The fifth full-length & self-produced studio album by songwriter & solo recording artist Scott Cooley which features 13 original acoustic songs released on June 21st, 2012 on the Scott Cooley Records label.
Tracklist
Click a title page link to view song details:
Liner Notes
© ℗ 2012 by Scott Cooley. All rights reserved. A 2012 studio album release from Scott Cooley Records. Made in Michigan, United States Of America. Scott thanks: you. Scott Cooley – music & lyrics, recording, mixing, mastering, artwork, production, performance of djembe, snare, hi-hat, congas, bongos, bhodran, shaker, hand clapping, tambourine, cowbell, washboard, marimba, harmonica, acoustic lap steel slide guitar, acoustic bass guitar, rhythm & lead acoustic guitar, background & lead vocals. Lenore Cooley (appearing courtesy of ShoeGirl Productions) – inspiration, accordion extraordinaire & co-producer on Cherchez La Femme & If I Had Time, keyboard on Forever In Shame & co-drawer w/ Scott of the pen & ink album cover art.
Streaming
Information
Medium Description: Cherchez La Femme is Scott Cooley's fifth album. It contains 13 new acoustic songs that are mostly rock, with a couple country and one Cajun/Zydeco song. The theme is one of love, relationships and women; and the sound includes acoustic guitars with minimal percussion and a little harmonica, marimba and slide with light background vocals and of course, the clear, warm, calming SC lead vocals.
Longer Description: Cherchez La Femme is the fifth full-length album release from Scott Cooley. It features songs ranging stylistically between acoustic pop, acoustic rock, folk rock, cajun/zydeco, old-timey, country rock, and ballads that tell unique stories of love and relationships from a man’s perspective about the fairer sex. The last song, however, is a tough tune that will tug at your heartstrings from a different perspective – that of a grandfather to a grandson. The emotions run the gamut from sadness to shame to remorse to lust to revenge to desperation to frustration to infatuation to love to happiness to joy. It has been suggested by many that if you want to find a root cause behind many of the problems men face, look for the women they associate with…such is life.
Additional Release Details:
Packaging Format: Full-length, long-playing record album from Amazon On Demand (Create Space) CD-R standard jewel case; Compact Disc (print on demand) CD-R, digital MP3 (in print edition)
Suggested Retail Price (SRP): $12.49 (compact disc) , $12.49 (MP3 album)
Price Rationale: competitive for independent, motivation to buy physical product
Home Market: Michigan
Export Distribution Availability: YES
Territory Restrictions: None
Digital Distribution Rights: Amazon (direct); Bandcamp (direct); Google Music (direct); iTunes, Spotify, etc. (via CD Baby)
Promo Track: (a complimentary mp3 available for marketing purposes) - Soundcloud, NoiseTrade, Reverb Nation, Bandcamp
Key Retail Stores: Amazon, iTunes, Google, Bandcamp, Rhapsody, eMusic, Spotify
Commercial & Professional Stock: Available for venue sales, web sales, press & radio
Quick Track-Specific Thoughts: Forever In Shame is a slow builder. I Did A Bad Thing is a catchy hand-clapper that is based on a true story. The title track is brilliant, thanks to Lenore's awesome accordion playing, and also features a mean washboard given to me by my mother-in-law. My Sweetheart, My Darling is a 3/4 time waltz that has an old-timey feel and the brush snare is cool. Too Close For Comfort has been described as one of the top 5 songs in my catalog. What About Me? has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi feel to it and is one where I really got into playing the marimba. Hot Sauce is hot rocker that celebrates what the title implies. She Got Even has a country flavor w/ cowbell, a mean bottleneck slide and is "loosely" based on a true story. Please Louise is a riff-based rocker with a sweet harmonica solo. With All Of My Heart might make you want to sing along, while You're So Beautiful might make you want to dance, even though it's a mid-tempo number. I can honestly say that No Reason Flowers has commercial radio hit potential. If I Had Time is a country song w/ Lenore's accordion and is probably the best song I've ever written, even though it is a very personal song.
Thanks for your interest and support of my songwriting/recording habit !!!
Cherchez La Femme is the fifth album released by Scott Cooley, American acoustic rock artist. It was released on June 21st, 2012 on the independent label Scott Cooley Records.
Background
Between this album and the last, Scott did not experience any important events that had an impact on this album that he can recall. He simply did what he always does, which was to write the songs, and then record them, and then release them.
Recording, production
Scott Cooley is the producer of this album. It was produced in East Lansing, Michigan at Scott Cooley Music Productions, which is Scott's home recording studio in a bedroom within the partially-finished basement of Scott's home. The amount of time it took to record was not measured, however, it probably took about one hour per song on average. Unique and outstanding recording techniques used during production included the fact that only acoustic instruments and microphones were used, and that very few digital effects were used. The cost of the recording was especially low. There were no particularly innovative uses of technology.
Release, promotion, marketing
It is notable that not only was this album not promoted or marketed in any way, but also it's release was not ever leaked on the internet. It was simply submitted for distribution, and then a few weeks later appeared for sale in digital retail stores.
Musical style, writing, composition
Summarized descriptions of each song are made available in the respective song subpages.
Artwork, packaging
The process of creating visuals and branding for the album, including the album art, was a matter of Scott using a pen to draw on paper a picture of a detective looking for a woman, and then Lenore adding to it by drawing the woman and her dog. The scene is meant to depict a streetcorner in Paris, France.
Critical reception
Should any professional reviews by music journalists, reliable secondary sources such as books, or reputable articles that discuss the album be submitted to us, they will be referenced here and properly cited. Minority opinions, in addition to ways in which the album has affected the cultural consciousness of a society will also be included and listed here to further establish notability, if we are fortunate enough to receive them.
Accolades
No accolades, prestigious awards, or recognition of any kind has been given to this album by any publications and associations that we are aware of.
Personnel
The names of personnel involved with this album, and the forms of their participation are described below.
Lenore Cooley - accordion, keyboard, artwork
Lucky Cooley - spiritual guide
Scott Cooley - everything else
Press Release
June 21st, 2012 East Lansing, Michigan. For immediate release - a new release from Scott Cooley Records. Today, Scott Cooley released officially to the public his fifth long-playing record album, which continues his tradition of releasing a new album every two years on his birthday. It is now available for sale in all of the major online stores - Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Spotify, and many more. Wherever you buy music, it's there. It's named "Cherchez La Femme" and you can get a CD mailed to you, or you can download the album or even the individual songs as MP3s. Furthermore, you can "stream" it, which means listen to it online, for free on the internet over your computer speakers. That's right - free steaming. To learn all about it, listen to it, and more, details are provided on the album page of this site here: Cherchez La Femme.
About the album, Scott said “it contains 13 songs that I wrote and recorded myself. My lovely wife Lenore played accordion on a couple songs too. I'm proud of it and hope you like it. It's mostly what I would call acoustic rock and roll music. For do-it-yourselfers like me, it's a challenge to get people interested, so the following is additional information I'm providing to convince you to check out my music. I would love it if I was able to gain a larger audience. So if you're at all interested, read on.”
For the same reason you’re interested in Neil Young, you’ll likely be interested in Scott Cooley. For example, we’ve all heard a Neil song before and thought to ourselves things like “if only he’d worked harder on the verse” or “if only he’d fixed those bad notes in that solo” or “if he’d only tried to sing it a little more on key” it would’ve been better...but then you realize it wouldn’t be Neil otherwise, and that’s how we like him – he doesn’t have to be close to perfection for us to get a kick out of listening to his music.
Do you feel like a sucker when you buy some amateurish musician’s CD? If it sucks, you feel like you wasted your money on something. Do you ever feel sort of embarrassed to admit you have some independent, unpopular music in your collection? How often does anyone review your CD collection? Do you really care about these kinds of things, or do you allow yourself the freedom to explore what you want to listen to on your own terms? We thought so.
It’s exciting because when it’s someone you know, it’s just interesting to hear what kind of music they come up with, satisfying your curiosity about how their personality is expressed via music because even if you don't know Scott, if you’re from one of his former (Flint, Grand Blanc, Albion, Vail) or current (East Lansing) stomping grounds, you are going to feel good about supporting a notable resident – or would that be notorious resident?...because it’s a good feeling to own some obscure stuff in your record collection from someone you have some sort of a personal connection with because it’s always gratifying to support your local creative community, and along the way help the arts and culture of your community thrive
It’s somewhat rare to find music created by one person who predominantly writes the songs, sings the songs, plays the instruments, produces, arranges, records, mixes, masters, and designs the artwork packaging - all by himself. It’s a fun and unique listening experience to hear one person’s vision of how a song should be written and recorded in a way that truly authentic and never overproduced with electronics that mask the imperfections. It's often pleasantly surprising to hear what someone with no formal training can come up with on a shoestring budget - there's a raw genuine honesty you don't get from artists who use studio session musicians and professional recording engineers.
When someone asks you if you have any SC music, you can proudly say “yes, I do” and this thereby makes you a member of an exclusive club of people who get the acquired taste aspect, and you’re then qualified and prepared to discuss why you like it with others. It’s entirely possibly to expand your musical horizons and personal listening tastes and work in something new instead of holding so tightly to those perfect Journey albums from the early 80s or whatever – it can be a liberating experience, and you’re never too old to try new things. More opportunities for you to engage include joining the mailing list and immediately getting a free original SC song download; and sharing links to the albums & songs at your favorite online stores with people in your social network…and be cool because of it.
You can allow yourself to use that credit card you’ve been trying not to use this year for a personal item to treat yourself with, which can in and of itself improve your outlook on life. More than any other SC album, this one is about love and is meant to appeal to women more than men, kind of like that white James Taylor greatest hits album you’ve had since the mid 80s. Take part in the excitement and while you’re at it get up to date with the recently re-mastered and re-released entire SC back catalog on CD – buy all five and here’s our guarantee: if you listen to all five and never smile, send your proof of purchase and we’ll personally refund your money!
UPC: 886470642724