reeds and flutes on the album.^[24] Jesse Henderson was the engineer and mixed the album.^[25] Six of the tracks, including the title track and "Melancholy Melon", were finally released on CD on de Pauls' anthology CD Into My Music in March 2013 and the original album sleeve was used for a limited issue release in Japan.^[26][27] In his 1986 biography, Justin de Villeneuve, de Paul's manager at the time wrote "I gave Rupert Holmes a call in New York. He agreed to see me if I flew to America. Polydor, with the prospect of the involvement with Holmes, agreed to up the budget".^[22]

Track listing

A-side

1. "Hollywood Romance" (written by Lynsey de Paul and Dave Jordan)^[28][29]
2. "My Man and Me" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[28][29]
3. "Without You" (written by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran)^[28][29]
4. "Forever and a Day" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[28][29]
5. "Tigers and Fireflies" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[28][29]

B-side

1. "Melancholy Melon" (written by Lynsey de Paul and James Coburn)^[28][29]
2. "Losin' the Blues for You" (written by Lynsey de Paul and James Coburn)^[28][29]
3. "Before You Go Tonight" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[28][29]
4. "'Twas" (written by Lynsey de Paul and Rupert Holmes)^[28][29]
5. "Beautiful" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[28][29]

References