Central Reservation is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Beth Orton, released on 9 March 1999. The album featured contributions from folk musician Terry Callier (with whom she also recorded the b-side "Lean on Me"), Dr. Robert and Ben Harper. Several tracks were also produced by Ben Watt of Everything but the Girl.

Central Reservation received critical acclaim and garnered Orton a second Mercury Music Prize nomination, and won her Best British Female at the 2000 BRIT Music Awards.

Central Reservation was released on 9 March 1999 on Heavenly Records. It reached number 17 on the UK Albums Chart and stayed on the chart for eight weeks.^[3] It went to number 34 on the ARIA albums chart in Australia,^[4] number 35 on the RIANZ albums chart in New Zealand^[5] and number 110 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States.^[6] It also went to number two on the US Heatseekers albums chart.^[7] By 2002 it had sold 244,000 copies in United States.^[8] The first single from the album was "Stolen Car", which was released on 13 March 1999 and peaked at number 34 on the UK Singles Chart.^[3] "Central Reservation", the second single, peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.^[3]

On 30 June 2014, British independent record label 3 Loop Music re-released Central Reservation as a 2CD Expanded Edition which included b-sides, original demos and live recordings.^[9]

More information Aggregate scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	84/100[10]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[12]
Houston Chronicle	[13]
Los Angeles Times	[14]
NME	8/10[15]
Pitchfork	8.9/10[16]
Rolling Stone	[17]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[18]
Spin	7/10[19]
Uncut	[20]

Close

Central Reservation received generally positive reviews from critics. Jason Ankeny of AllMusic gave the album a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 and called it "stunning".^[11]

Orton won the award for British Female Solo at the 2000 BRIT Awards.^[21] The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[22]

The album is ranked number 982 in All-Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd. edition, 2000).^[23]

Notes

• ^{^a} signifies remixer

‹See Tfd›‹See Tfd›