Floating into the Night

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Floating into the Night
A porcelain doll floating against a black background. Pink block text with wide kerning below reads "Julee Cruise"; grey block text placed below reads "Floating", followed by gold block text reading "into the Night".
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 12, 1989 (1989-09-12)
StudioExcalibur Sound (New York City)
Genre
Length47:56
Warner Bros.
Producer
Julee Cruise chronology
Floating into the Night
(1989)
The Voice of Love
(1993)
Singles from Floating into the Night
  1. "Falling"
    Released: 1990
  2. "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart"
    Released: 1990

Floating into the Night is the debut studio album by American singer

Warner Bros. Records, and features compositions and production by Angelo Badalamenti and film director David Lynch. Songs from the album were featured in Lynch's projects Blue Velvet (1986), Industrial Symphony No. 1 (1990), and Twin Peaks
(1990–1991).

The album peaked at number 74 on the US Billboard 200 following the success of the Twin Peaks TV series in 1990. Lead single "Falling" reached the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number seven and spending 12 weeks in total on the chart.

Background

Filmmaker David Lynch and composer Angelo Badalamenti's collaboration with Cruise first came about during the scoring for Lynch's 1986 film Blue Velvet, in which a key scene was intended to feature This Mortal Coil's version of "Song to the Siren" by Tim Buckley. With the rights to the song proving prohibitively expensive, it was suggested that Badalamenti compose a pop song in the same style and recruit a vocalist with a haunting, ethereal voice. Badalamenti recommended Cruise, who had sung in a New York theater workshop Badalamenti had produced. The result was the track "Mysteries of Love". Lynch and Badalamenti were impressed with the results, and elected to record subsequent tracks with Cruise.[1]

Composition

Floating into the Night was produced and written by Badalamenti and Lynch; Badalamenti composed the music and Lynch wrote the lyrics.

traditional jazz instrumentation;[9][10] Rolling Stone considered Floating into the Night as a definitive development of the dream pop sound, describing how the album "added depth to [the genre]" and "gave the genre its synthy sheen", particularly on the track "Mysteries of Love".[1] In the 1998 book MusicHound Lounge: The Essential Album Guide, writer Jack Jackson wrote "The tunes...fill a 'trip-lounge' void between traditional and non-traditional genres."[11]

Release

Floating into the Night was released on September 12, 1989 on

cassette.[12] Two singles were released from the album: "Falling" and "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart".[13] Floating into the Night has since been reissued on several occasions. The album received a CD reissue in Europe in October 1998,[14] a 180-gram LP repressing by Plain Recordings in the United States in October 2014 and a separate 180-gram LP repressing by Music on Vinyl in Europe in February 2015.[15][16]

Tracks from Floating into the Night were used in other projects by Lynch. "Mysteries of Love" had been previously featured in Blue Velvet.[17] "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart", "Into the Night", "I Float Alone" and "The World Spins" were performed in the 1990 Lynch production Industrial Symphony No. 1.[18] "Falling", "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart", "Into the Night", "The Nightingale" and "The World Spins" appeared in Twin Peaks, a television series co-created by Lynch. Lynch's lyrics on the album have been the subject of analysis from fans and academic studies of the series. In The Cinema of David Lynch: American Dreams, Nightmare Visions, academic John Richardson said that Cruise's considerable use of reverb makes her sound as if she sings "from a distance that clearly parallels the distance between the other world that [Twin Peaks character] Laura Palmer has fallen into and the primary diegetic world of the other characters"; he considered the lyrics to "Falling"—an instrumental version of which was used as the theme song to the series—as "reinforc[ing] this impression since they can easily be understood as representing Laura's point of view".[5] Cruise, however, considers Lynch's lyrics to have been written about his then-partner, Italian actress and model Isabella Rossellini.[3]

"The World Spins" was featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 film The Company.[19]

Reception

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Boston Phoenix
[20]
Chicago Sun-Times[21]
NME8/10[22]
Orlando Sentinel[23]
Pitchfork9.0/10[24]
Q[25]
Record Mirror5/5[26]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[27]
The Village VoiceB−[28]

Floating into the Night has received widespread critical acclaim.[29] Stuart Bailie of NME praised it as "an immense study of wonderment and near-perfection."[22] In a short feature article in Spin, Scott Cohen likened the album to "a dark movie with no film footage, just a haunting voice, bizarre dialogue and vivid atmospherics", and described Cruise's vocals as "scary and beautiful".[30] Q included Floating into the Night in its year-end list of the "50 Best Albums of 1990".[31] However, the album garnered a mixed review from The Village Voice editor Robert Christgau, who said that "when admirers claim [Cruise] sounds best in a dark room at three in the morning, I wonder whether she puts them to sleep too."[28] In the 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide, J. D. Considine wrote that "Cruise comes across as a sort of post-modern Claudine Longet—an amusing concept, to be sure, but hardly worth an entire album."[27]

Writing a retrospective review for

time warp, dressed with extra sparkle and with a just-sleepy-enough, narcotic feeling."[7] Pitchfork critic Sam Sodomsky called the album "one of dream pop's chief benchmarks", while also noting that it "captured something important about dreams that plenty of other artists in the genre have ignored ... Cruise and her collaborators also had the ability to shake you awake, to twist an image that should be pretty into something broken and grotesque."[24] In 2010 Pitchfork included "Falling" at number 146 on its staff list of "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s"; Tom Ewing said that "[the song] catches you with its dreamy, echo-drenched gentility—like Les Paul and Mary Ford inventing shoegaze in 1961—and inside is one of the decade's simplest and warmest love songs."[32] Floating into the Night was ranked at number 24 on Fact's 2013 list of "The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s",[33] and at number 67 on Pitchfork's 2018 list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s".[8]

Commercial performance

Following the breakout success of Twin Peaks, Floating into the Night peaked at number 74 on the US Billboard 200 on June 30, 1990,[34] nine months after its release. In Canada, the album peaked at number 27 for two weeks in August 1990, and returned four weeks later for two weeks at number 29. In total, it was on the Canadian charts for 30 weeks.[35] In 1991 the album placed on several international album charts, peaking at number 21 on the Australian Albums Chart[36] number 11 on the New Zealand Albums Chart and number 36 on the Swedish Albums Chart.[37][38]

Despite not placing on the UK Albums Chart, Floating into the Night's lead single "Falling" reached the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number seven and spending 12 weeks in total on the chart;[39] "Falling" was also a moderate commercial success in several international territories, peaking in the top 10 of singles charts in Ireland,[40] Norway and Sweden, and reaching the number one spot in Australia.[41] In February 2012, Floating into the Night was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments in excess of 60,000 units in the United Kingdom.[42]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by David Lynch; all music is composed by Angelo Badalamenti

No.TitleLength
1."Floating"4:51
2."Falling"5:45
3."I Remember"4:11
4."Rockin' Back Inside My Heart"5:45
5."Mysteries of Love"4:27
6."Into the Night"4:42
7."I Float Alone"4:33
8."The Nightingale"4:54
9."The Swan"2:28
10."The World Spins"6:38
Total length:47:56

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from Floating into the Night's album notes.[2]

Charts

Chart performance for Floating into the Night
Chart (1990–1991) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[36] 21
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[43] 27
Finland (Suomen virallinen albumlista)[44] 30
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[37] 11
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[38] 36
US Billboard 200[34] 74

Certifications

Certifications for Floating into the Night
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[42] Silver 60,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Grow, Kory (July 25, 2014). "Dream Team: The Semi-Mysterious Story Behind the Music of 'Twin Peaks'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  2. ^
    Warner Bros. Records. 1989. 925 859-1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link
    )
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ McKenna, Kristine (August 20, 1989). "A Real Multi-Media Kind of Guy: David Lynch, artist in many forms, tells his tales of Hollywood after 'Blue Velvet'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  5. ^ .
  6. .
  7. ^ a b c d Raggett, Ned. "Floating into the Night – Julee Cruise". AllMusic. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  8. ^ a b Pitchfork Staff (September 10, 2018). "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork. p. 7. Retrieved April 25, 2023. It served as a foundation for the misty dream pop of Cruise's debut album...
  9. ^ a b Staff writer(s) (April 1989). "Talking All That Jazz". Spin. Vol. 5, no. 1. p. 24. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  10. .
  11. ^ Jackson, Jack (January 1, 1998). "Julee Cruise". In Knopper, Steve (ed.). MusicHound Lounge: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. p. 117.
  12. ^ "Floating into the Night – Julee Cruise | Releases". AllMusic. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  13. ^ "Julee Cruise | Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  14. Warner Bros. Records. 1998. 7599-25859-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link
    )
  15. ^ Staff writer(s) (November 10, 2014). "Julee Cruise's Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch-produced Floating Into The Night reissued on vinyl". Fact. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  16. ^ "Julee Cruise – Floating Into The Night". Music on Vinyl. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  17. .
  18. ^ Badalamenti, Angelo; Lynch, David (1990). Industrial Symphony No. 1 (VHS). Warner Reprise Video. 38179-3.
  19. ^ "The Company [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] – Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  20. The Boston Phoenix
    . Vol. 18, no. 46. sec. 3, p. 34. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  21. ^ McLeese, Don (September 25, 1989). "Julee Cruise, 'Floating into the Night' (Warner Bros.)". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  22. ^ a b Bailie, Stuart (February 3, 1990). "Shipping Gold". NME. p. 35.
  23. ^ Henderson, Bill (October 5, 1990). "Angelo Badalamenti, Julee Cruise". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  24. ^ a b Sodomsky, Sam (August 9, 2023). "Julee Cruise: Floating Into the Night". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  25. ^ "Julee Cruise: Floating into the Night". Q. Archived from the original on March 21, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  26. ^ Dee, Johnny (February 3, 1990). "Julee Cruise: Floating into the Night". Record Mirror. p. 15.
  27. ^ .
  28. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (November 28, 1989). "Consumer Guide: Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  29. .
  30. ^ Cohen, Scott (November 1989). "A Stranger Calling". Spin. Vol. 5, no. 8. p. 16. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  31. ^ Staff writer(s) (January 1991). "The 50 Best Albums of 1990". Q. No. 52.
  32. ^ Ewing, Tom; et al. (August 31, 2010). "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 150–101". Pitchfork. p. 1. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  33. ^ Lea, Tom; Morpurgo, Joseph; Kelly, Chris; et al. (June 24, 2013). "The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s". Fact. p. 78. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  34. ^ a b "Julee Cruise Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  35. ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums - March 2, 1991" (PDF).
  36. ^ a b "Australiancharts.com – Julee Cruise – Floating into the Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  37. ^ a b "Charts.nz – Julee Cruise – Floating into the Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  38. ^ a b "Swedishcharts.com – Julee Cruise – Floating into the Night". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  39. ^ "Julee Cruise | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  40. ^ "Search the charts". The Irish Charts. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  41. Hitparade
    (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  42. ^ a b "British album certifications – Julee Cruise – Floating into the Night". British Phonographic Industry. February 17, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  43. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 1313". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  44. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Julee Cruise". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 54. Retrieved September 5, 2022.

External links