Paradise Circus is the second album by English band the Lilac Time and was released by Fontana Records in October 1989. Initially intended to be a double album, consisting of one album of songs by band leader Stephen Duffy and one of instrumentals, it ended up being condensed into a single album at the record company's insistence. The album is regarded by critics as being bolder and fuller-sounding than the Lilac Time's first album, with a greater country & western influence.
Recording
In early 1989, the Lilac Time's record company Fontana/Phonogram asked the band to begin recording their second album. The band had hoped to record it at their country retreat in the Malvern Hills, but Phonogram insisted that it be recorded in a modern studio not far from the company's London headquarters instead.
The band intended the record to be a double album titled Tree, with one album consisting of singer-songwriter Stephen Duffy's songs and one of instrumentals, primarily composed by his brother Nick. Fontana refused and the record instead became a single album, with the revised title of Paradise Circus, made up of twelve tracks written by Stephen and one by Nick. Many of the instrumentals that were recorded during the sessions instead saw release on the B-sides of the singles taken from Paradise Circus and its follow-up & Love for All, and on the first album by Nick Duffy's spin-off band Bait. When Paradise Circus was reissued in 2006, its bonus tracks included an additional twelve instrumentals from the recording sessions that had been intended for the proposed double album.
The sound that Duffy and engineer/producer Tony Phillips were attempting to achieve on the recordings was later described by Duffy as a "small folky sound without the de rigueur large ambient snare drums of the age". Duffy has recalled in interview that he had given up smoking cigarettes and cannabis during the album sessions, which he felt gave his voice an unfortunate squeaky timbre. At the urging of Phillips, Duffy resumed smoking in order to improve his voice, but the majority of his vocals on the album had already been recorded by that time.
As the recording sessions progressed, Fontana became unhappy with the music that the band had committed to tape and insisted that they return to the studio to cut more commercial songs which could be released as singles, while also urging them to "Americanize" their sound—something that was reportedly parodied by Duffy in his composing the song "American Eyes". Both "The Girl Who Waves at Trains" and "If the Stars Shine Tonight" were among the songs that the band recorded in an attempt to produce radio-friendly singles. In addition, according to Duffy, the wife of one of the Phonogram executives attached to the band disliked the sound of the pedal steel guitar, which the band had used liberally on the album. As a result, the record company insisted that the instrument be removed or lessened in volume by way of a remix, which served to both annoy the band and delay the album's release. It was further delayed by the band's unsuccessful attempts to master the album to their satisfaction in post-production. By the time Paradise Circus was issued in October 1989, it had been two years since the release of the Lilac Time's debut album and the band had already begun working on their third.
Music
The music of Paradise Circus has been described by critic Tim DiGravina as being generally happy and upbeat—with the two instrumentals "Paradise Circus" and "Twilight Beer Hall", along with the sombre "She Still Loves You" and "Father Mother Wife and Child" being the exceptions. The opening track and lead single from the album, "American Eyes", has a fuller sound than anything from the Lilac Time's first album, and blends Johnny Marr-inspired jangling guitars with lyrics about unrequited love into "a wonderfully poetic and sad opener".
The second track, "The Lost Girl in the Midnight Sun", begins slowly, before building with gently ringing acoustic guitars, banjo, horns, and occasional piano. Duffy noted the Bob Dylan influence in the song during a 2019 interview with Phacemag.com, recalling that its opening line, "Spanish is the loving tongue", was a lyric he first heard on the Dylan album and that the song's reference to "bearded boys and lank haired girls" was a quote from a reporter telephoning in his review of a Dylan concert in the documentary film Dont Look Back. Duffy also described "The Lost Girl in the Midnight Sun" as being an anti-Thatcher song.