Drastic Fantastic

Drastic Fantastic
Studio album by KT Tunstall
Released	10 September 2007 (2007-09-10) (see Release history
Recorded	Rockfield Studios, Wales 2006
Genre	Alternative rock, pop, folk
Length	39:50
Label	Relentless
Producer	Steve Osborne
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. Allmusic link Robert Christgau link Entertainment.ie link The Guardian link The Observer link Rolling Stone link The Times link Uncut link
KT Tunstall chronology
KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza (2006) Drastic Fantastic (2007) Tiger Suit (2010)
Alternative cover
Special CD/DVD Edition Cover.
Singles from Drastic Fantastic
"Hold On" Released: 16 July 2007 "Saving My Face" Released: 12 November 2007 "If Only" Released: 3 March 2008 "Little Favours[1]" Released: January 2009 Brazil only[2]

Drastic Fantastic is the second studio album by Scottish Singer-songwriter KT Tunstall. It was released by Relentless Records on 10 September 2007 in the United Kingdom and 18 September 2007 in the United States and Canada.^[3] The album was leaked on P2P networks on 3 September 2007. "Hold On", the lead single was released on 16 July 2007 in the United States.

On the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, Drastic Fantastic debuted at number nine, selling about 50,000 copies in its first week.^[4]

In Scotland, KT beat both Kanye West and 50 Cent to make it to number 1 in the Scottish Album Charts.

Drastic Fantastic charted at #72 in the UK end of year chart selling around 225,000 copies in 2007.

As of August 2008, Drastic Fantastic has sold 215,000 copies in the United States.^[5]

Reception

The album received warm, though conservative, praise by most critics. Music critics from The Observer gave Drastic Fantastic five stars, stating the album was "bursting with so many hits that Tunstall's comic-book life is about to go stratospheric".^[6] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, and said that the album's sound was a "flashback" to 1997 by noting similarities between the songs on Drastic Fantastic and songs written 10 years earlier.^[7] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album four out of five, calling Drastic Fantastic "a rare beast: a pop album with a songwriter's heart".^[8]

However, some critics were less impressed, stating that the album was overproduced and lacked the "folky" touch of her previous album Eye to the Telescope.^{[citation needed]} The Guardian gave it three stars, stating "Tunstall could do better".^[9]

Track listing

1. "Little Favours" – 3:09 (KT Tunstall)
2. "If Only" – 3:46 (Tunstall, Jimmy Hogarth)
3. "White Bird" – 3:13 (Tunstall)
4. "Funnyman" – 2:56 (Tunstall, Martin Terefe)
5. "Hold On" – 2:57 (Tunstall, Ed Case)
6. "Hopeless" – 3:41 (Tunstall)
7. "I Don't Want You Now" – 3:48 (Tunstall)
8. "Saving My Face" – 3:38 (Tunstall)
9. "Beauty of Uncertainty" – 5:01 (Tunstall)
10. "Someday Soon" – 3:53 (Tunstall, Hogarth, Sam Dixon)
11. "Paper Aeroplane" – 3:16 (Tunstall)

Bonus tracks

These bonus tracks appear on the iTunes pre-order edition of Drastic Fantastic.

12. "Suddenly I See" (Live)
13. "Hold On" (Live from The Today Show) – music video
14. "Bad Day" (UK only)
15. "Mothgirl" (UK only)

In the iTunes Deluxe Edition, the following music videos are included.

12. "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"
13. "Suddenly I See (Standard Version)"
14. "Suddenly I See (Larger Than Life Version)"
15. "Under the Weather (Radio Mix)"
16. "Other Side of the World"
17. "Hold On"

In addition, it comes with fifteen minute long documentary by film director Chris Bran as well as two digital booklets.

Most songs on Drastic Fantastic are not new songs. An acoustic version of "Little Favours" and "Paper Aeroplane" appeared on the 2000 demo album 'Tracks In July'. "Little Favours" also appeared as the B-side to "Under the Weather". "If Only", "Funnyman", and "Saving My Face" appeared on the demo album 'Toons March '03'. Finally, Tunstall mentioned writing two new songs, "Hopeless" and "White Bird", in a blog entry from 2003.

Singles

• "Hold On" was released as the album's lead single on 16 July 2007 in the United States, and on 27 August in the United Kingdom.

• "Saving My Face" was chosen as the second single; it was released on 12 November 2007.

• "If Only" was released on 3 March 2008.

• A video for the song "Little Favours" was released in many music channels of Brazil (such as MTV Brasil & Multishow).^[10] The video is directed by Chris Bran, did not feature KT and only shows a KT Tunstall fan and ex-teacher Mr. Fritte with a puppet with strings, that he calls The Tunstallator.^[11]

The song is featured on the Brazilian Soap Opera Três Irmãs.^[1]

"Someday Soon" is available as a single on Internet music stores such as iTunes and Rhapsody. It was featured in the film The Women in a montage featuring Annette Bening and Meg Ryan.

Personnel

• KT Tunstall — vocals, guitar, piano
• Luke Bullen — drums, percussion
• Sam Lewis — backing guitar
• Steve Osborne — bass, backing guitar, keyboards
• Arnulf Lindner — bass, double bass
• Kenny Dickenson — piano, keyboards
• Cat Sforza — backing vocals
• Gita Harcourt — backing vocals

Release history

Region	Date
Europe	10 September 2007 (2007-09-10)
Australia	15 September 2007 (2007-09-15)
Canada	18 September 2007 (2007-09-18)
United States

Chart positions

Chart (2007)	Peak position
U.S Billboard 200 Albums	9[12]
U.S Billboard Alternative Albums	1[12]
U.S Billboard Rock Albums	1[12]
U.S Billboard Digital Albums	9[12]
UK Albums Chart	3[12]
Scottish Albums Chart	1[12]
Irish Albums Chart	10[13]
European Top Albums	7[12]
Canadian Top 100 Albums	10[14]
Netherlands Albums Chart	21[15]
French Albums Chart	30[16]
German Albums Chart	35[17]
Austrian Albums Chart	43[18]
Italian Albums Chart	35[19]
New Zealand Albums Chart	22[20]
Australian Albums Chart	48[21]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.somlivre.com/?1498/produto/CD/Tres-irmas-vol.2/Varios---Tres-Irmas
2. ^ http://www.teledramaturgia.com.br/tresirmast.htm
3. ^ "KT Tunstall: Drastic Fantastic In Stores 9.18.07". VirginRecords.com. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
4. ^ Katie Hasty, "Reba Outmuscles Kanye, 50 To Score First No. 1", Billboard.com, 26 September 2007.
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ CD: K T Tunstall, Drastic Fantastic | Music|Guardian Unlimited Music
7. ^ Drastic Fantastic : KT Tunstall : Review : Rolling Stone
8. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1185116
9. ^ CD: KT Tunstall, Drastic Fantastic | Reviews|Guardian Unlimited Music
10. ^ http://letras.kboing.com.br/kt-tunstall/little-favours/
11. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFsCRzMmdIw
12. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Billboard Top 200 Albums - Accessed 27 September 2007
13. ^ KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic. IRMA. Accessed 14 September 2007
14. ^ Nielsen SoundScan JAM! Music Charts - Top 100 Albums: Accessed 27 September 2007
15. ^ Megacharts - Accessed 17 September 2007
16. ^ French Albums Chart - acharts.us Accessed 20 September 2007
17. ^ German Top 100 Albums Chart - Accessed 26 September 2007
18. ^ Austrian Top 75 Albums Chart - Accessed 20 February 2008
19. ^ Italian Albums Chart - Accessed 20 September 2007
20. ^ New Zealand Albums Top 40 - acharts.us Accessed 20 September 2007
21. ^ Top 50 Albums Chart - Australian Record Industry Association