Can You Do Me Good?

Can You Do Me Good? is the sixth and thus far final studio album by Del Amitri.

Can You Do Me Good?
Studio album by
Del Amitri
Released8 April 2002
RecordedGlasgow; Sheffield; London; Rochester; New Jersey
GenreAlternative rock
Length49:42
LabelMercury
ProducerKevin Bacon & Jonathan Quarmby (tracks 5, 6 & 8); Pete Smith (3 & 10; 1 & 12 with additional production by Commissioner Gordon); Commissioner Gordon (all other tracks)
Del Amitri chronology
Some Other Sucker's Parade
(1997)		 Can You Do Me Good?
(2002)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
PopMatters(favourable)[2]

The album showcased a radically different sound from which Del Amitri fans had become used to. With five years having elapsed since Some Other Sucker's Parade (1997), Can You Do Me Good? featured a new approach: drum loops, samples and synthesisers were the band's new tools. Though the songs retained their usual melodic characteristics, the overall impression was a very different one.

Theme

Guitarist and songwriter Iain Harvie admitted in the run-up to the album's release that the band's record company considered Can You Do Me Good? to be Del Amitri's last chance. "It's a pretty straightforward equation. If we don't sell 300,000 copies of the new album, we're out. It's that simple."[3] With this in mind, many of the album's lyrics seem to convey a tone of finality; the feeling that this is a band's last stand. Song titles like "One More Last Hurrah" and "Last Cheap Shot at the Dream" contribute to this, and "Just Getting By" seems almost to lament a career spent as rock's nearly-men:

Look at me

I'm the one who got away
The one who could've shone
I tried to do my best
But I guess your best don't last for long

Look at me
Standing with my tattered pride
Of toothless little lions
We tried to make a difference

Do something no one else had tried[4]

Even for a lyricist like Justin Currie, whose songs have often dealt with missed opportunities and failure, Can You Do Me Good? is significantly more concerned with these concepts than previous albums.

Track listing

All songs written by Justin Currie except as noted.

  1. "Just Before You Leave" (Currie, Iain Harvie) – 5:14
  2. "Cash & Prizes" – 4:38
  3. "Drunk in a Band" – 2:44
  4. "One More Last Hurrah" (Currie, Harvie) – 4:52
  5. "Buttons on My Clothes"[5] – 4:05
  6. "Baby, It's Me" – 3:34
  7. "Wash Her Away"[6] (Currie, Harvie) – 3:07
  8. "Last Cheap Shot at the Dream" – 4:12
  9. "Out Falls The Past" – 3:13
  10. "She's Passing This Way" – 2:44
  11. "Jesus Saves" – 3:39
  12. "Just Getting By" – 7:35
  • "Just Getting By" is followed by a hidden track: an instrumental excerpt from "The Septic Jubilee" (a song released as a B-side on the "Just Before You Leave" single) which lasts for roughly 2:20.

Personnel

Singles
Just Before You Leave

Released: 9 April 2002 (in two versions), Mercury Records

B-sides:

Version One (Enhanced CD):

  • "The Septic Jubilee"
  • "Belong Belong"
  • "Just Before You Leave [Video]"

Version Two:

  • "I'm An Unbeliever"
  • "You Love Me"

Chart positions: # 37 (UK)

Notes
  1. Allmusic review
  2. PopMatters review
  3. Official Del Amitri website Archived 25 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine, which cites "Del Amitri: We Don't Even Like Ourselves" (5 April 2002), The Independent.
    • Currie, Justin (2002). In Can You Do Me Good? [CD liner notes]. London: Mercury Records.
  5. The track is named once as "The Buttons on My Clothes" in the CD inlay booklet, but twice as "Buttons on My Clothes".
  6. The track is named once as "Can't Wash Her Away" in the CD inlay booklet, but twice as "Wash Her Away".
  7. Presumably producer Jonathan Quarmby.
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