Eight Arms to Hold You is an album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Veruca Salt

Veruca Salt (band)

Veruca Salt is an alternative rock band founded in 1993 in Chicago, Illinois. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included vocalist-guitarist Louise Post. Guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick has been with the band since 1999 and drummer Kellii Scott has worked with the group on and off since 1999...

. The album was released through Outpost/Geffen

Geffen Records

Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

 on February 11, 1997. This is the last album to feature original band members Nina Gordon

Nina Gordon

Nina Rachel Shapiro Gordon is an American rock singer, and is the co-founder of the band Veruca Salt, having written the songs "Seether" and "Volcano Girls"...

, Steve Lack, and Jim Shapiro

Jim Shapiro

Jim "The Hammer" Shapiro is an American attorney and author who was known in the Rochester and Florida areas for his aggressive television commercials, as well as for a letter of solicitation he sent to a comatose accident victim.-Career:Shapiro graduated from Boston University Law School...

.

The title of the album is a reference to the working title

Working title

A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...

 for The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

' film eventually titled Help!

Help! (film)

Help! is a 1965 film directed by Richard Lester, starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. Help! was the second feature film made by the Beatles and is a...

.

Track listing

1. "Straight" (Post) – 2:32
2. "Volcano Girls
   Volcano Girls
   "Volcano Girls" is a single by the American alternative rock band Veruca Salt, released in 1997 on their album Eight Arms to Hold You. It was written by Nina Gordon who also sang lead vocals, with Louise Post performing backup vocals...
   
   " (Gordon) – 3:18
3. "Don't Make Me Prove It" (Post) – 2:29
4. "Awesome" (Gordon) – 3:32
5. "One Last Time" (Post) – 4:45
6. "With David Bowie" (Gordon) – 2:25
7. "Benjamin" (Gordon) – 4:05
8. "Shutterbug" (Post) – 4:16
9. "The Morning Sad" (Gordon) – 3:08
10. "Sound of the Bell" (Post) – 3:59
11. "Loneliness Is Worse" (Gordon) – 5:00
12. "Stoneface" (Gordon) – 2:44
13. "Venus Man Trap" (Post) – 3:29
14. "Earthcrosser" (Gordon) – 5:28

Personnel

• Mike Cusick - assistant engineer
• Brian Dobbs - engineer
• Jim Labinski - assistant engineer
• Jeff Lane - assistant engineer, mixing assistant
• George Marino - mastering
• Jim McGillveray - percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Mike Gilles - digital editing, assistant engineer, digital programming
• Nina Gordon - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Darren Grahn - assistant engineer
• Steve Lack - bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , guitar
• Louise Post - guitar, vocals
• Bob Rock - producer
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  
• Jim Shapiro - guitar, drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , backing vocals
• Randy Staub - engineer, mixing
• Zach Ingraham - drums, whiteboard

Shutterbug

"Shutterbug", a song from this album, was written by Louise Post

Louise Post

Louise Lightner Post is the lead vocalist and guitarist for alternative rock group Veruca Salt. She is a graduate of Barnard College, holding a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.-Musical career:...

. She was the lead singer for the song, with Nina Gordon

Nina Gordon

Nina Rachel Shapiro Gordon is an American rock singer, and is the co-founder of the band Veruca Salt, having written the songs "Seether" and "Volcano Girls"...

 performing backing vocals.

Post has said that the three parts of the song are like snapshots from different times in her life. The "she" featured in the song is PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...

.

Veruca Salt performed "Shutterbug" on Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

. Because Sting was hosting the show that evening, he performed one of his solo songs instead of Veruca Salt performing a second song.

Album position

1997 Eight Arms To Hold You The Billboard 200 No. 55

1997 Eight Arms To Hold You RIANZ NZ Top 40 No. 34

Singles positions

• 1997 Volcano Girls - Modern Rock Tracks - No. 8
• 1997 Shutterbug - Mainstream Rock Tracks - No. 39