Medusa is the second solo album by the Scottish singer Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...

, released in March 1995. It consists solely of cover songs, all originally recorded by male artists. It entered the UK album chart at No. 1 and peaked in the US at number 11, spending 60 weeks on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 chart. It has since achieved double platinum status in both the U.K. and the U.S. and sold more than 6 million copies worldwide.

Background and release

The album yielded four U.K. singles: "No More I Love You's

No More I Love You's

"No More I Love You's" is a song written by Joseph Hughes and David Freeman and was first released by their band, The Lover Speaks, in 1986. The song was later covered by the Scottish singer Annie Lennox and became a hit for her in 1995.-The Lover Speaks version:"No More "I Love You's"" was the...

" (which entered the UK singles chart at No. 2, Lennox's highest ever solo peak), "A Whiter Shade of Pale

A Whiter Shade of Pale

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached #5 on the US charts, as well...

", "Waiting in Vain

Waiting in Vain

"Waiting in Vain" is a song written by reggae musician Bob Marley and recorded by Bob Marley & The Wailers, for his 1977 album Exodus. Released as a single, it hit number twenty-seven in the UK Singles Chart.-Annie Lennox version:...

" and "Something So Right

Something So Right (song)

"Something So Right" is a song by Paul Simon. It was originally featured on his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon.In 1976, the song was recorded by Miami soul singer Gwen McCrae giving name to her album Something So Right....

".

The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards of 1996

Grammy Awards of 1996

The 38th Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1996. The awards recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Alanis Morissette was the night's big winner, scoring four trophies, including Album of the Year.-Award winners:...

, losing to Turbulent Indigo

Turbulent Indigo

Turbulent Indigo is the fifteenth album by Joni Mitchell. It was released in 1994, and became one of her most critically acclaimed releases, winning a Grammy Award for Pop Album of the Year....

 by Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...

, however, Lennox took home the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance award for her work on the first single "No More I Love You's."
This album was re-released in late 1995 in a double jewel case containing the album Medusa and a nine-track bonus CD featuring the studio version of Paul Simon's "Something So Right" (with Simon guesting on vocals and guitar) and eight tracks recorded live from the concert in Central Park: "Money Can't Buy It", "Legend in My Living Room", her Eurythmics

Eurythmics

Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...

 hits "Who's That Girl?

Who's That Girl? (Eurythmics song)

"Who's That Girl?" is a song recorded by British pop duo Eurythmics. It was written by Eurythmics members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart and produced by Stewart...

", "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart

You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" is a song recorded by British pop duo Eurythmics. It was written by group members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart, and appears on the duo's album Savage...

" and "Here Comes the Rain Again

Here Comes the Rain Again

"Here Comes the Rain Again" is a song by British pop duo Eurythmics. It was written by group members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart and produced by Stewart. The song was released as the third single in the UK from the album Touch and in the United States as the first single. It became...

", along with "Why

Why (Annie Lennox song)

"Why" is the first solo single by the Scottish singer Annie Lennox, released in 1992. It was taken from her debut solo album Diva and reached no.5 in the United Kingdom and number thirty-four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The single also reached no.6 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart...

", "Little Bird

Little Bird (Annie Lennox song)

"Little Bird" is a song by the Scottish singer Annie Lennox, and was released as a single in 1993. Taken from her debut solo album, Diva , it was released as a double A-side with "Love Song for a Vampire"...

" and "Walking on Broken Glass

Walking on Broken Glass

"Walking on Broken Glass" is a song written and performed by Scottish singer Annie Lennox, taken from her 1992 album, Diva. This song reached #1 in Canada, #8 in the UK and Ireland and #14 in the US singles charts.- CD single :...

".

Critical Reception

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 said:

• Annie Lennox called her justifiably popular solo debut "Diva," but it's actually on the follow-up effort "Medusa" that she really starts acting like one. This wildly uneven album of cover versions starts with perhaps its highest point—a truly wonderful interpretation of "No More I Love You's," a relatively obscure British hit by the Lover Speaks. Unfortunately, Lennox doesn't work the same magic with more familiar material like Al Green's "Take Me to the River" and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale.

Track listing

Personnel

• Produced by Stephen Lipson.
• Engineered & mixed by Heff Moraes.
• Pre-production by Marius De Vries.

• Annie Lennox - all vocals, keyboards, flute.
• Stephen Lipson - programming, guitarm keyboards, bass.

• Martin De Vries - keyboards & programming.
• Peter-John Vettese, Andy Richards, Mathew Cooper - keyboards.
• Louis Jardim - bass, percussion.
• Tony Pastor - guitar.
• Dan Gillen, Neil Conti - drums.
• Doug Wimbish - bass.
• Judd Lander, Mark Feltham - harmonica.
• Pandit Dinesh - tablas.
• Kirampal Singh - santoor.
• James McNally - accordian.

• Anne Duddley - orchestral, brass & string arrangements.

Live in Central Park

Although no tour was held to promote this album, Lennox played a one-off concert in Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on September 9, 1995. This was subsequently released on video as Annie Lennox in the Park and on DVD as Annie Lennox Live in Central Park.

Information

• Director: Joe Dyer
• Recorded: Live at Central Park, Summerstage, New York City, September 8, 1995
• DVD release date: December 12, 2000
• Label: Arista
• Run time: 90 minutes

Track listing

1. "Money Can't Buy It" (Lennox)
2. "Legend in My Living Room" (Lennox, Vettese)
3. "Walking on Broken Glass" (Lennox)
4. "No More "I Love You's"" (Hughes, Freeman)
5. "Who's That Girl?" (Lennox, Stewart)
6. "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (Lennox, Stewart)
7. "Waiting in Vain" (Marley)
8. "I Love You Like a Ball and Chain" (Lennox, Stewart)
9. "Little Bird" (Lennox)
10. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (Lennox, Stewart)
11. "Train In Vain" (Jones, Strummer)
12. "Why" (Lennox)

Promotional video clips

13. "No More "I Love You's"" (Hughes, Freeman)
14. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (Reid, Brooker, Fisher)
15. "Waiting in Vain" (Marley)
16. "Something So Right" (Simon)

Grammy Awards

|-
| style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|1996
|| Medusa || Best Pop Vocal Album

Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album

The Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop music albums...

 ||
|-
|"No More I Love You's"" || Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female

Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance is the latest in a series of awards recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. The award goes to the artist...

 ||
|-

Certifications

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Chart positions

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Album Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	5
Austrian Albums Chart	2
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	8
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts...	3
Canadian Albums Chart RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	1
Dutch Albums Chart	7
French SNEP Albums Chart	5
German Media Control Albums Chart	4
Italian Albums Chart	5
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...	50
New Zealand Albums Chart	5
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...	4
Swedish Albums Chart	4
Swiss Albums Chart	6
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	1
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	11

Year-end charts

Chart (1995)	Position
Austrian Albums Chart	24
Canadian Albums Chart RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	5
Italian Albums Chart	25
Swiss Albums Chart	26
UK Albums Chart	14
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard Year-End Billboard Year-End charts are a cumulative measure of a single or album's performance in the United States, based upon the Billboard magazine charts during any given chart year. Billboard's "chart year" runs from the first week of December to the final week in November...	50

Chart procession and succession