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> JANUARY - MARCH 1999

Bugjuice.com, the Web's premiere modern rock and alternative music resource,
is proud to present Beth Orton live via the Internet from the El Rey Theatre
in Los Angeles, CA.

Visit http://www.bugjuice.com/bethorton on Tuesday, July 6 at 8:00 PM PST
when the festivities begin with Beth's latest LP "Central Reservation"
played in its entirety. Then jump backstage for a pre-show interview with
Orton before she takes the stage around 10:00 PST. And just in case you
miss anything, complete coverage of the concert will be available for one
month after the performance.

Check out http://www.bugjuice.com for more information on Beth's upcoming
performance as well as exclusive interviews with the best alternative bands,
sights and sounds from backstage, streaming songs from your favorite
artists, new music videos, contests, and news on upcoming releases - all
with extreme attitude!

What I have gathered from the info, I think you can preview the whole of Central Reservation on Bugjuice then go to BMG backstage for the interview as well as the concert. But nonetheless, check out both addresses!

Here's what the fans at trailer-park mailing list says:

From Mike: I thought Beth looked cute as always. But she seemed scared to me, too. When I saw her live in Chicago last year, it was a quiet, acoustic show, and she seemed comfortable with that. She did not seem comfortable as the show went on and the crowd in the nightclub got noisier and noisier. In fact, she even suggested at one point that the crowd might want to quiet down for a particular song.

Last night on Letterman, she had a very large band (including Dave's regulars) backing her up, plus backup singers, and the music was very loud. She seemed to me to be singing much louder than usual in order to be heard over the music, and I don't think she liked it. Her voice is not suited for that kind of singing, and I think she knows it, so I just got the feeling that the whole thing wasn't right for her, and it showed.

From AJ: I wouldn't think so - not yet anyways....I think it was just nerves - she seemd to gain a little more confidence as the song went on and she attempted the higher notes, but still, nerves nerves nerves....I had tears of stage fright for her....:-)

At any rate, it will be interesting to see how many people catch on after this brief exposure on national television. I work in a music store, hopefully I will see first hand or read in in some industry magazines if there was any impact. It seems some of the more alternative/college radio stations already have her in their top play list, but still....She deserves so much more recognition.

From Jeremy Beckman: I'm wondering, what was going on with beth's vocals on the letterman show? was it nerves, or was she feeling ill? i've seen the sessions at west 54th perfomance and heard her live on the radio, so i know she can sing well live. it was disappointing to hear her singing last night on letterman because i know a great performance could've generated some more album sales... just wondering if you've heard anything about the show last night...

From Tim: I'm glad i wasn't the only one who thought she looked/sounded nervous/scared i stood outside the theater and saw her go in, almost asked her to sign the stolen car single but by the time i approached she went inside....she took photos with numerous people, wearing sunglasses and a pink t-shirt

i've only seen her perform acoustic sets and am curious as to how it works with a full band...

Billboard Hot 200 Albums Chart: Central Reservation falls from #164 to #191. Meanwhile, Beth Orton falls one spot to #10 on the Heatseekers chart. Stolen Car makes an impact this week when it rises from #35 to #32 with a bullet.

Heatseekers: Beth Orton is still at #9 but has a bullet.

Modern Rock Tracks: Stolen Car up from #38 to #35 with a bullet as well. (most likely an indication of increased airplay)

You've noticed how , since spring has come , the sun shines a little stronger in our days , finally succeeding in warming up day's end which has been glacial since autumn. At her best , Beth Orton is exactly like that. As proof , listen to Stolen Car , the luminous opening track on Central Resevation , second album for this unusual electro-folk singer revealed two years ago by the stunning album , Trailer Park. Backed by the magical and full slide of Ben Harper on guitar , here Orton raises a sadness of the dispossessed into full light and there she warms it in a wide landscape. The rest of this album where also appear Dr. John , Terry Callier and Ben Watt (Everything But The Girl) is a touch quieter but marked by other great moments where this hyper-emotive personality expresses herself with a fragile and persistant beauty. It is a surprising phenomenon , this little - trained voice , sometimes only approximately accurate (So Much More and Love Like Laughter suffer considerably as a result), succeeds precisely because of these weaknesses to deliver something immediate and surprisingly sincere. And that's what allows her to make so touching , to the listener , words like those of Stars All Seem To Weep , placed on the rich atmospheres signed Ben Watt : "I think of you , at night , under the moon And it seems that the stars weep." Once more placing her folk music on the edge of electronic and dance music , Beth Orton delivers here a Central Resevation that answers the expectations created by Trailer Park , even if the presence of several producers , from song to song , weakens somewhat the coherence of the whole. But that is nothing to really darken this stunning sad sun.

_______________________________________

Exclaim!

Beth Orton has been one to watch since her debut album , Trailer Park , blended acoustic folk and ambient wizardry for a sultry coffee house brew. Orton's creative stock is in such rapid ascent - especially in America , where she recently collaborated on material for a forthcoming Beck album - that recording her new album Central Reservation had to take a back seat to riding the wave of momentum createwd by her debut. For Orton , sculpting two became a matter of maintaining focus over recording sessions scheduled in stolen moments between American tours and other career building demands."It kind of came like that" agrees the generally understated Orton. "I must admit I prefer to do it more quickly , more like Trailer Park was done. This album was more bitty than that." But Orton , who has worked with such electro-luminaries as William Orbit , Red Snapper and the Chemical Brothers , says the stretched-out schedule didn't adversely affect her second album. She credits the extended recording period for giving her the chance to work with a wide variety of talented studio guests: Ben Harper , Terry Callier , Dr. John and Ben Watt , who checked in to play a key part in Central Reservation's sound. "I think it runs pretty well as an album , not just as a collection of songs ," Orton says of her new album , which begins and ends with different versions of the title track. The album's bookend tracks are a study in contrasts , starting with a high gloss pop version and wrapping up with the sparse , moody take recorded with Everything But The Girl's Watt at the helm. "They're one song ," she says , explaining her rationale for including both takes . The Ben Watt version , for me , is the unfinished version . But it's got a vibe to it that works really well as the last track - sort of like the credits running as you leave the cinema."
- Christopher Waters / Contributed by Mike Burns

Heatseekers: Beth Orton at #9 as the same from last week

Modern Rock Tracks: Stolen Car up from #39 to #38

Central Reservation debuted at #110 then drop to #128, 148, 155 and then 168.

Beth Orton was the Billboard Heatseeker chart (for those not yet entered at Top 100). She debuted at #2 followed by #4, 2, 4, 9.

Stolen Car makes her first appearance at the Billboard Modern Rock chart at #39.

Let's hope she do well enough.

Tickets are at £85 and should be avaliable from either the NME ticket line on 0870 1212500 or the Melody Maker ticket line on 0870 1212600.

Her previous single, Stolen Car, only made it to #17 on UK charts as well as spending 2 weeks on it. Central Reservation (the album) has fallen off the UK albums chart after 4 weeks, last charting at #63. Let's hope Central Reservation (the single) will do well enough to propel the album sales. Also, William Orbit is working on a remix of the single.

The date of release is on the 31st May 1999. Also Beth Orton will be making a T.V acoustic performance on BBC2 "Later with Jools Holland" on May 7th 1999 (UK).

On MTV on Thursday evening was a programme called 'An Audience with R.E.M.', which was basically the three members of R.E.M. fielding questions put to them by an invited group of fans (mostly from Europe) overseen by Jo Whiley. This interview was intercut with footage from a gig which was played that evening at the same venue, The Tabernacle, in Notting Hill, London. (I was lucky enough to have been invited to the gig by the R.E.M. Fan Club, but I was not at the Q&A session.)

*Anyway*, in response to the question "Are there any artists with whom you'd like to collaborate?", Mike Mills ventured an American singer, Beth Orton, whose album he really admired. When Jo Whiley pointed out that Beth was English, he was amazed, pointing out that the album was called 'Trailer Park', which was an American expression. Peter Buck made a comment about all his relatives that live in trailer parks. Michael Stipe asked if we call them trailer parks in England, knowing full well that we don't, and pointed out that she must have shot the video in 'the English desert', adding that he has 'the EP' (ie 'Best Bit'), which he likes a lot.

What about a collaboration with R.E.M., then? I'd go for it, as they're my favourite band. R.E.M. have collaborated with female vocalists in the past, having written a wonderful song called 'Photograph' with Natalie Merchant: better yet, how about Beth duetting with them on 'Shiny Happy People Part Two' ???

Cheers, Neil

The story goes that in 1962, Dusty walked into a record shop on Broadway and heard the Exciters' "Tell Him" blasting. She knew instantly she had to join the Motown­Phil Spector girl-group revolution. To disbelief and whispered denunciations, she left her brother's pop-folk group posthaste and released the tough-as-nails love letter "I Only Want To Be With You." Orton's narrative is the amped, London-of-the-'90s version: Convinced to sing in '89 by ambient electronica producer William Orbit— who enjoyed her speaking voice as they made barstool chat in the U.K. ur-club Quiet Storm— Orton was swept up to the rave scene's Mount Olympus, recording with the Chemical Brothers, Orbit, and the trip-hop outfit Red Snapper. As she prepared to record her '97 debut, Trailer Park, a friend turned Orton on to underground Chicago legend Terry Callier, who'd recently been introduced to London scenesters by intrepid cutout-bin­searching DJs. Callier's '60s and '70s recordings cook soul, folk, jazz, love, politics, and religion; guided by his example, Orton mixed her emotive free-associations and creamy melodies down into laid-back turntable soundscapes. Trailer Park went gold in England, and Orton was crowned electro-folkie Comedown Queen.

Orton's certainly no blond-bouffanted eye-makeup abuser; she wears her 'do moderne, chopped at hard angles, with slim-to-none makeup. And she gave up singing other people's songs a while ago— she claims sole writing credit on all but one of Central Reservation's tunes. But if her ear for fully loaded instrumentation and pointed words is any indication, Orton is immersed in Springfield's legacy, whether she hears it herself or not.

From a universe of elements, Orton has cobbled together on Central Reservation a sound both trippy and straightforward. She turns the table on electronica, demoting it from organizing principle to Wall of Sound backing role. Along with Trailer Park­style blips and bloops, keyboard washes and off-the-beaten-track samples, Orton throws in Ben Harper guitar ("Stolen Car"), Dr. John piano ("Sweetest Decline"), Callier vocals ("Pass in Time"), Afro-Cuban percussion, psychedelia, and oh-so-many strings. Yet Orton's unimpeachable melodies hold their own. She's the consummate bandleader, fearlessly taking each song to its summit, then down the other side to safety— almost every track lasts at least five minutes. Dusty would be proud.

Orton concerns herself lyrically with the fallout from massive loss and gets more primal with it as time goes by. Biographically speaking, her obvious subjects are the deaths of her mother and father, which she addresses both directly and obliquely, extrapolating the abandonment and mourning to lovers, friends, and life itself. She's progressed through linear narrative to an almost mystical relationship with sounds and words. Much of her new album strings phrases loosely together in a way that evokes the fleeting sensations of living more than any particular sequence of events. Orton says she learned about singing and songwriting in the clubs, and what she gleaned is the value of subconscious transmission. So Central Reservation bypasses the cortex and goes straight for raw nerves; perhaps that's why Orton doesn't print out her lyrics, because you have to hear them to understand. But her bottom line remains clear: that grief thoroughly felt brings freedom.

Orton's sensibility is rooted both in her own tragedies and the English raves she conquered, which learned exuberant resilience from the gay dance world pre- and post-AIDS. And this is another thing Orton shares with Dusty, a queer heroine who continually looked anguish in the eye and told it to take a hike, though not before she let her heart get soaked with whatever pain was in the offing. In a funny way, the tacked-on Ben Watt remix of Central Reservation's title track is the album's most powerful track. Though it strips Orton of her carefully crafted embellishments, the remix boils her down to her emotional essence: the Comedown Queen wrapped in a soothing, post-peak cascade of shimmering synths. In her assurance-slash- declaration that "tomorrow is whatever I want it to be," she takes in past and present, squaring pain with pleasure 'til she's whole. I can see her and Dusty in post-disco bliss, stepping out the club door into a bright shining morning, Beth resplendent in a blond bouffant, Dusty finally free in a blunt cut and bare face.

Natasha Stovall

The nomadic Beth Orton puts her health on the line for her music, writes Cameron Adams.

Beth Orton certainly puts her all into music. The recording of both her albums (1997’s Trailer Park and the just-released Central Reservation) ended with the British singer being admitted to hospital.

But there are no rock-star excesses at play here. Orton has a rare illness called Crohn’s disease, which causes the singer random, severe, abdominal pain.

Orton’s nomadic lifestyle exacerbates her condition because people with Crohn’s disease should avoid stress. But as the singer bluntly puts it, stress is “part of the job”.

Central Reservation is also packed with stressful emotion. Orton writes about the death of her mother from breast cancer, which came after her fathers death when the singer was just 11. “My lyrics are certainly more direct than ever”, Orton says. “It’s cathartic, a kind of therapy. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It sounds like a highly indulgent way of behaving, doesn’t it? It’s a bit dodgy. I’m a songwriter and I choose to write those kinds of songs. I’m almost compelled to write like that. I could say those things outside of a song. I just don’t know whether it’s classified as therapy or just telling some stories.”

However, Orton is quick to say that, though her lyrics are real and honest, they are not to be taken as a document of hardship. “People come up to me and say, ‘I don’t find your music at all depressing’’ Orton says “I guess it depends on the person and their state of mind”.

“Lots of people come and see me and buy my records, and they really seem to get it, which is lovely. I think if it was just therapy or self-indulgence then it wouldn’t effect people like it does. I’m writing songs in the old-school sense of songwriting, that’s how I see it. It’s like Motown. But the thing with those Motown songs is they’re so fucked up, the lyrics of those old songs. I wanted to bring soul into today without all the co-dependence and messed up ‘I’ll do anything for you even though you treat me like shit’ messages. It’s important that I connect with people. I like to know I’m touching the chord, but I don’t want to just press buttons in a negative way - that’s too easy. I want people to get hope from my music. If I do have an intention, that’s it.”

Certainly the world is increasingly eager to listen to Orton. Trailer Park sold almost 250,000 copies worldwide, mainly through word of mouth and radio airplay of the haunting single “She Cries Your Name”. The hype surrounding Central Reservation, especially from the US where influential magazines are all proclaiming 1999 Orton’s year, is even more intense. “That kind of hype bothers me because it might be a jinx”, says Orton. “I guess it could be worse. They could be saying my record is a piece of shit”.

Orton began her career working with British DJ and now Madonna producer William Orbit. The two met when Orton asked him for a cigarette at a club where he was working. Quickly adapting to the world of dance music, Orbit worked with Orton, in and out of the studio, her spine-tingling vocals punctuating his Bass-O-Matic, and Strange Cargo projects, and a Japanese-only joint project under the name SuperPinkyMandy. After their split (they remain close friends), Orton worked with UK jazz/dance outfit Red Snapper and supplied vocals on standout tracks on the first two Chemical Brothers albums. Her link with dance - and her love of folk, soul and acoustic sounds - has seen Orton called everything from the Comedown Queen to the Joni Mitchell of rave music. Central Reservation continues her passion for both types of music. Again produced by Victor Van Vugt (who has worked with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds), the album features an impressive list of musicians, underlying Trailer Park’s impact.

Guest players include jazz luminary Terry Callier, blues legend Dr John, feted guitarist Ben Harper (on first single Stolen Car), David Roback of US mood-makers Mazzy Star, and Everything But the Girls Ben Watt.

Watt first entered the picture earlier, but Orton decided to go for more of a live feel. “Then halfway through I realised I still wanted to work with Ben, so I got in touch and we met up” she says. The result is some precise dance beats in the tender Stars Seem to Weep, as well as a remake of the title track (and next single) Central Reservation.

It’s weird because it’s like we crossed paths”, says Orton of the Everything by the Girl connection. “They came from a more acoustic area and now do dance music, and I came from a dance oriented area and now I’ve gone more acoustic. “It seemed like an interesting combination”. Orton has committed to another gruelling and indefinite touring schedule for Central Reservation.

Her music and her ability to perform solo and with a band means she fits in everywhere from acoustic festivals to rock gigs.

AUSTRALIA WILL SEE ORTON LATER THIS YEAR

“I love touring with a band, but I did some great shows with just me and a guitarist” Orton says. “That taught me a lot. That’s how the songs are written and I think they go back to that acoustic state very well. I think I’ve got a lot of freedom to move”.

She's obviously got a thing for geography - Trailer Park's the name of her '97 beauteous solo debut, and now, the follow-up's titled Central Reservation. Curiously then, Beth Orton has a peripatetic hippie sound which wafts effortlessly between places, people and music genres, played off by an inimtated lazy-dovey voice that ebba and flows like waves eternally lappiung upon some distant shore. Central Reservation is that temporal meeting-point on the sandy beach   where folk legend, Nick Drake hangs out with Everything But The Girl's Ben Watt. This time round, she's also roped in a posse of pals like Ben Harper, Terry Callier, Dr John and Mazzy Star's David Roback to lend musical depth to her introspective buncha songs. Yet for those wonderfully loungey, chill-out dance beats and cooing acoustic strummings, it's her voice which works magic into your system in the still of the night, each song laced with that special careworm, caramel touch. Heavenly.

Dubbed "The Queen of Heartbreak" and "The Comedown Queen" by fans and press alike, Orton's unexpected, irreverent humor comes as a surprise to her
unsuspecting public. Anticipating a somber, sad songtress, there are instead
confronted by a goofy, mischieveous chanteuse who enjoys a stiff drink and
smokes "fags," oblivious to their effect on her signature melencholy timbre.
"If your my sort of woman, if you like to have a laugh, if you like to be
kind of stoopid and that's your way of getting through, then you've got even
more of a problem on your hands," explains Orton of the sexual politics
governing a female in the music world. "There are little things you have to be
wary of, the main problem being the intellectuals. They're always the most
sexist."

Orton's vocal abilities were discovered quite by accident during a stint as
an actress in London's West End. In 1991, at the age of 20, she recorded Super
Pinky Mandy with producer William Orbit, principle architect of Madonna's
aclaimed Ray of Light. Orton followed her debut with guest spots with Red
Snapper and on both Chemical Brothers' albums, making her mark in the ecletic
dance scene well before she came into her own with 1997's Trailer Park.
Nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, Trailer Park paved the way for Orton's
own voice to be heard. Taking her vocal and emotional cues from Joni Mitchell
and Rickie Lee Jones, the singer/songwriter augments the progressive sounds of
dance music with her acoustic guitar playing.

Orton elaborates on that formula with this year's Central Reservation, with
lyrics even more disparate and introspective than usual. "What people read
into it is what they need to read into it," Orton says. "As soon as ytou write
a song, you know what's going to happen. As a person I'd like people to
understand what I mean; but as a songwriter, it's different. I'd much rather
their interpretation than mine. The frustration is finding my sound. I'm still not where I want to be. I know what it is, but I'm not ready to define it."
When she went into the studio to record Central Reservation, Orton chose the
more difficult option of not depending on one producer, instead letting her
instincts guide her. "Every experience every day should be new like that,"
Orton states emphatically. "It doesn't make life easier, but it makes it a
damn sight more interesting."

"I just want to keep learning," she adds. "I hope I never find those plateaus
of understanding and complacency. If I do, will you shoot me?"

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