Katrina and the Waves 2 is the second album by new wave band Katrina and the Waves, released in 1984. The album was originally only released in Canada on the Attic Records label.
It was included on the 2003 compilation The Original Recordings 1983–1984, and also re-released with five bonus tracks in 2010 through the CGB label.
Six of the album's songs would be reworked for the band's major label debut Katrina and the Waves.
After cutting their first two 12" releases on the cheap, Katrina & the Waves enjoyed some welcome success with their self-titled 1983 album (which became a hit in Canada), and the follow-up, boldly titled Katrina and the Waves 2, found them adding a dollop of studio polish to their sound.
This was a good and a bad thing; the glossier production allows some of the finer details of Kimberley Rew's songwriting and guitar work to come to the surface, but the additional backing vocals, keyboards, and horns also clutter arrangements that had been lean and straightforward on their earlier recordings, and drummer Alex Cooper was asked to share percussion duties with a Linn Drum here, and as a result the music sounds stiffer and less energetic.
It doesn't help that bassist Vince de la Cruz began stepping up as a songwriter on this album, and while his three contributions aren't bad, they're derivative and don't hold a candle to Rew's best stuff.
But Katrina Leskanich is a significantly better controlled and more engaging lead singer here than on Katrina & the Waves' previous album, and "Cry for Me" and "The Game of Love" find Rew exploring a retro-styled pop sound that gave the recording a new twist.
(Rew also found room to revel in his eccentricities on "Maniac House," and "Red Wine and Whiskey" is strong enough to rise above its over-production.)
Katrina & the Waves would find out what a really slick production was like with their next album; after they signed with Capitol Records, they re-recorded highlights from their first two albums under far glossier conditions, and it's oddly quaint to compare the simple over-production of Katrina and the Waves 2 with the big-league variations of the Capitol sessions (though the bigger and horn-infused "Walking on Sunshine" was actually an improvement on the version from their first full-length LP).
Katrina and the Waves 2 was reissued in 2010 on the CGB label in a limited edition of 1000 copies, each individually numbered.
It includes previously unreleased material and all tracks have been remastered from the original master tapes.
The booklet includes detailed recording credits, band interviews, rare photos, and liner notes by former Attic Records employee Ralph Alfonso, who got the band signed to the label in 1983.
Tracklist
1. Do You Want Crying (Vince de la Cruz) - 4:02
2. Maniac House - 4:08
3. She Loves to Groove - 2:55
4. Cry for Me - 3:58
5. Red Wine and Whisky - 3:15
6. Mexico (de la Cruz) - 2:50
7. One Woman (de la Cruz) - 3:35
8. The Sun Won't Shine Without You - 3:54
9. He's a Charmer - 3:16
10. The Game of Love - 3:18
2010 reissue bonus tracks
11. Wild Thing (Chip Taylor Album outtake; previously unreleased) - 2:28
12. River Deep, Mountain High (Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich Album outtake; The Original Recordings 1983–1984, 2003) - 3:04
13. Plastic Man (Single version) (Non-album single, 1984) - 3:32
14. That's Just the Woman in Me (Album outtake; The Original Recordings 1983-1984) - 4:15
15. Yes Agatha (1991 recording; previously unreleased) - 2:14
All tracks are written by Kimberley Rew, except where noted.
The album outtake "That's Just the Woman in Me" was covered by Celine Dion in 2007 on her Taking Chances album.
"Yes Agatha" was recorded at Kimberley Rew's Remote Farm Studios, Cambridge in 1991. According to Rew, "recorded in what seemed like a novelty style at the time, but which actually makes it sound more like the earlier stuff."
Katrina and the Waves
- Katrina Leskanich – vocals, rhythm guitar
- Kimberley Rew – lead guitar
- Vince de la Cruz – bass
- Alex Cooper – drums
- Additional musicians
- Nick Glennie-Smith – organ
- Alan Chaney – organ
- Eamon Fitzpatrick – brass
- Ed Briant – brass
- Chris Clarke – brass
- David Land – brass
- Wendy Nicholl – background vocals
- Technical
- Pat Collier – producer, engineer (1-14)
- Katrina and the Waves – producer (1-12, 14)
- Steve Stewart – engineer (15)
- John de la Cruz – photography
- Randy Merrill – mastering (2010 reissue; at Masterdisk, March 2010)
Notes
Released: 1984 - 2010 Reissue
Recorded: 1984 Studio Greenhouse Alaska (London)
Genre: New wave, Rock
Length: 50:44
Producer(s): Pat Collier, Katrina and the Waves
Label - Attic Records
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