- Audio CD (14 Feb 1997)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Limited Edition
- Label: Polydor
- ASIN: B000002GNG
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 51,568 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. New Amusements |
| 2. Fighting Fit |
| 3. Where Are They Now? |
| 4. Speak To Me Someone |
| 5. We Could Be Kings |
| 6. Why I Was Born |
| 7. Long Sleeves For The Summer |
| 8. Save Me, I'm Yours |
| 9. Voice Of The Father |
| 10. The Accidental |
| 11. I Love You, What Are You? |
| 12. Sub Rosa |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Gene have really done themselves proud with this fantastic record. More polished than 'Olympian' or 'To See The Lights', the album takes the listener on an exhausting and melancholy journey through all the dark edges of human life.
It begins with 'New Amusements', a rocky and sinister romp, almost jubilantly plaintive and demanding in both words and crunching chords.
'Fighting Fit' is for me one of the highlights of the album, a fantastically frisky innuendo laden rhapsody about sex, basically, it has a beautiful tune but a very tough heart.
'Where Are They Now' conjures images of autumn and is the first truly melancholy song on the record. I think this song is incredibly insightful, with great lyrics like: 'The sky seems a little lower, but for that a normal day'.
'Speak To Me Someone' takes the emotional appeal to the next level. The slightly REM-ish chord patterns may sound a bit unoriginal at first but once the song kicks in, the product is a stunning vocal performance from Martin Rossiter and a stirring, evocative interpretation of depression.
If all that wasn't enough to start with, 'We Could Be Kings' is my personal favourite. It is a magnificent, anthemic song, a kind of nod to the British stiff-upper-lip attitude: continuing through the hard times and imagining what could be. Each part of the song is brilliant and perfectly conjured, from the superb guitar and rhythm, vocals which speak what everyone is feeling and the haunting melody. With a semantic field of getting in a car and going away somewhere, this song is good driving music!
'Why I Was Born' is a beautiful mellow ballad, seamlessly led in by piano at the end of 'We Could Be Kings'. The emotion on this song is so raw and open, it is literally a song to fall in love to. This also has some amazing guitar solos on it.
'Long Sleeves For The Summer' is a folky, acoustic workout. It seems very summery and light on the surface, but as with most Gene songs, has a dark heart. This song has some great lyrical twists too: 'a breath-grasping hand into the ether/Oh I beg you, take my with her'. It is a song which has been pondered over but seems effortlessly natural.
'Save Me, I'm Yours' tackles the issue of Rossiter's depression and fear of loneliness again. This song is particularly reminiscent of older Gene songs, but with that shiny production edge. It again has a great hooky riff, soaring melody and Rossiter's vocals sound particularly vulnerable and beautiful.
It begins with 'New Amusements', a rocky and sinister romp, almost jubilantly plaintive and demanding in both words and crunching chords.
'Fighting Fit' is for me one of the highlights of the album, a fantastically frisky innuendo laden rhapsody about sex, basically, it has a beautiful tune but a very tough heart.
'Where Are They Now' conjures images of autumn and is the first truly melancholy song on the record. I think this song is incredibly insightful, with great lyrics like: 'The sky seems a little lower, but for that a normal day'.
'Speak To Me Someone' takes the emotional appeal to the next level. The slightly REM-ish chord patterns may sound a bit unoriginal at first but once the song kicks in, the product is a stunning vocal performance from Martin Rossiter and a stirring, evocative interpretation of depression.
If all that wasn't enough to start with, 'We Could Be Kings' is my personal favourite. It is a magnificent, anthemic song, a kind of nod to the British stiff-upper-lip attitude: continuing through the hard times and imagining what could be. Each part of the song is brilliant and perfectly conjured, from the superb guitar and rhythm, vocals which speak what everyone is feeling and the haunting melody. With a semantic field of getting in a car and going away somewhere, this song is good driving music!
'Why I Was Born' is a beautiful mellow ballad, seamlessly led in by piano at the end of 'We Could Be Kings'. The emotion on this song is so raw and open, it is literally a song to fall in love to. This also has some amazing guitar solos on it.
'Long Sleeves For The Summer' is a folky, acoustic workout. It seems very summery and light on the surface, but as with most Gene songs, has a dark heart. This song has some great lyrical twists too: 'a breath-grasping hand into the ether/Oh I beg you, take my with her'. It is a song which has been pondered over but seems effortlessly natural.
'Save Me, I'm Yours' tackles the issue of Rossiter's depression and fear of loneliness again. This song is particularly reminiscent of older Gene songs, but with that shiny production edge. It again has a great hooky riff, soaring melody and Rossiter's vocals sound particularly vulnerable and beautiful.
'Voice Of The Father' is a complete sea change from what we have seen so far, it is truly a rock song, which is black to the very heart and has that great crunchy sound to it. But it has a typical Gene twist; a quiet piano noodle in the middle which lulls the listener into a false sense of security before stabbing them right in the heart with another killer chorus.
'The Accidental' is for me, the low point of the album, but is still a decent song. Its slow, dull beating did begin to grate on me, and for some reason Gene employ an awful croaky female singer to rasp a verse of the track, which totally backfires. Still, the song has an interesting lyric about hidden guilt and sleepless nights.
'I Love You, What Are You?' more than compensates for the dodginess of the previous track. This is another walloping great power song, confident in its execution, lyric, melody, musicianship....everything! It has been said that this song tackles the issue of sexuality, and Rossiter's supposed ambiguity. I say, bollocks! He's married! Just sit back and enjoy the magnificent thump of a brilliant song played by men who know their worth.
'Sub Rosa' is the final song on the album, and appears to be a simple lullaby at first. Wrong! It builds up into another huge, dramatic crescendo, with strings and brass piled into it. The main tune from 'New Amusements' is also incorporated into the instrumental. The song finishes cryptically with the line 'Who'll know?', which is a very good question indeed. And then it fades away again, just for a moment, until you hit the repeat button on the stereo and continue to luxuriate in the glory of a heart-breaking, unique and anthemic record, one whic defines emotions perfectly and in time will define your life.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Gene are one of the most underated bands ever. The excellent melodic tracks of speak to me someone and we should be kings are classics of their time. If you have never bought one of their albums before then there is no better starting point than here.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
"Drawn to the Deep End" is an astonishingly accomplished album, once again demonstrating that Gene are one of Britain's finest indie bands. From the more experimental opening track to the hit singles "Fighting Fit" and "We Could be Kings"(the stand-out track in my view) this a record which moves, uplifts and expresses sadness. The opening 5 or 6 tracks are on a level with any other indie band in the country and demonstrates once agin that Gene deserve to be much much bigger. A beautiful and emotional record.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
genius
This was a breakup album for me - wish they'd kept it going. Found them by accident and they lost me the same way.
Published on 6 Feb 2010 by John Macleod
GENE 'Drawn To The Deep End'
Released 12 years ago now then 'Drawn To The Deep End' was Gene's 3rd LP (2nd proper) and their first for new label Polydor (i.e. Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2009 by R. Cooper
Oh, what might have been....
Oh, what might have been. One listen to the first 5 tracks on this record could lead you to believe it worthy of a place in the top 5 albums of all time. Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2008 by Mr. B. Mcmillan
Two Good Songs
Fighting Fit is one of my favourite songs of all time, catchy, powerful and dramatic. 'We Should Be Kings' is reasonably good too, but the rest are at best mediocre and forgetable. Read more
Published on 17 Oct 2006 by Mr. D. J. Read
A Revelation
This is an excellent album. Rossiter's vocals can be very powerful, but also very delicate and vulnerable, with witty and interesting lyrics that never quite get annoying as... Read more
Published on 31 May 2003
Stunning
Having not been a great fan of Gene, I was startled, no ............blown away, by the sheer quality of this album. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2000 by "wheelspin26"
Melodic perfection
The third album that appears to be the pinnacle of their career. This cd comprises the melodic interlude that could be expected from lesser mortals with the power and ergency of a... Read more
Published on 13 Dec 1999
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