::: LIVE ::: Irish Tour Dates Oct. 2008
Oct 1st – Spring & Airbrake, Belfast
Oct 2nd – Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick.
Oct 3rd – The Academy, Dublin

The album is currently available as a free download on www.xfm.co.uk . Says the band’s manager, Alan McGee: “I feel we are totally vindicated with the philosophy that if you go free and make a great record, you can exceed your dreams. No longer does music have to work in the traditional major label dominated way. Long live the Charlatans.”

‘You Cross My Path’ will also be made available from the Charlatans official site www.thecharlatans.net on ST. PATRICK'S DAY Monday 17th March before being physically released on deluxe double CD, single CD and vinyl through Cooking Vinyl in Ireland on Friday 16th May.

Says the band’s vocalist Tim Burgess: “When Alan McGee and I had this idea 18 months ago, we never imagined that it could be this successful. It’s a tribute to people’s belief in us and if we were in the shops, 20 years after the Charlatans started, we would be the number two most popular group in the country this week – going free was the best thing for us. Thanks to everyone that has downloaded the record, cheers.”

Early reviews of the album include today’s Independent newspaper which commented: “Whatever betrayal Burgess has suffered, it clearly hasn’t dimmed his spirit or the band’s knack for engaging melodies. Indeed, so replete with both is ‘You Cross My Path’ that it may turn out to be The Charlatans’ best album.” (Album of the Week ****).

Actor Joaquin Phoenix , meanwhile, downloaded the LP this week from XFM and posted this message online: "Holy f**king shit, The Charlatans record is mega. A real beauty. I can't wait to see it live"

The Charlatans
New album: "You Cross My Path"
FREE download www.Xfm.co.uk and www.thecharlatans.net

CD and vinyl (Irish Release May 16th)

One of the UK’s most esteemed bands, The Charlatans, make their 10th studio album, You Cross My Path, available in its entirety as a FREE download from radio station Xfm’s website www.xfm.co.uk and the Charlatans official site www.thecharlatans.net. The band have also just inked a worldwide distribution for the album to be released on CD and vinyl in 33 countries, through Cooking Vinyl (Irish Release May 16th)

The album is preceded by a free single download, through XFM and The Charlatans site, entitled Oh! Vanity, back on February 25th. The first single from the album, also called You Cross My Path, was made available in October last year and received over 100,000 downloads. Prior to the release The Charlatans undertake a European tour in February to air the new material.

The Charlatans add: “due to the new way people are acquiring music, we decided last summer to give our music away free, something we feel very strongly about and felt couldn’t be ignored.”

“ After the free download of the last single, You Cross My Path, we realized that there was still a huge demand for a desired hard copy, something the band also wished-for. We signed with Cooking Vinyl, who we found to be very like-minded, earlier this month and the result of this will be a deluxe edition and strictly limited vinyl 45’s box set of the album which will be available in May.”

You Cross My Path was recorded in Los Angeles, Ireland and the bands own studio, Big Mushroom, in Cheshire and was mixed by Alan Moulder. The album will be unavailable for free download from May 18th. The full track listing of the ten track album is:

· Oh! Vanity

· Bad Days

· Mis-takes

· The Misbegotten

· A Day For Letting Go

· You Cross My Path

· Missing Beats (Of A Generation)

· My Name Is Despair

· Bird / Reprise

· This Is The End

The Charlatans formed in 1989 and first tasted chart success with their second single The Only One I Know, which hit the Top 10 the following year. They have since gone on to establish themselves as a major force in the British music scene, enjoying nine Top 10 albums (including three number ones) and twenty two Top 40 singles to date including 2006’s Blackened Blue Eyes.