The Charlatans – Wonderland / Universal Audio CD 2001 / MCD 60077

UPC 044001491122

Wonderland is the seventh album by British rock band the Charlatans, released on 10 September 2001 through Universal. Following promotional efforts for their sixth studio album Us and Us Only, vocalist Tim Burgess and guitarist Mark Collins wrote new material at the former's house in Los Angeles, California. Cocaine would be an impact on the writing, and later on recording; sessions were held at producer Danny Saber's house studio, Krevorkian's Lab, also in Los Angeles. The band worked with him for seven weeks from October 2000, only completing five tracks, and later went to their own studio, Big Mushroom in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, in early 2001. Wonderland is a funk-soul and electronica record, evoking the work John Mellencamp, Oasis and Primal Scream. Burgess remarked that Los Angeles itself became a member of the band; critics referred to it as a drug-enhanced party album. He employed a falsetto in the vein of Curtis Mayfield and Kurt Wagner.

Wonderland received generally positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised its sound, while Burgess' falsetto drew mixed responses. It would charted at number one in Scotland, number two in the UK and number nine in Ireland; later being certified gold in the UK. "Love Is the Key" reached the top 20 in Scotland and the UK, while "A Man Needs to Be Told" made it to the top 40 in both territories. Bookended by two European festivals, the Charlatans went played a few shows in the United States. "Love Is the Key" was released as the lead single from the album in August 2001; they promoted the album with club nights where people could hear it prior to its release. They went on a tour of the UK in October 2001, and in the following month, "A Man Needs to Be Told" was released as the next single. They closed out the year with a three-date arena tour with Starsailor, who would then support the band on their US tour in early 2002. Over the next few months, they performed at a mixture of festivals and did sporadic headlining shows.

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