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No Man's Land (Frank Turner album)

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No Man's Land
An all-black humanlike figure with a white face, long flowing hair, six arms, and four legs, stood in front of a dark blue background with a light blue ring on it.
Studio album by
Frank Turner
Released16 August 2019
Recorded2019
GenreFolk punk,[1] folk rock[2]
Length48:09
Label
ProducerCatherine Marks
Frank Turner chronology
Be More Kind
(2018) 		No Man's Land
(2019) 		West Coast vs. Wessex
(2020)
Singles from No Man's Land
  1. "Sister Rosetta"
    Released: 3 July 2019

No Man's Land is the eighth studio album by English singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on 16 August 2019[3] by Xtra Mile Recordings.

It is a concept album with songs about women from history, often with connections to music.[4]

Background

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The album was announced alongside the release of the single "Sister Rosetta" on July 3, 2019.[5] Turner wrote the album as a way of drawing attention to the lives of "fascinating women" whose amazing lives were overlooked due to their gender.[6] These women include Byzantine princess Kassiani, Huda Sha'arawi, Nannie Doss, Nica Rothschild, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Jinny Bingham, Dora Hand and the CPR training manikin Resusci Anne.[7] Alongside the album's release, Turner and Somethin' Else released a podcast entitled Tales From No Man's Land in which he discusses the story of every woman that the songs are based on.[8] The album also features a new recording of the song "Silent Key" previously released on Turner's sixth album Positive Songs for Negative People.[9]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic63/100[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Evening Standard[11]
The Times[12]
The Independent[13]
NME[2]
The Arts Desk[14]
The Spill Magazine[15]

The album received generally favorable reviews with an aggregate score of 63/100 on Metacritic.[16] Many praised Turner's return to folk instead of the indie pop sound of his previous album Be More Kind.[1] However, the idea of the album saw much controversy, and the album received incredibly negative reviews from publishers such as The Independent and NME. The Independent described the album as "extreme mansplaining" and criticised the instrumentation as being "plodding" and Turner's limited vocal range being incredibly evident.[13] NME stated that the album was too similar to Turner's previous work, leading to the voices of the woman involved being completely overshadowed.[2] The Mic, however, argued that No Man's Land succeeded as an "astoundingly versatile and sensitive" concept album, noting that "overwhelmingly Turner opts for well realised curveballs as opposed to safe and unadventurous folk music".[17]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Frank Turner, except where noted

No.TitleSubjectLength
1."Jinny Bingham's Ghost"Jinny Bingham2:55
2."Sister Rosetta"Sister Rosetta Tharpe3:48
3."I Believed You William Blake"Catherine Blake3:35
4."Nica"Pannonica de Koenigswarter4:35
5."A Perfect Wife"Nannie Doss2:36
6."Silent Key"Christa McAuliffe3:57
7."Eye of the Day"Mata Hari5:14
8."The Death of Dora Hand"Dora Hand4:16
9."The Graveyard of the Outcast Dead"The "Winchester Geese" buried in Cross Bones burial ground3:39
10."The Lioness"Huda Sha'arawi3:10
11."The Hymn of Kassiani"Kassia3:30
12."Rescue Annie"Resusci Anne4:14
13."Rosemary Jane"Frank Turner's mother3:45
Total length:48:09

Personnel

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Adapted from AllMusic.[18]

  • Frank Turner – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, percussion, piano, synthesiser

Charts

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Chart (2019) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 49
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 22
Scottish Albums (OCC)[21] 4
UK Albums (OCC)[22] 3

References

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  1. ^ a b c Jurek, Thom. "No Man's Land - Frank Turner". AllMusic. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Richards, Will (14 August 2019). "Frank Turner - 'No Man's Land' review". NME. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  3. ^ "SIGNED No Man's Land CD". Frank Turner. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Thoughts on No Man's Land". Frank Turner. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  5. ^ "FRANK TURNER ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM NO MAN'S LAND". Kerrang!. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Frank Turner - No Man's Land / Xtra Mile Recordings / Polydor Records from Piccadilly Records". Piccadilly Records. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Frank Turner - No Man's Land - LP+ - Rough Trade". Rough Trade. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  8. ^ "Frank Turner's Tales From No Man's Land on acast". Acast. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  9. ^ Turner, Frank. "Silent Key". Frank Turner. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  10. ^ "Be More Kind by Frank Turner". Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  11. ^ Luckhurst, Phoebe (16 August 2019). "Frank Turner: No Man's Land review". Evening Standard. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  12. ^ Dalton, Stephen (16 August 2019). "Frank Turner: No Man's Land review — too eager to mansplain feminism". The Times. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  13. ^ a b O'Connor, Roisin (15 August 2019). "Frank Turner review, No Man's Land: More a case of extreme mansplaining". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  14. ^ Hasted, Nick (14 August 2019). "CD: Frank Turner - No Man's Land. Album review by Nick Hasted". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  15. ^ Meller, Molly (16 August 2019). "SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: FRANK TURNER - NO MAN'S LAND". The Spill Magazine. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  16. ^ "No Man's Land by Frank Turner Reviews and Tracks - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  17. ^ Chadwick, Cameron (15 August 2019). "Album Review: Frank Turner - 'No Man's Land'". The Mic. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  18. ^ "No Man's Land - Frank Turner | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  19. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Frank Turner – No Man's Land" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  20. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Frank Turner – No Man's Land" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  21. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
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