Cities (The Cat Empire album)

Cities is the third studio album by Australian band the Cat Empire, released on 1 April 2006 through Virgin Records. The album consists of music recorded for the band's performance at the 2006 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony the previous month.[1] A limited release, 10,000 individually numbered copies have been made in digipak format. It was released less than a year after their previous album, Two Shoes.

Cities
Studio album by
Released1 April 2006
Recorded2005–2006 at Sing Sing Studios, Richmond, Victoria
Genre
Length45:32
LabelEMI/Virgin
Producer
  • Felix Riebl
  • The Cat Empire
The Cat Empire chronology
Two Shoes
(2005)
Cities
(2006)
So Many Nights
(2007)

At the 2006 Fine Arts Awards, the album won an ARIA Music Award under the category Best World Music Album.[2]

The album was recorded at Sing Sing Studios in Richmond, Melbourne, Australia.

Description

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The band states the following about Cities on their website[3] – "This project is somewhere in between a tribute to our own city and an experiment in sounds that we’ve found abroad. The approach to this record was far less precious than it was for our debut and Two Shoes. It was a kind of surprise record we almost didn’t expect to make. We wrote the material very quickly, and had an excellent and robust few weeks recording it. The record is in some ways serious and in some ways stupendous. There are ethnics, locals, sad songs, adventure songs, musical chorus’, screamers, and a collection of soul references. There are strings sections, Sitars, Tablas, horn sections, short punchy arrangements as well as some excellent solos. It is the kind of recording in which people might get to hear a different side of the Cat Empire, but it's still soulful, strange, humorous, whimsical, sometimes sad, sometimes delirious, mis-placed and undoubtedly Catempiracle as well."

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Felix Riebl,[4] unless otherwise indicated

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Cities"
  • Felix Riebl
  • Harry Angus
3:23
2."Boogaloo"
  • Riebl
  • Ross Irwin
3:30
3."Siente"
  • Riebl
  • Ollie McGill
2:43
4."Motion" 3:43
5."Song for the Day"
  • Riebl
  • McGill
3:47
6."Know Your Name" 3:21
7."Song for Elias" 4:32
8."Jungle"Angus2:12
9."Down at the 303"Angus2:40
10."Side to Side" 3:53
11."Waltz" 4:24
12."Luck Song"
  • Riebl
  • McGill
3:30
13."Anymore" 3:52
Total length:45:32
iTunes Bonus Track
No.TitleLength
1."Miss Soul"4:37
Total length:4:37

Personnel

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Charts

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Chart (2006) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[5] 11

References

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  1. ^ Monro, Ryan. "The Cat Empire Project – Cities". ryanmonro.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  2. ^ "ARIA Awards – History: Winners by Year 2006: 20th Annual ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  3. ^ "Cities". The Cat Empire. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  4. ^ "How to Explain". APRA Works Search. Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 4 May 2015. Note: user may have to click on 'Search again' and add details e.g. at 'Enter a title:' How to Explain, or at 'Performer:' Cat Empire
  5. ^ "Australiancharts.com – The Cat Empire – Cities". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
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