Out of Season (Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man album)

Out of Season is a studio album by vocalist Beth Gibbons (of Portishead) and bassist Paul Webb (under the pseudonym Rustin Man, formerly of Talk Talk). It was released on 28 October 2002 in the United Kingdom and on 7 October 2003 in the United States. Out of Season is largely a folk album with jazz leanings, with Gibbons and Webb drawing more directly on the influences of Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Nick Drake, at which Portishead's work in trip hop only hinted. Out of Season also features contributions from Gibbons' fellow Portishead bandmate Adrian Utley and Webb's former bandmate Lee Harris. The first track of the album, "Mysteries", appears on the original soundtrack of the French movie Les Poupées Russes (The Russian Dolls), and in Wim Wenders' Palermo Shooting from 2008. The album achieved a silver certification from the BPI.

Out of Season
Studio album by
Released28 October 2002 (2002-10-28)
GenreFolk, jazz, classic pop[1][2]
Length43:46
LabelGo Beat!
Producer
  • Beth Gibbons
  • Paul Webb
Beth Gibbons chronology
Out of Season
(2002)
Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
(2019)
Rustin Man chronology
Out of Season
(2002)
Drift Code
(2019)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic83/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Blender[5]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[6]
The Guardian[1]
Los Angeles Times[2]
Pitchfork5.7/10[7]
Q[8]
Slant Magazine[9]
SpinB+[10]
The Village VoiceB−[11]

Commercial performance

The album charted in some countries, peaking at number 28 in the UK,[12] number 13 in Germany, number 36 in Switzerland, number 54 in Austria, number 19 in France, number 77 in Netherlands, number 6 in Norway and number 39 in Denmark.[13]"Tom the Model" was released as a single on March 3, 2003, and reached number 70 in the UK.[14] A video for the song was directed by Chris Bran and it featured Gibbons performing in front of a theatre crowd. The album was re-released in October 2019 on vinyl and entered the British charts at number 24.

Track listing

All songs written by Beth Gibbons and Paul Webb, except where noted otherwise.

  1. "Mysteries" – 4:39
  2. "Tom the Model" – 3:41
  3. "Show" (Gibbons) – 4:26
  4. "Romance" – 5:09
  5. "Sand River" (Webb) – 3:48
  6. "Spider Monkey" – 4:10
  7. "Resolve" – 2:51
  8. "Drake" – 3:54
  9. "Funny Time of Year" – 6:48
  10. "Rustin Man" – 4:20
American edition bonus track
  1. "Candy Says" (live) (Lou Reed) – 5:20

Personnel

Musicians

  • Beth Gibbons – acoustic guitar, arrangements, vocals, vocoder
  • Paul Webb – percussion, piano, accordion, arrangements, electric guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
  • Rebecca Lublinski – flute
  • Rachel Samuel – cello
  • John Baggott – piano, Wurlitzer
  • Gary Baldwin – organ
  • John Barclay – flugelhorn
  • Martyn Barker – percussion, conga
  • Mark Berrow – violin
  • Rachael Brown – backing vocals
  • Lurine Cato – backing vocals
  • Ben Chappell – cello
  • Clive Deamer – drums, tympani
  • Philip Dukes – viola
  • Simon Edwards – bass guitar, double bass
  • Mark Feltham – harmonica
  • Andrew Findon – alto flute
  • Pete Glenister – acoustic guitar
  • Leo Green – horn Section
  • Lee Harris – drums
  • Nick Ingman – conductor, orchestration
  • Mitchell John – backing vocals
  • Patrick Kiernan – violin
  • Boguslaw Kostecki – violin
  • Peter Lale – viola
  • Martin Loveday – cello
  • Neill MacColl – acoustic guitar, Ebow
  • Perry Mason – violin
  • Lorraine McIntosh – backing vocals
  • Frank Ricotti – vibraphone
  • Eddie Roberts – violin
  • Nina Robertson – alto flute
  • Joy Rose – backing vocals
  • Mary Scully – double bass
  • Chris Tombling – violin
  • Jonathan Tunnell – cello
  • Adrian Utley – organ, acoustic guitar, bass, guitar, electric guitar, Moog synthesizer, Ebow, baritone guitar
  • Bruce White – viola
  • Dave Woodcock – violin
  • Gavyn Wright – violin
  • Warren Zielinski – violin

Production

  • Frank Arkwright – mastering
  • Ryan Art – design
  • Mark Bishop – mixing assistant, assistant
  • Phill Brown – engineer, mixing
  • Peter Dickinson – photography
  • Niven Garland – engineer
  • Beth Gibbons – producer, engineer
  • Andy Montgomery – engineer
  • Neil Perry – engineer
  • Albert Pinheiro – assistant
  • Adrian Utley – additional production, engineer, effects
  • Eva Vermandel – photography
  • Paul Webb – producer, mixing, effects

Charts

2002–2003 weekly chart performance for Out of Season
Chart (2002–2003)Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15]54
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[16]39
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17]77
French Albums (SNEP)[18]19
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19]13
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[20]6
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[21]36
UK Albums (OCC)[22]28
2024 weekly chart performance for Out of Season
Chart (2024)Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[23]177

Certifications

Certifications for Out of Season
RegionCertificationCertified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[24]Gold10,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[25]Silver60,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References