Love Undercover (album)
| Love Undercover | |
|---|---|
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| Studio album by James Skelly & The Intenders | |
| Released | 3 June 2013 |
| Recorded | August 2012 Parr Street Studios (Liverpool, England) |
| Genre | Soul, R&B, indie rock, indie folk, folk rock, blues rock, pop rock |
| Length | 40:35 |
| Label | Skeleton Key, Cooking Vinyl |
| Producer | James Skelly, Ian Skelly |
| Singles from Love Undercover | |
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 64/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Uncut |    |
| The Independent | |
| MusicOMH | |
| Q Magazine | |
| Mojo | |
| Record Collector | |
Love Undercover is the debut studio album by English rock group James Skelly & The Intenders. It was released on 3 June 2013, on Skeleton Key Records and Cooking Vinyl and reached No. 85 on the UK Albums Chart.
During a hiatus from his band The Coral, Skelly recorded a soul and R&B-influenced album in 2012, produced by himself and Ian Skelly. Rather than being a solo album, numerous musicians contributed to the recording of Love Undercover, including band mates from The Coral and members of Tramp Attack and The Sundowners, which lead the group being known as James Skelly & The Intenders.
Prior to making Love Undercover, Skelly's band The Coral had commenced work on their sixth studio album, the follow up to Butterfly House (2010), with producer John Leckie at Real World Studios in March 2012. However, this session ended with only half an album completed and subsequently, The Coral entered into an indefinite hiatus with members pursuing their own solo projects.
"The stuff we’d recorded was great, but it was just natural ... We’d been together since we were 16, younger even, and you just get to the point where you’re almost trapped in this version of what you think you should be."
Following a recommendation from Alan Wills, the head of Deltasonic, Skelly contacted Rich Turvey, the engineer at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, and arranged a free trial at the studio which resulted in him using the facility to record the whole album.
Sessions took place in August 2012, produced by James Skelly and Ian Skelly, and the basic tracks were recorded live. James Skelly performs lead vocals and guitar on the album and his backing band was assembled from The Coral band mates – Ian Skelly on drums, Paul Duffy on guitar, Nick Power on piano, ex-Tramp Attack member James Redmond on bass guitar, and members of The Sundowners – Niamh Rowe and Fiona Skelly on backing vocals and Alfie Skelly on guitar.
The process of recording the album as a group lead to Skelly choosing the name James Skelly & The Intenders for the project.
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Wikipedia