The Impossible Thrill

The Impossible Thrill
Studio album by
Alpha
Released20 March 2001 (2001-03-20)[1]
StudioAlpha Studios, Clevedon
Abbey Road Studios, London
Gas Works, Bristol
GenreTrip hop, downtempo
Length49:05
LabelMelankolic, Virgin
ProducerCorin Dingley, Andy Jenks
Alpha chronology
Pepper: Remixes & Rarities
(1998) 		The Impossible Thrill
(2001) 		Stargazing
(2003)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic64/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Hot Pressfavorable[3]
Pitchfork3.0/10[4]
PopMattersfavorable[5]
The Portland Mercury[6]

The Impossible Thrill is a studio album by Alpha. It was released on Melankolic in 2001. It includes vocal contributions from Martin Barnard, Wendy Stubbs, and Helen White.[7]

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64% based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[1]

Aidin Vaziri of Rolling Stone included it on the "Top Albums of 2001" list.[8]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Still"Corin Dingley, Andy Jenks, Helen White4:07
2."Eon"Dingley, Jenks, Wendy Stubbs3:49
3."Dim"Martin Barnard, Dingley, Jenks4:57
4."South"Dingley, Jenks, White3:42
5."Almost There"Dingley, Jenks, Stubbs, White, Doris, McKuen, Rota4:36
6."Wise"Barnard, Dingley, Jenks6:33
7."Especial"Dingley, Jenks5:26
8."Wishes"Dingley, Jenks, Stubbs3:29
9."Clear Sky"Barnard, Dingley, Jenks5:20
10."Al Sation"Dingley, Jenks, Stubbs3:22
11."Fort"Dingley, Jenks, White5:44
Japanese edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
12."Sea"3:50
13."Don't Touch"4:18
Sample

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

  • Corin Dingley – production, arrangement, mixing
  • Andy Jenks – production, arrangement, photography
  • Helen White – vocals (1, 4, 5, 11)
  • Wendy Stubbs – vocals (2, 5, 8, 10)
  • Martin Barnard – vocals (3, 6, 9)
  • Grant Marshall – vocals (8)
  • Sean Cook – harmonica
  • Pete Wilde – piano
  • Alex Lee – guitar
  • Bob Locke – bass guitar
  • Naked Voices – choir
  • Allison Orbaum – choir arrangement
  • Daniel Jones – orchestra arrangement
  • Paul Hicks – orchestra engineering
  • Chris Clark – orchestra engineering assistance
  • Gavin Wright – strings conducting
  • John Dent – mastering
  • Emma Poole – art supervision
  • Elissa Noad – layout
  • Stephen Gill – photography
  • Donald Milne – photography

Charts

Chart Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP)[9] 45

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Impossible Thrill by Alpha". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  2. ^ Jonas, Liana. "The Impossible Thrill - Alpha". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  3. ^ Kelleher, James (29 March 2001). "The Impossible Thrill". Hot Press. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  4. ^ Juzwiak, Richard M. (31 December 2000). "Alpha: The Impossible Thrill". Pitchfork. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  5. ^ Neate, Wilson (19 March 2001). "Alpha: The Impossible Thrill". PopMatters. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  6. ^ Mudede, Charles (26 April 2001). "CD Review". The Portland Mercury. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  7. ^ "Discography". Alphaheaven. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  8. ^ "Our Critics' Top Albums of 2001". Rolling Stone. 26 December 2001. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Lescharts.com – Alpha – The Impossible Thrill". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 September 2018.