Ceremony (album)

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Ceremony
Studio album by The Cult
Released	1991
Recorded	1990
Genre	Rock
Length	63:09
Label	Beggars Banquet
Producer(s)	Richie Zito
The Cult chronology
Sonic Temple (1989)	Ceremony (1991)	Pure Cult (1993)

Ceremony is an album by The Cult that was first released on 10 September 1991. The album was heavily inspired by Native American culture. The band was sued for US$61,000,000 by the parents of the American Indian boy, named Eternity Dubray, pictured on the album cover. The album reached #25 and achieved platinum status in the U.S., and reached #9 in Canada, but sales suffered with the arrival of grunge rock and time spent dealing with the lawsuit. Some countries, including Korea, did not see the record's release until 1992 and it was unreleased in Turkey until The Cult played several shows in Istanbul in June 1993.

Also, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy's working relashionship was at an all time low at this point, reportedly they were rarely even in the studio together, opting to record their parts individually. Astbury and Duffy were this time working with Todd Hoffman and James Kottak during the demo recordings, and during the actual album recording sessions Mickey Currie again on drums, Charlie Drayton on bass, and various other performers.

Among Cult fans, several songs released as b sides are considered to be better than a few songs on the record.

In Russia and eastern Europe the record had several bonus tracks, listed below.

[edit] Track listing

All tracks written by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy.

1. "Ceremony" – 6:27
2. "Wild Hearted Son" – 5:41
3. "Earth Mofo" – 4:42
4. "White" – 7:56
5. "If" – 5:25
6. "Full Tilt" – 4:51
7. "Heart of Soul" – 5:55
8. "Bangkok Rain" – 5:47
9. "Indian" – 4:53
10. "Sweet Salvation" – 5:25
11. "Wonderland" – 6:10
12. "No. 13"
    • bonus track, in Eastern Europe and Asia
13. "Bleeding Heart Graffiti"
    • bonus track, in Eastern Europe and Asia

Both "Ceremony" and "Wild Hearted Son" begin with Native American Indian dances. "White" includes an excerpt from Lawrence Lipton's 1959 book 'The Holy Barbarians', which was later the name of singer Ian Astbury's band in 1996. "Heart of Soul" begins with the lyric "Down and out in London, Los Angeles, and Paris too", which is a reference to George Orwell's 'Down and Out in Paris and London', and LA being where The Cult were based at that time. "Wild Hearted Son" (UK#34) (Canada #41) was the first officially released single, followed by "Heart of Soul" (UK#51). "Sweet Salvation" was released as a promotional only single in Argentina in 1992, and "Ceremony" was released as a promotional single in Spain. "Bangkok Rain" is regarded by some fans to be the worst song The Cult have ever recorded.