Ferment (album)

Ferment
Studio album by Catherine Wheel
Released	9 June 1992
Recorded	1991–1992, Monnow Valley Studio, Rockfield, Wales
Genre	Alternative rock, shoegazing
Length	57:10
Label	Fontana
Producer	Tim Friese-Greene, John Lee
Catherine Wheel chronology
Painful Thing (1991) Ferment (1992) Chrome (1993)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Ferment is the first full-length album by the English alternative rock band Catherine Wheel, released in 1992 on Fontana Records. Four songs ("Shallow," "I Want to Touch You," "She's My Friend," and "Salt") had previously appeared on independently released 12" EPs, and were re-recorded for inclusion on the album. The lead single, "Black Metallic," reached the top ten (peaking at number nine) of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. In March 2010, the album was re-released, containing bonus tracks and extensive sleeve notes. The songs included on the 1992 extended play 30th Century Man were also included on the 2010 bonus track edition of Ferment.

In 2016, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 23 in their list of "The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time," with Ben Cardew of the website commenting that "a good half of the songs on Ferment, their debut, are enduring shoegaze-disco classics, while "Black Metallic", in its full seven-minute glory, makes a strong claim to being the genre's 'Stairway to Heaven'."^[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Rob Dickinson and Brian Futter.

1. "Texture" – 4:19
2. "I Want to Touch You" – 4:40
3. "Black Metallic" – 7:18
4. "Indigo Is Blue" – 5:31
5. "She's My Friend" – 4:16
6. "Shallow" – 3:28
7. "Ferment" – 5:10
8. "Flower to Hide" – 4:43
9. "Tumbledown" – 4:08
10. "Bill and Ben" – 4:09
11. "Salt" – 5:26
12. "Balloon" – 3:56

Limited numbers of the UK version came with a three 3-track live EP, recorded at Bath Moles Club on 6 November 1991.

• CWLCD 1 (bonus CD); CWLVE12 (bonus 12" with vinyl LP album)
  1. "Shallow" (Live) – 3:27
  2. "I Want to Touch You" (Live) – 5:58
  3. "Salt" (Live) – 6:39

Singles

• "She's My Friend" (January 1991)
  • Wilde Club Records WILDE 4 (12" vinyl)
    1. "She's My Friend" – 4:29
    2. "Upside Down" – 3:13
    3. "Wish" – 3:10
    4. "Salt" – 3:54
• "Painful Thing" (May 1991)
  • Wilde Club Records WILDE 5 (12" vinyl); WILDE 5 CD (CD)
    1. "Shallow" – 3:27
    2. "Spin" – 2:44
    3. "Painful Thing" – 3:59
    4. "I Want to Touch You" – 5:05
• "Black Metallic" (November 1991)
  • Fontana CWCD 1 (CD); CW 112 (12" vinyl)
    1. "Black Metallic" – 7:16
    2. "Crawling Over Me" – 5:39
    3. "Let Me Down Again" – 3:17
    4. "Saccharine" – 5:49
  • Fontana CW 1 (7" vinyl)
    1. "Black Metallic" (Edit) – 4:09
    2. "Let Me Down Again" – 3:17
  • Mercury CDP 693 (US promo CD)
    1. "Black Metallic" – 7:16
    2. "Black Metallic" (UK Edit) – 4:09
    3. "Black Metallic" (KROQ Edit) – 5:30
    4. "Let Me Down Again" – 3:17
• "Balloon" (February 1992)
  • Fontana CWCD 2 (CD)
    1. "Balloon" (Edit) – 3:56
    2. "Intravenous" – 3:31
    3. "Let Me Down Again" (Live) – 3:06
    4. "Painful Thing" (Live) – 6:21
  • Fontana CW 212 (12" vinyl)
    1. "Balloon" – 4:14
    2. "Intravenous" – 3:31
    3. "Let Me Down Again" (Live) – 3:06
    4. "Painful Thing" (Live) – 6:21
  • Fontana CW 2 (7" vinyl)
    1. "Balloon" (Edit) – 3:56
    2. "Intravenous" – 3:31
• "I Want to Touch You" (April 1992)
  • Fontana CWCD 3 (CD)
    1. "I Want to Touch You" (Remix) – 4:35
    2. "Ursa Major Space Station" – 5:04
    3. "Collideoscopic" – 4:07
    4. "Our Friend Joey" – 1:30
  • Fontana CW 312 (12" #1)
    1. "I Want to Touch You" (Remix) – 4:35
    2. "Dead Girl Friend" – 4:27
    3. "Ursa Major Space Station" – 5:04
    4. "Half Life" – 3:53
  • Fontana CWB 312 (12" #2)
    1. "I Want to Touch You" (Original Demo) – 5:04
    2. "Black Metallic" (Original Demo) – 4:04
    3. "Wish" (Original Demo) – 3:09
  • Fontana CW 3 (7" vinyl)
    1. "I Want to Touch You" (Remix) – 4:35
    2. "Ursa Major Space Station" – 5:04
• "30 Century Man" (December 1992)
  • Fontana CWCD 4 (CD); CW 412 (12" vinyl)
    1. "30 Century Man" (Scott Walker cover) – 5:19
    2. "Free of Mind" – 3:33
    3. "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" (Mission of Burma cover) – 4:07
    4. "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" (Hüsker Dü cover) – 3:31

The songs from the "30th Century Man" EP were included on the 2010 bonus track re-edited version of the album "Ferment" as tracks 12 to 15 on the album, and they appear on the new CD edition of the album together with the following tracks: "Balloon" and "Intravenous", being the 16th & the 17th songs on the remastered CD.

Personnel

• Rob Dickinson – guitar, vocals
• Brian Futter – guitar, vocals
• Dave Hawes – bass
• Neil Sims – percussion
• Tim Friese-Greene – producer
• John Lee – producer, engineer
• Tim Palmer – mixing
• Alastair Thain – photography

References