Way Beyond Blue
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| Way Beyond Blue | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 30 September 1996 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 47:41 | |||
| Label | Blanco y Negro | |||
| Producer | Stephen Street, Paul Sampson, Catatonia | |||
| Catatonia chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Way Beyond Blue | ||||
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Way Beyond Blue is the debut album by the Welsh band Catatonia.[2] It has been seen by many fans as being something of a compilation album, as all but five songs on the album had appeared on one of the band's early EPs or singles, albeit in different renditions (see below). It spawned the band's first top 40 hit, "You've Got a Lot to Answer For", which hit No. 35.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| The Guardian |  [4] |
| NME | 8/10[5] |
| Q | [6] |
| Select | 4/5[7] |
| Vox | 8/10[8] |
In Melody Maker, David Bennun highlighted Catatonia's sense of "dreaminess" on Way Beyond Blue and compared listening to the album to "swimming in your own thoughts, cotton wool and clouds studded with hidden pins."[2] The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan concluded that "'Lost Cat' and 'Sweet Catatonia', creamy janglefests both, are among the best things to have emerged from the nascent Welsh scene."[4]
AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine later called Way Beyond Blue "an infectious set of jangle pop, injected with the punkish attitude of indie rock", adding that "the guitars ring as if they were recorded in the late '80s, but it has a muscular backbone, and vocalist Cerys Matthews has a tough edge to her voice, which never makes the music sound weak."[3]
