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Santo Spirito Blues
Studio album by
Chris Rea
Released5 September 2011 [1]
Studio Metropolis Studios
Genre Blues, rock
Length60:14
LabelJazzee Blue/ Rhino
ProducerChris Rea
Chris Rea chronology
Still So Far to Go: The Best of Chris Rea
(2009) 		Santo Spirito Blues
(2011) 		The Journey 1978–2009
(2011)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [2]
laut.de [3]

Santo Spirito Blues is the twenty-third studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 2011 by his independent record label Jazzee Blue and Rhino Entertainment.

Summary

The album, titled "Santo Spirito Blues" marked a distinctive project. In addition to the standard CD edition, a deluxe version was released, featuring two DVDs containing documentaries titled "Bull Fighting" and "Santo Spirito," along with two CDs containing the soundtracks of these documentaries. [4]

Chris Rea drew inspiration for the album from the Santo Spirito church in Florence during a visit to his daughter. Regarding the first documentary, his interest was piqued by the theme of bullfighting and matadors, including figures like Julián López Escobar. However, during a trip to Seville, when he attended a bullfight, he was horrified by the harsh reality. He left the event, stating that "there are two sides to that story because even after the bull is half dead, the bullfighter still has to be really brave." [5] [6]

The documentary "Bull Fighting" (59 minutes) offers a raw and brutally honest chronicle of bullfighting. It features neo-classical and Spanish-themed gypsy music. The second documentary, "Santo Spirito" (55 minutes), adopts the appearance of a Russian 1930s black and white film. It follows a man on a quest for truth in religion in the city of Florence—a journey he may or may not wish he had undertaken. [7] [5] [6] Both documentaries were written and directed by Rea, with assistance from filmmaker Scott McBurney.[citation needed] Rea recalls that he created these films "just so that I could compose the music." [5] The second documentary was broadcast in September 2011 on Tagesschau German television service. [8]

Reception

Jon O'Brien in review for AllMusic rated the album 3/5 stars and concluded that the "overall ambitious concept proves that the just-turned-sixty-year-old certainly no longer holds any commercial aspirations". [2] Artur Schulz for laut.de gave it the same score, and noted it has a mixture of both authentic blues and his pop-rock catchy work (particularly "The Chance of Love") from the " Dancing with Strangers" era, "with mostly good results: Chris manages the balancing act between fun and seriousness mostly effortlessly". [9] Luke Turner in BBC review noted that it is a "straightforward homage to blues traditionalism [...] playing is exemplary, his songwriting accomplished, the boxes ticked", but being too focused on guitar playing, besides "The Chance of Love" his "gravelly voice [...] struggles to be heard". [1]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Chris Rea

Santo Spirito Blues track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Dancing My Blues Away"4:13
2."Rock and Roll Tonight"3:42
3."Never Tie Me Down"4:35
4."The Chance of Love"4:15
5."The Last Open Road"4:20
6."Electric Guitar"4:21
7."Money"6:47
8."The Way She Moves"5:55
9."Dance with Me All Night Long"6:03
10."Think Like a Woman"4:19
11."You Got Lucky"3:55
12."Lose My Heart in You"4:55
13."I Will Go On"3:00
Total length:60:14

All tracks are written by Chris Rea

Bull Fighting: The Soundtrack
No.TitleLength
1."Girl"7:26
2."Girl and Matador"8:15
3."Here He Comes"8:26
4."Gates"3:07
5."The Work"6:45
6."The Bull"2:58
7."The Fight"10:10
8."Main Tune"4:29
9."Old Matador"3:27
10."Finale"3:01

All tracks are written by Chris Rea

Santo Spirito: The Soundtrack
No.TitleLength
1."Santo Spirito"4:02
2."The Truth"4:27
3."Florence Streets"3:13
4."Dante's Inferno"4:51
5."Does Love Count for Nothing"3:12
6."Forever"1:28
7."Somewhere Between the Stars"6:39

Personnel

  • Producer, Filmmaker, Cover Painting: Chris Rea
  • Engineer, Mixing Engineer: Paul Casey
  • Mastering Engineer: Tim Young, Jon Kelly
  • Photographer, Filmmaker: Scott McBurney

Charts

Chart performance for Santo Spirito Blues
Chart (2011) Peak
position
Austrian Albums ( Ö3 Austria) [10] 30
Belgian Albums ( Ultratop Flanders) [11] 43
Belgian Albums ( Ultratop Wallonia) [12] 38
Croatian Albums (TOTS) [13] 13
Danish Albums ( Hitlisten) [14] 39
Dutch Albums ( Album Top 100) [15] 44
Finnish Albums ( Suomen virallinen lista) [16] 35
German Albums ( Offizielle Top 100) [17] 10
Hungarian Albums ( Mahasz) [18] 33
Norwegian Albums ( VG-lista) [19] 27
Polish Albums ( OLiS) [20] 33
Swiss Albums ( Schweizer Hitparade) [21] 31
UK Albums ( OCC) [22] 13

Certifications

Certifications for Santo Spirito Blues
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Poland ( ZPAV) [23] Gold 10,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ a b Turner, Luke (2011). "Chris Rea Santo Spirito Blues Review". BBC. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b O'Brien, Jon. "Santo Spirito Blues". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  3. ^ Schulz, Artur. "Blues und Pop als saubere Mixtur". laut.de (in German). Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  4. ^ Frank van Engelen (4 October 2011). "Recensie: Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues". Blues Magazine. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Mieka Smiles; Graham Young-BP (5 November 2014). "'I've had five operations but I just keep going and I'm very lucky for that': Chris Rea on his long fight against cancer". Gazette Live. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  6. ^ a b Dominic Smith (22 March 2012). "Chris Rea Interview". The Argus. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  7. ^ "Chris Rea - Santo Spirito Blues (Deluxe)". Discogs. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  8. ^ Daniel Koch (13 September 2011). "Chris Rea: Schauen Sie den Film "Santo Spirito" heute zwischen 20 und 22 Uhr bei uns!". Rolling Stone (in German). Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  9. ^ Artur Schulz (9 September 2011). "Blues und Pop als saubere Mixtur". laut.de (in German). LAUT AG. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  10. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Ultratop.be – Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Ultratop.be – Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues". HDU Toplista. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  14. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  15. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  16. ^ " Chris Rea: Santo Spirito Blues" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  18. ^ "MAHASZ – Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége". mahasz.hu. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  19. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  20. ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart" (in Polish). Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  21. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Chris Rea – Santo Spirito Blues". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Wyróżnienia – Złote płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2011 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry.
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