Fish Out of Water (Ash Grunwald album)

Fish Out of Water is the fourth studio album by Australian blues musician Ash Grunwald. It was released in August 2008, peaking at number 43, becoming Grunwald's first album to peak inside the ARIA Charts top 50.

Fish Out of Water
Studio album by Ash Grunwald
Released	August 2008 (2008-08)
Studio	The Container, Delta Groove HQ
Genre	Blues Music, rock
Label	Delta Groove
Producer	Countbounce (aka Pip Norman), Ash Grunwald
Ash Grunwald chronology
Live from the Factory (2008) Fish Out of Water (2008) Live at the Fly by Night (2010)

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2009, the album was nominated for ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album.[1]

At the APRA Awards of 2010 "Breakout" won "Blues & Roots Work of the Year"[2]

Background and release

Ash Grunwald attended a label-initiated songwriters day at Michael Gudinski's house in Victoria's Macedon Ranges and was teamed with hip-hop artist, Pip Norman (from TZU) and the duo wrote the album's title track, described by Shane Fowles from The Standard as "an uplifting blues gospel tune", in a day.

Grunwald said "It's a songwriting exercise that Mushroom put on with their songwriters, they do it every couple of years and it's a bit of a tradition out at Gudinski's house. You get there early and they make breakfast for you, everything is taken care of, and I turned up there and Pip and I just started jamming. He made this beat on his laptop and I played my guitar, and that became the song "Fish Out of Water."[3] Grunwald asked Norman to write more with him and sharing credits on five tracks and production co-credit.[4]

Recption

Shane Fowles from The Standard said "Like a merging of the old and the new, the result [of the co-produciong by Grunwald and Norman] is a melding of blues bass-lines, ripping riffs and hip-hop influenced backbeats." adding "There are grunge elements on opener 'Can U Find a Way', smooth funk on 'Get What You Want' and some soulful, acoustic numbers that temper the digital assault. Grunwald loses the annoying air of earnestness to show that modern-day blues can do more than tip the hat to the old masters."[4]

Andrew Rudge from The Dwarf said "There is a range of styles in the songs on this album from the chain gang industrial sound of 'Can U Find a Way' to the slow acoustic gospel of 'Give Something Away', sung with a preachers desperation. There is range of emotions in the songs too, from the fast paced fun and funk of 'Mojo' to the dark relationship regrets within 'The Devil Called Me a Liar'."[5]

Track listing

Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Can U Find a Way"	Ash Grunwald	4:07
2.	"Mojo"	Grunwald, Pip Norman	3:14
3.	"Fish Out of Water"	Grunwald, Norman	3:28
4.	"Give Something Away"	Grunwald	3:07
5.	"The Devil Called Me a Liar"	Grunwald	4:09
6.	"Joke On Me"	Grunwald, Norman	3:11
7.	"Breakout"	Grunwald	4:27
8.	"Working Hard"	Grunwald	2:32
9.	"The Bottle"	Grunwald	3:58
10.	"Get What You Want"	Grunwald, Mark Pearl, Norman	3:10
11.	"Port Campbell"	Grunwald	5:36
12.	"Shake"	Grunwald	4:07

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[6]	43

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Edition(s)	Label	Catalogue
Australia	August 2008	CD	Standard	Delta Groove	DG04
	22 February 2019[7]	CD Digital Download Streaming	Reissue	Bloodlines Records	BLOOD36

References

1. "ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album". ARIA Awards. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
2. "2010 Winners – APRA Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). Archived from the original on 1 July 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
3. "ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC Ash Grunwald". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 September 2008. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
4. "Fish Out Of Water - Ash Grunwald". The Standard. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
5. "Album Review Fish out of Water". The Dwarf. 16 November 2008. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
6. "Australiancharts.com – Ash Grunwald – Fish Out of Water". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
7. "Fish Out of Water by Ash Grunwald". JB HiFi. Retrieved 8 September 2019.