Too Big to Fail (album)

Album Cover

Too Big to Fail is a 2019 studio album by English musician Mr Creosote. It is his third album as a solo artist and his latest release to date.

## Background

Following successful lawsuits in 2015 against former business associates and consultants who had misled and defrauded Creosote during the late 2000s, Creosote recovered his reputation further and was able to 'pad the coffers a bit'. He hired the Manchester lawfirm repsonsible, Worthington&CO., to take full-time care of his legal concerns, keeping his desk clear of lawsuits for the first time in two decades. Creosote claimed the same firm had also advised him heavily on managing his wealth and by 2018 announced 'every penny' of his outstanding debts and fines had been paid, bragging he was now 'running a surplus'. Close colleagues have stated this led to a period of increased business proposals and attempted legal endeavours, partly in an effort to clear his name 'fully', which his law firm had to attend to.

## Writing and Recording

Creosote regularly claimed he was 'saving up songs' throughout 2017/18, spurring fan interest in a forthcoming release. He finally announced he was entering the studio in late 2018, claiming to be taking on his most 'conceptually ambitious' album to date. The album's recording was initially stymied by his increasing business ventures and interpersonal dramas with his law firm, but progress improved when Jeremiah moved to L.A. in February 2019 to collaborate with A.C. Shaftesbury and 'catch-up' with his former bandmates, Hudson and Taft, who denied any musical involvement. In interviews Creosote claimed the album would simultaneously critique late stage capitalism while containing a personal allegory for his own rise and fall. He also claimed the setting of L.A. was increasingly infecting the album with a 'gloss', which he liked.

## Reception

Too Big to Fail released unannounced on 15 June 2019 to an overwhelmingly positive critical reception. The album was Creosote's most lavish and polished production to date, with a variety of sonic textures and experimental sounds woven into modern pop. Most listeners had not anticipated how much of a departure from rock music the album would be, with the interventions of Shaftesbury and American producers creating a very up to date sound. One reviewer claimed 'when one hears the distorted piano chimes rattling through on *Restaurante Casanova*, as though we're hearing it through a 1940s wireless in some rural farmhouse, one can already see the TikTok memes. Jeremiah is worryingly aware of modern trends'.

The only criticism of the album was that it failed to deliver on its grand lyrical concept. As Herbert Dinkleferger wrote, 'I have scoured the lyrics day and night for a week now, and have yet to see what most of these tracks have to do with either modern society or Jeremiah's personal life. He seems to have got caught up in straight up bops and I wish I could prevent my feet from moving to them long enough to criticise him for anything, but the music is just too good.'. Jeremiah later admitted some of the album's lyrics were 'weak', but that the messages were there 'if you look close enough'.