Open the Door (album)

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Open the door
Studio album by Roger Hodgson

Publication
(s)

2000

admission

1998-2000

Label (s) Epic Records

Format (s)

LP , MC , CD and MD

Genre (s)

Progressive rock

Title (number)

10

running time

52:02 (CD)

occupation see below

production

Roger Hodgson, Alan Simon

Studio (s)

chronology
Rites of Passage (live)
(1997) 		Open the door Take the Long Way Home (Live DVD)
(2006)

Open the Door (German: Open (n) the door ) is the third studio - album of the British Pop - / rock musician Roger Hodgson , the former founding member of the British band Supertramp . Thirteen years after the previous studio album " Hai Hai " and three years after the live album " Rites of Passage " it was released in 2000. It is often referred to as Hodgson's most mature solo album to date and sold quite well in France and Switzerland - otherwise sluggish.

description

For the recordings of the album "Open the Door", Hodgson invited over 30 musicians, including Dan Ar Braz , Gerry Conway , Trevor Rabin , Alan Simon and Didier Lockwood and also the Bulgarian Voices choir "Philippopolis" , the symphony orchestra that is involved in ten songs Prague and a children's choir.

The use of many musical instruments that are rather unusual for pop and rock music, such as bagpipes , bouzouki , bodhrán , hurdy-gurdy , oud and rebec , with echoes of world music, also contributes to the diversity of the record and shows Hodgson's musical development. In addition, a few samples can be heard in two songs .

The album "Open the Door" expresses Roger's compositional strength . Described by many critics as his most mature solo work, it is a successful continuation of the Supertramp music of the 1970s and early 1980s. With good sound quality, it contains a mixture of catchy melodies with varied instrumentation and elaborate or demanding compositions. All songs, except for “For Every Man”, which Roger Hodgson wrote with co- producer Alan Simon, were composed, written and sung by Hodgson as the lead vocalist.

The album is designed in the form of an endless loop. At the very beginning you hear a Morse code in which the album title "Open the Door" is telegraphed several times. This Morse code is also repeated at the end when the last song fades away.

The record begins with the song "Along Came Mary", in the beginning of which the 14-year-old Princess Elizabeth (later: Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ) can be heard as a sample when she was heard on October 13, 1940 in an episode gave her first speech on the BBC radio program Children's Hour . She turned to children of Great Britain and the Commonwealth who were evacuated during World War II . Excerpts from the final part of this speech, in which she and her then 10-year-old sister, Princess Margaret , said goodbye to the audience: “I can truthfully say to you all that we children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage. We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers and airmen,…. And when peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place. My sister is by my side and we are both going to say goodnight to you. Come on, Margaret. "" Goodnight, children. "" Goodnight, and good luck to you all. "

The song but one is "Showdown", which first appeared on the 1997 live album " Rites of Passage " and is the only new edition of the song on the studio album. In the middle part of the work, reworked with a driving beat, excerpts from Ronald Reagan's speech , which he gave on January 20, 1981 on his inauguration as 40th President of the United States of America in front of the White House in Washington, DC, can be heard in sample form in the background held. Among other things, he said: “(In this present crisis,) government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem, ” which became part of the song. In addition, “Good Evening” and then “Thank You” and “I Believe Our Children” are inserted before these speech excerpts . A little later, the speech are also in the background parts US -amerikanischen politician , civil rights activist and Baptist pastor Jesse Jackson to hear that he as a presidential candidate on 18 July 1984 at the Democratic National Convention , a nominating convention of the Democratic Party of the USA , in Moscone Center in San Francisco ( California held). Among other things, he said: “If, in my high moments, I have done some good, offered some service, shed some light, healed some wounds, rekindled some hope, or stirred someone from apathy and indifference,…, then this campaign has not been in vain. ” which became part of the song.

After “Hungry”, which was released as a single, the sad “The Garden” and the wonderfully staged “Death and a Zoo”, interspersed with oriental influences, follow. "Love Is a Thousand Times" follows as a love ballad. Two songs further is the theme song "Open the Door", which is the longest work on the album at almost 9 minutes and was also released as a single. The soulful conclusion of the record is “For Every Man”, written with Alan Simon and interspersed with acoustic guitar.

Hodgson didn't go on tour after the release of "Open the Door". Only since 2002 has he been giving concerts with many of his Supertramp classics and solo works. While the live DVD “ Take the Long Way Home - Live in Montreal ” was released in 2006 , a new studio album is not in sight.

Song list

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Open the door
  DE 74 06/12/2000 (2 weeks)
  CH 33 05/21/2000 (9 weeks)

The album "Open the Door" contains 10 songs. The lengths given below refer to a CD version ("EPC 4977392") of the disk that is 52:02 minutes long. All the songs except the annotated one were written by Hodgson.

  1. Along Came Mary - 6:24
  2. The More I Look - 4:57
  3. Showdown - 5:20
  4. Hungry - 4:27
  5. The Garden - 2:16
  6. Death and a Zoo - 7:32
  7. Love is a Thousand Times - 3:30
  8. Say goodbye - 3:57
  9. Open the Door - 8:55
  10. For Every Man - 4:44 - (Hodgson / Simon)

Charts

Album :
The album "Open the Door" sold quite well in France , where it entered the top 30 of the album charts, and in Switzerland , where it entered the top 40 of this hit list. In Germany it entered the top 80 of the album charts.

Singles :
The song “Open the Door” was released as a single, which also contains “Hungry” and the otherwise unreleased “Danielle” (Epic 669580 2). In addition, the song "Hungry" was released as a single with "Showdown" as another song (Epic 669215 2). Neither of them achieved any noteworthy chart positions.

occupation

The musicians in the album "Open the Door" are - in alphabetical order and with song numbers in "()":

Guest musicians :

Children's choir :

  • Justine Black, Sierrah Dietz, Molly Katwman and Ilana Russell (10)

Orchestra and vocal group :

  • Bulgarian Voices "Philippopolis" - Conductor: Hristo Arabadjiev (8–9)
  • Symphony Orchestra Prague - conductor: Mario Klemens; Engineer: Juraj Durovic (1–2, 5–6, 8–10)

Samples :

Recording and production

The album "Open the Door" was recorded and mixed in these recording studios from 1998 to 2000 : The sound recordings took place in the Arpege Studio in Les Sorinières ( France ) and in Hodgson's Unicorn Studio in Nevada City ( California , USA ). The string passages were recorded in the Barrandov Studio in Prague ( Czech Republic ). The mixing was carried out in the Mulinetti Studio in Recco ( Italy ) and the mastering in the Dyam Studio in Paris (France).

  • Producers : Roger Hodgson, Alan Simon
  • Sound engineer : Eric Chauviere (Arpege Studio)
  • Sound engineer: Ken Allardyce (Unicorn Studio)
  • Assistant Sound Engineer: Tony Shepherd (Unicorn Studio)
  • Sound engineer: Juraj Durovic (Barrandov Studio)
  • Mixing engineer: Marco Canepa (Mulinetti Studio)
  • Pro Tools Engineer: Alberto Parodi (Mulinetti Studio)
  • Mastering engineer: Raphael Jonin (Dyam Studio)
  • Project coordinator: Danijeìa Bogdanovic
  • Cover design: Human Do Design
  • Cover interior design: Mark Chaubaron
  • Photographs : Mark Ribes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b biography , on rogerhodgson.com
  2. ↑ Morse code without funk - A special stylistic device in music , on qsl.net
  3. ^ Princess Elizabeth, "Wartime broadcast, 1940", "Children's Hour" of the BBC , on royal.gov.uk
  4. ↑ Ronald Reagan's inauguration address as 40th President of the United States in Washington DC, January 20, 1981 , on americanrhetoric.com
  5. ↑ Jesse Jackson's speech at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, California, July 18, 1984 , on americanrhetoric.com
  6. ↑ Chart sources: DE1 + CH - DE2
  7. ↑ Open the Door (album) in the French charts