Masque
Studio album by
The Mission
ReleasedJune 22, 1992
Length51:36
LabelMercury
Producer
The Mission chronology
Grains of Sand
(1990)		 Masque
(1992)		 "No Snow, No Show" for the Eskimo
(1993)

Masque is the fifth regular studio album by the Mission which was released in June 1992 on the Vertigo sub-label of Mercury Records.

Production

The album included a number of outside collaborators, including Martin Allcock, Anthony Thistlethwaite and Miles Hunt.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Select[3]

Peaking at #23 in the UK albums chart,[4] Masque failed to repeat the commercial success of the Mission's previous two official studio albums and marked the beginning of the Mission's decline in popularity; it was also the band's last album to achieve a UK top 40 position, until the release of Another Fall from Grace in September 2016.[5] AllMusic suggests that the band's change in musical direction was to blame for the album's weak reception, writing that Masque "doesn't sound like the Mission, but rather like a band trying to find its direction."[2] PopMatters discussed the album's reception in a review of the band's subsequent Aura album, writing, "Some argue that Hussey started to wander off the path with Neverland‘s predecessor, Masque, but this writer ain’t one of ’em. Masque features co-writing credits from the Wonder Stuff’s Miles Hunt, as well as the Waterboys’ Anthony Thistlethwaite; it’s the least pretentious and most stylistically-varied album of the band’s career. Plus, it features a fair amount of fiddle, which is rarely a bad thing."[6]

Track listing

Except where noted, music by Adams, Brown, Hussey
All words by Hussey

  1. "Never Again" – 5:05
  2. "Shades of Green, Pt. 2" – 3:59
  3. "Even You May Shine" (Adams, Brown, Hussey, Thistlethwaite) – 4:41
  4. "Trail of Scarlet" – 3:43
  5. "Spider and the Fly" – 4:49
  6. "She Conjures Me Wings" (Adams, Brown, Hussey, Thistlethwaite)– 2:48
  7. "Sticks and Stones" – 4:45
  8. "Like a Child Again" – 3:38
  9. "Who Will Love Me Tomorrow?" (Miles Hunt, Hussey) – 4:09
  10. "You Make Me Breathe" – 4:36
  11. "From One Jesus to Another" – 3:50
  12. "Until There's Another Sunrise" – 5:33
2008 bonus tracks
  1. "Beautiful Chaos" - 5:04
  2. "All Tangled Up In You" - 6:27
  3. "Atomic" (Debbie Harry, Jimmy Destri) - 5:13
  4. "You Make Me Breathe (The Barn Mix)" - 7:18

Personnel

The Mission
Additional musicians (from liner notes)

References

  1. ↑ Roach & Perry 1993, pp. 259–251.
  2. 1 2 Allmusic review
  3. ↑ Scott, Danny (June 1992). "The Mission; Masque (Phonogram)". Select. No. 24. London: EMAP. p. 78. ISSN 0959-8367.
  4. ↑ "UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts". everyHit.com. 16 March 2000. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "CD Review: Mission, the - Another Fall from Grace".
  6. ↑ Staff (17 October 202). "THE MISSION UK: AURA". PopMatters. Retrieved 25 April 2023.

Sources

  • Roach, Martin; Perry, Neil (1993). Names are for Tombstones, Baby. London: Independent Music Press. ISBN 1-89-7783-01-9.
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