Satisfactionista (2 LP Limited Deluxe Edition, Remastered For Vinyl With Bonus Tracks), by Chris McKay And The Critical Darlings

Satisfactionista (2 LP Limited Deluxe Edition, Remastered For Vinyl With Bonus Tracks)

by Chris McKay And The Critical Darlings

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DAVID TRAHAN Epic sounds that come out of my speakers during spinning this brilliant album Favorite track: Rage On.

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
2 LPs with full album remastered for vinyl + Five Bonus Tracks + 8 Page Booklet with lyrics, photos, information, and memorabilia + Digital Download

Includes unlimited streaming of Satisfactionista (2 LP Limited Deluxe Edition, Remastered For Vinyl With Bonus Tracks) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 5 days

edition of 50

$35 USD or more
Satisfactionista 2 LP Super Deluxe Bundle with CD (Limited to 50 copies, AUTOGRAPHED and numbered, full double vinyl and CD + 5 bonus tracks + 8-page booklet + Exclusive "Instrumentally Ill" Download)
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Satisfactionista Super Deluxe 2 LP with CD (not for sale individually), Limited to 50 copies, Signed and hand numbered, Full album remastered for vinyl with 5 bonus tracks, 8 page booklet with lyrics, photos, information, and memorabilia plus digital download of album and exclusive digital download of "Satisfactionista: Instrumentally Ill" with instrumental tracks.

Includes unlimited streaming of Satisfactionista (2 LP Limited Deluxe Edition, Remastered For Vinyl With Bonus Tracks) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out
Satisfactionista Deluxe: Double Wax Mage Edition (Limited to 25 copies, full album plus 5 bonus tracks on double vinyl + 8-page booklet + Exclusive "Instrumentally Ill" Download)
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
THESE WILL SELL OUT! Just look at 'em! This is the super rare Wax Mage vinyl edition of Satisfactionista made by cult favorite Heath Gmucs of Gotta Groove Records in Cleveland, Ohio. "Hand poured, hand pressed, one of a kind records" from Wax Mage are a coveted collectors' item and the Satisfactionista Deluxe double Wax Mage has 4 separate looks, one for each side. These are the only colored vinyl versions of Satisfactionista Deluxe in its original pressing.

In addition, an 8-page booklet full of lyrics, pictures, and ephemera is included along with the "Instrumental Illness" download of instrumental mixes of most of the songs on the album along with the Bandcamp download of the original album.

Includes unlimited streaming of Satisfactionista (2 LP Limited Deluxe Edition, Remastered For Vinyl With Bonus Tracks) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out
Satisfactionista Test Pressing (2 LP on 180 gram audiophile vinyl, signed and hand numbered, album download and instrumental tracks download)
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
I had 5 double-lp copies of the test pressings made of the Satisfactionista Deluxe vinyl edition to be approved and listened to by a few people. In case there was an error with any one of the sets, I ordered 10, 5 copies and 5 backups.

The first 5 copies were great, so I'm making the other 5 available to anyone who wants a truly rare release (only 10 double album sets made in the world, only 5 sold).

I have personally written the track listing on each generic sleeve and signed and numbered them.

These test pressings are audiophile quality pressings on black 180 gram vinyl.

The regular releases will likely be 140 - 150 gram.

Full album artwork and booklet will be included separately in addition to what you see here. I will also include an album download, and a download of the instrumental tracks.

There will only ever be 5 released for sale and there will never be anymore of this made. This is it. So if you'd like, this is the one way to get the full on 180 gram audiophile double LP set of Satisfactionista Deluxe.

Includes unlimited streaming of Satisfactionista (2 LP Limited Deluxe Edition, Remastered For Vinyl With Bonus Tracks) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. ... more

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	1.	An Uncertain Flight 04:14
	2.	The Only Way 03:16
	3.	Waiting For The Siren 04:04
	4.	Sadder Day 04:23
	5.	Rage On 03:43
	6.	Sorry, Joe 00:06
	7.	From Now 'Til Then 03:21
	8.	Tonight Never Happened 05:56
	9.	Happy Here And Now 04:06
	10.	Worms On The Pavement 03:54
	11.	Give Up Town 04:27
	12.	Scared Of Myself 04:28
	13.	............. 00:18
	14.	Wide Bicycle 04:59
	15.	Something Unseen (featuring Mike Garson) 08:28
	16.	Chris McKay - Best Case Scenario (Bonus Track) 02:58
	17.	Chris McKay - That Excites Me (Bonus Track) 02:18
	18.	Chris McKay - Feels Like Yesterday (Bonus Track) 04:01
	19.	Chris McKay - The Best Of What's Around (Bonus Track) 04:10
	20.	Chris McKay - Everything Must Go (Bonus Track) 04:06

about

Satisfactionista is an ambitious project – 18 songs long, including five bonus tracks – filled with their power pop-infused sounds. The band was heavily influenced by The Beatles, David Bowie, Jellyfish, and more. Satisfactionista’s lineup consisted of Chris, Frank DeFreese, and Joe Orr, who then added Joshua Harrison on drums during the recording sessions.

The album was produced by McKay and Grammy-nominated producer David Barbe (University of Georgia teacher and Sugar – Bob Mould’s former band) at Barbe’s Chase Park Transduction Studios.

Some guests were brought in during the original sessions, like Mike Garson (pianist from David Bowie’s band – think; Aladdin Sane) and Brad Morgan, the drummer from the Drive-By Truckers. Chris jokes about it, “Satisfactionista is the only place you’re going to hear David Bowie’s piano player and the Drive-By Truckers drummer playing together.” Members of The Futurebirds, who were studio interns at the time, even added handclaps to several tracks and David Barbe (Sugar, Mercyland) plays bass on "From Now 'Til Then".

The lush sounds, jangly guitars, and smooth emotional vocals will fill up your speakers and ears, recalling The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Verve and Blur.

In songs like “Sadder Day,” you will hear the vast production and strings all line up sonically and resonate with the listener as one deals with life’s curveballs like death; “My father had died the year before. As Frank and I wrote the song, it became a meditation on surviving extreme grief and getting through to the other side. The lead-off lyric, ‘There will never be a sadder day,’ is also an admission that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to feel that level of emotional pain again.”

Musically, McKay was aiming to achieve the greatness of songs like “Beast Of Burden” (The Rolling Stones) and “I Can’t Tell You Why” (The Eagles), complete with the ‘rock song’ ending, with timings of 10/8 – 3 / 4 and 4/4 as it fades out.

"A great frontman" - Michael Stipe (R.E.M.)

The band travels through many sounds but keeps it original on “Something Unseen’ as they almost outperform themselves, creating an opus of textures and sounds, something like Queen or Styx would do.

“Something Unseen” features the instantly recognizable talents of Mike Garson, David Bowie’s pianist, with whom McKay connected with over the social media platform, MySpace. The band and Garson combined their styles to create something mind-blowing; “My musical hero was taking seriously a little song that my friend Tom (O’Gorman) and I had put together in my living room. It was so surreal,” McKay smiles.

Back when the young songwriter heard Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album in the early ‘90s, he knew something would come together in the future, “I don’t know who that piano player is, but I swear to you, if he’s alive, somehow, we will work together someday.” With Satisfactionista, “somehow” happened and they did.

Producer David Barbe called up Brad Morgan from the Drive-By Truckers to contribute the drums on the songs “An Uncertain Flight” and “Something Unseen.”

Even Patterson Hood, the lead singer of the Drive-By Truckers, who was hanging out in the studio during an early Satisfactionista session, lamented over how good Morgan sounded, so producer Dave Barbe wrote down the sound notes for him for future use. (Side note: not sure if those settings made it to the next DBT album, but Chris would like to think so.)

“Pure pop genius” - John Thomas Griffith (Cowboy Mouth)

The bonus songs have Chris returning to his roots as a rocker with power riffs, steady bass lines, and sing-along lyrics – like “Best Case Scenario” and “Feels Like Yesterday’ recalls the New York Dolls and Cheap Trick, complete with hand claps.

Chris wanted to write a song that felt like mid-70s classic rock, as that’s what he was listening to the most when he was a teenager. Chris laughs, “And I wanted it to be a bit cheesy like so many of the songs from that time. That felt like the way to go, so I went. I really wanted “Feels Like Yesterday” to sound like something being played by the pool in an ‘80s teen movie. I think it’s pretty close and it’s a fitting ending to the band’s history to go back to the beginning.

"The real thing" - Doug Pinnick (King's X)

Chris went on to record solo music, play with friends in several band projects as well as focusing in on his photography, which was syndicated worldwide and seen in every major publication in the world.

The rest of the band members scattered from Georgia to Texas to The Netherlands.

The Critical Darlings only released two albums over the years they were together, C’mon, Accept Your Joy and Satisfactionista, both were works of labor and love, both in the studio and out on the road. The albums got solid reviews across the South, from Athens to Atlanta to Tennessee to Alabama and over to Chris’ home state of South Carolina.

"Absolutely superb!" - Mitch Easter (Let's Active, R.E.M. producer)

Chris’ desire to remaster Satisfactionista came after being asked by friends and fans if the album would ever be released on vinyl. “People have been bugging me about doing a proper release for years so I finally decided to do it in deluxe double vinyl style. Satisfactionista was always intended to be heard this way. Vinyl is the only way to really hear it as we meant it. After all these years, it’s good to finally be able to say that we’ve done Satisfactionista justice.”

To come full circle with the ambitious project with the music, the redesigned album art, and photography, the album title is a play on words, with the band’s views of personal success.

While in the studio finishing up the C’mon, Accept Your Joy album, the sometimes positive/negative adjective, perfectionist, was used towards Chris and the band. But Chris quickly corrected the rumor by saying, “I’m not a perfectionist. I’m a satisfactionist. I just have to be satisfied. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

Then the band’s bassist Frank modified it by saying that we were all, in fact, ‘Satisfactionistas.’”

For publicity on Chris McKay and Satisfactionista:

  Jill Kettles – Miss Jill PR: 
Email: JilL@missjillpr.com  
Telephone: 404-213-8542
 www.missjillpr.com

credits

released October 20, 2023

Chris McKay - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboard, Percussion
Joe Orr - Vocals, Guitar, Percussion
Frank DeFreese - Bass, Guitar

With Josh Couillard, Joshua Harrison, and Brad Morgan on drums

Featuring Mike Garson on "Something Unseen" piano

David Barbe plays bass on "From Now 'Til Then"

Produced by Chris McKay and David Barbe

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about

Chris McKay Athens, Georgia

Chris McKay is a singer, songwriter and performer based in Athens, Georgia.

In addition to his solo music and his work with original bands The Everywhen, The Critical Darlings, The Spinoffs, and Q-Sign, he also regularly has performed the music of The Beatles as a member of Abbey Road Live!

Definitive versions of his albums are featured here, often with bonus tracks not available elsewhere. ... more

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