CD: WRASS034
RELEASE DATE: 2001
LABEL: WRASSE

01. Unusual places to drive
02. Perpetual adoration
03. Two cats on the piano
04. Ave the leopards
05. Pandemonia
06. Girlfriend
07. For Saskia
08. Thrive
09. Belle sisters
10. Sunpowder
11. Angel on Ruskin
12. Last night I loved you
13. Pandemonia (part 2)
14. Night is young
15. Danger in love
16. Kelvingrove baby
17. Desire regained
18. Once upon a time on the Rapenburg
19. Twenty two
20. If love could last forever

'Desire Regained', is the best of the Bathers - spanning across the hole of their 10 + year career. All 20 tracks have been re-recorded and are previously unreleased! For committed Bathers fans, this album takes getting used to at first, because all the songs, apart from 'Sunpowder', which is an extract from the original version of 'Dutch Venus', are rerecordings of the original songs. However, once one gets used to the new versions, many seem preferrable to the originals, as Chris Thomson's singing has advanced so much in the past few years. There are clearly superior versions of 'The Belle Sisters', 'Pandemonia', 'Last Night I Loved You' and 'The Night Is Young'. We also get to hear two songs from the first album ('Unusual Places To Drive' and 'Perpetual Adoration') and two songs from the second album ('Two Cats On The Piano' and 'Desire Regained'), both albums having been unavailable for a decade. Best of all, we get to hear some more of Bathers' drummer, Hazel Morrison, singing. She has one of the most amazing voices ever heard. She takes on the female vocals on 'Angel On Ruskin' and 'The Night Is Young', originally performed by ex-Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser, whose vocal ability is formidable; however, Hazel equals and perhaps occasionally surpasses Liz's vocal performances. For the uninitiated, this album will be a revelation: the sheer romance of the songs, the style and elegance of Chris Thomson's highly stylised singing, and the exquisite arrangements. 72 minutes of pure enchantment.