Approaching normal
| Approaching normal | ||||
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| Blue October studio album | ||||
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Publication |
2009 |
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| Label (s) | Universal Records | |||
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pop |
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Title (number) |
12 (normal edition), 16 (limited edition) |
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running time |
48:10 |
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Approaching Normal is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Blue October . It was released on March 24, 2009. The album was produced in Austin / Texas and Tokyo . The producer also includes Grammy- winning Steve Lillywhite . Four singles were released from the album. The album reached number 13 in the US charts. The normal album contains 12 songs, the limited edition 16. The girl on the cover is called Kathryn Olsen .
Origin of name
According to the singer Furstenfeld, the name of the album is a play on words. Furstenfeld says that everything the band did was dark and that he personally felt like a victim. At the time of production, the singer felt empowered so that he no longer felt like a victim, which from his point of view was normal for the world. Because, in their opinion, they are as "normal" as anyone else in the world, they called the album Approaching Normal . The singer interprets the concept of the normal as very varied. He thinks that normal can also be crazy.
production
Demo recordings of the album Approaching Normal were produced in early 2008 at 5am Studios ( Austin / Texas) and at Sony Recording Studios ( Tokyo ).
The actual album was recorded on August 18, 2008. The last recordings lasted until October 24th of the same year. It was recorded by Steve Lillywhite at Pedernales Studios near Austin . The productions that took place at FL Studios and Pro Tools ended on January 8, 2009.
Publications
In the USA
Four singles were released from the album. The first single Dirt Room was released on December 23, 2008 as a download single. The song was first played on the radio on January 13, 2009. A music video was also released on January 27, 2009 that was posted on Yahoo! Music premiered. Dirt Room is the most successful single from the album. The single reached # 7 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks and # 31 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks . The other three singles Say It (released April 24, 2009), Should Be Loved and Jump Rope (released 2009) weren't very successful.
In Germany
Jump Rope is the band's first single that was played on German radio stations such as SWR3 and Radio Hamburg and reached 65th place in the German single charts. The singles Picking Up Pieces and Should Be Loved should be heard on the radio for the first time in April.
In Luxemburg
After the concert in the capital of Luxembourg, Justin Furstenfeld and CB Hudson played the song Should Be Loved unplugged on March 11, 2010 on the Luxembourg radio station Eldoradio .
Track list
The album includes both new and older songs that the band have previously played at concerts. For example, the song Weight of the World , which is also included on the live album Argue with a Tree , was re-recorded for this album. Steve Lillywhite saw the band live for the first time on April 27, 2008 at Edgefest and decided to produce the album with the band. Lillywhite is particularly fond of the song Say It . At concerts the band gave on July 4th and 5th, 2008, Justin Furstenfeld said that both Weight of the World and Say It will be on the album. In a chat on July 23, 2008, Jeremy Furstenfeld announced that Dirt Room will also be audible on the album. Justin Furstenfeld played the songs My Never and Picking Up Pieces on the Breaking Dawn Tour with Stephenie Meyer in August 2008. There he announced that the album is expected to be released in March 2009. Grateful Dancing was emailed to fans on January 4, 2009, the song Kangaroo Cry was distributed on the Official Soundtrack of the NCIS series , which was released on February 10 of the same year.
- 1. Weight of the World
- 2. Say It
- 3. Dirt room
- 4. Been Down
- 5. My Never
- 6. Should Be Loved
- 7. Kangaroo Cry
- 8. Picking up pieces
- 9. Jump rope
- 10. Blue Skies
- 11. Blue Does
- 12. The End
Limited edition songs
- 13. 78triple6
- 14. Voice of a Friend
- 15. No One's Listening
- 16. Grateful dancing
Subject
The themes of all songs by the band (including the other albums) are depression, lost love and life. For example, the song Into the Ocean from the album Foiled (released in 2006) is so well played that the death wishes of some listeners were prevented by the honesty of the singer's lyrics. The song Jump Rope , the ninth track on the album, is about emotional life in all of life. The singer describes that there are always ups and downs in life, like jumping rope. Blue Does is the song the singer dedicated to his two year old daughter Blue . He describes it as the answer to a prayer that he could never find before. Although some songs seem very tactful and happy, such as the song Blue Skies , the themes are always the same as in the quiet, melodic and sad songs, for example Weight of the World . Furstenfeld personally said of the content of the song Say It that the main thing is to make the listeners aware that he hates being the victim all the time and instead wants to be a strong, confident individual. Furstenfeld wrote the song My Never during the literary-musical tour with Twilight author Stephenie Meyer , who is one of the best-known fans of the band because she finds the band's lyrics to be very emotional:
"As a writer, I'm always looking for music that can bring out the emotions that I need for the story. While there are many musicians that can recall to me times in the past where I might have felt sadness or rage or infatuation, it's very rare to find a song that can actually put me in that emotion, rather than just reminding me of it. There is empathetic power in Justin's message - the listener doesn't just sympathize with the feeling of the words, the listener has no choice but to feel the words as if the emotion was his / her own. "
“As a writer, I am always looking for music that can show the emotions I need for my story. There are many musicians who can remind me of my past, where I was sad, angry or in a good mood, it is rare that you find a song that makes me feel in the here and now instead of just telling me about it recall. There is an empathetic power in Justin's message - the listener not only sympathizes with the feelings in his words - the listener has no choice but to feel the words as if they were their own. "
Content of the songs (selection)
Weight of the World
The song is about a (possible) relapse of the singer. It starts with the protagonist having a blackout . When he wakes up, he notices that he is lying on the floor and a mirror is shattered. The parents reproach him for having done everything to himself. In the further course, the protagonist reports that he has schizophrenic symptoms (in the song: seeing non-existent people and objects ).
Picking up pieces
The song is about a protagonist who wonders how long he has to keep pieces in his heart until he is happy. He says he's fallen in love and wants to be her perfect piece of glue. The single will be heard for the first time on German radios together with Should Be Loved in April this year.
Jump rope
Jump Rope is about life. The protagonist is happy at the beginning of the song and can't wait to see the next day. In the further course it becomes clear to him that life is like a skipping rope and, like jumping rope, it always goes up and down. The protagonist is forced to make decisions; He will have to take defeats, and everything negative can be good again. Furstenfeld said in an interview that he wrote the song for his daughter Blue. In the German single charts the song reached a 65th place.
Blue Does
Blue Does is a pure lullaby , which the singer also wrote for his daughter. He describes it in this song as the answer to the prayer he has never found before.
Reviews
The album received mostly positive reviews from many online music portals. In the Billboard chart archive , the album was described as the perfection of the alternative rock genre , which is very varied. In addition to lullabies like Blue Does, there are also songs that reflect an image of life, like Jump Rope . Entertainment Weekly wrote about the album that it is a very dark, but still commercial-sounding album, so that it is also suitable for Twilight fans thanks to songs like Dirt Room or Picking Up Pieces . The Rolling Stone Magazine was of the view that singer Furstenfeld enough in this album melodrama has introduced, for example, in the song Weight of the World , and that the album both with works by Bono and by Meat Loaf could keep up. Justin Furstenfeld himself, on the sidelines of a concert, stated in an interview with Examiner that, compared to the previous albums, he had not written any really "honest" songs.
Voices of the singer and the producer on the album
Justin Furstenfeld, who produced all previous albums together with Nick Castell, says that it has been his dream to produce a joint album with Steve Lillywhite for a long time .
"Working with Steve has always been my dream and I learned so much from him ... like less is more."
He also said that he could learn a lot from him and that he describes himself as a painter who doesn't know how to paint. He said that a new step is to let someone share your visions, but he also said that it's Lillywhite and that he trusted him from the start.
"" I was like a painter that did not know how to paint. It's quite a new step trusting someone with your vision… but hey it's Steve Lillywhite and I trusted him completely. ”“
Lillywhite supported Furstenfeld in songwriting . If he didn't like something, he let him know immediately. Sometimes he had to rewrite his lyrics and melodies, whereby the emotional background of the piece could not be lost.
"" He pushed me as a writer. I would have a song written and Steve would say, 'that part is boring.' No one has ever said that to me before. Steve would tell me to sit down and work on it and I never did that before. I re-wrote melodies and lyrics that didn't make sense and now they are gorgeous. He pushed me to be better and that inspired me and I accomplished more than I would of on my own. ""
Furstenfeld said that the previous album Foiled mainly tells his sad story and that with the new album he wants to finally get rid of the victim role.
"" Foiled was about all of this crap that I had to get off of my chest. I'm sick of being the victim. I want to be a strong, confident individual. ”“
Lillywhite said they produced a good album that is a journey for the listener and yet a commercial album. He also says he loves the production.
"" I think that we have made an album that is an artistic statement. It's a journey, but it also checks the boxes of commercial potential. I really love the record. ""
Furstenfeld asked himself what "normal" means and replied that the population considered simple feelings such as happiness, sadness or madness as normal . Furstenfeld told the band personally that Blue October was a feeling. Either you read the message behind the individual words or you don't. You either like our music or you hate it, he continued.
"" What is normal? Everyone's sense of normal is at risk over something, happiness or sadness or, god forbid, madness. Blue October is a mood. Whether you listen to the words or not, the music sets a tone and as for the lyrics, well, you either love it or hate it. ""
Special
Approaching Normal is the band's first album that was available on EMP . Due to the low response from buyers, it was removed from the range again. The band describes their style of music as bi-polar art rock . In an interview with vertigo.fm , singer Furstenfeld describes bi-polar art rock as rock music that changes from song to song, sometimes happy and sometimes sad (literally: with ups and downs ). Furstenfeld describes the style of music as a bit of Peter Gabriel and Madness .
The St. Andrews Elementary School from Miramichi , New Brunswick published a video on its website for a specially practiced choreography for Blue Octobers piece " Jump Rope ". Jump Rope can also be found on the compilation "All About Bullies ... Big and Small", which received a Grammy in 2012 in the category "Best Children's Album".
Web links
- Genesis of the album (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ US chart history
- ↑ DE chart history
- ↑ Blue October Set Date For 'Approaching Normal' . December 10, 2008. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
- ↑ Cover girl Kathryn Olsen ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b "Blue October and Universal Motown Records Choose 5am Studios for New Album Pre-Production" ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Label Came to Hear the Album ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Catching Up With .... Steve Lillywhite
- ↑ Music video on Yahoo! Music
- ↑ Modern Rock Tracks - Dirt Room
- ↑ Mainstream Rock Tracks - Dirt Room
- ↑ DE chart tracking ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Blue October is playing Should Be Loved unplugged on YouTube
- ↑ Blue October at Edgefest 2008 on YouTube
- ↑ Catching Up With ... Stve Lillywhite
- ↑ Special Gift ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Official Blue October e-mail subscription.
- ↑ Biography of the band on blueoctoberfan.de
- ↑ Teen.com: Stephenie Meyer and Blue October touring together ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Criticism on Up2City.de ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ [Crazy Making Foreword; published 2009]
- ^ Billboard ( Memento from May 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Entertainment Weekly
- ^ Rolling Stone
- ↑ EXAMINER: An Interview with Blue Octobers Justin Furstenfeld - Truth or Consequences
- ↑ a b c d e f Approaching Normal Biography ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ standrews.nb.ca: St. Andrews Flashmob
