Mer de Noms

Mer de Noms
Studio album by A Perfect Circle
Released	May 23, 2000
Recorded	1999
Genre	Alternative rock, alternative metal
Length	44:25
Label	Virgin
Producer	Billy Howerdel
A Perfect Circle chronology
Mer De Noms (2000) Thirteenth Step (2003)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Entertainment Weekly	A−
Melody Maker
MTV Asia	(8/10)
NME	(7/10)
Q
Rolling Stone
Sputnikmusic
Rock Hard (de)	8.5/10

Mer de Noms (French for "sea of names") is the debut album by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The album was released under Compact Disc format on May 23, 2000. It was certified platinum by the RIAA on October 31, 2000. The album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 4, making it the highest ever Billboard 200 debut for a rock band's first album. It sold over 188,000 copies in the first week, and stayed on the charts for 51 consecutive weeks. The album peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums on October 4, 2003, three years after the album's release. Mer de Noms has since been released on vinyl record format.

Overview

Most of the album's lyrics were dedicated to various people that lead singer Maynard James Keenan knew. The track listing consists of various names such as "Judith", "Breña", "Rose", "Thomas", "Magdalena", "Orestes", and "Renholdër" (for musician Danny Lohner).

The symbols on the front cover of the album can be translated to "La Cascade des Prenoms," which translated to English means "the waterfall of first names".

Reception

In 2005, Mer de Noms was ranked number 443 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Billy Howerdel and Maynard James Keenan. 

CD
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Hollow"	2:58
2.	"Magdalena"	4:06
3.	"Rose"	3:26
4.	"Judith"	4:07
5.	"Orestes"	4:48
6.	"3 Libras"	3:39
7.	"Sleeping Beauty"	4:10
8.	"Thomas"	3:29
9.	"Renholdër"	2:24
10.	"Thinking of You"	4:34
11.	"Breña"	4:24
12.	"Over"	2:21

Japanese Edition
No.	Title	Length
13.	"Orestes (Demo)" (Bonus Track)	3:24

The vinyl version contains "Sleeping Beauty" with extended intro (04:57) and alternate mix of "Over" (03:07).

Symbols

A legend depicting the symbol's letters transliterated from the Latin alphabet.

Inside the insert the track names appear to be randomly spelled out in symbols. One way to decipher the symbols is to match the song titles using the normal alphabet with the song titles inside the insert.

The symbols which have popularly become known online as “APC Text”, “Mayan”, or “Elegant Mayan”, have become widespread, appearing in tattoos, computer fonts, and independent artwork.

Inside the insert there are twelve pictures (one for each song) and next to each one a song title, and beneath that a portion of the song's lyrics all written out in the symbols shown above. An example of this would be the drawing of the red octopus, which has the song name "Orestes" and "Sever this umbilical residue" beneath it.

Personnel

• Maynard James Keenan - vocals
• Billy Howerdel - guitars, background vocals, keyboards, piano, bass guitar, production, mixing
• Josh Freese - drums, percussion
• Paz Lenchantin - background vocals, bass guitar
• Troy Van Leeuwen - guitar
• Alan Moulder - mixing
• Frank Gryner - drum engineering
• Tim Alexander - drums, percussion on "The Hollow"

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2000	Billboard 200	4
	Top Canadian Albums	5
	Top Internet Albums	5

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2000	"3 Libras"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	12
		Modern Rock Tracks	12
	"Judith"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	4
		Modern Rock Tracks	5
2001	"The Hollow"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	14
		Modern Rock Tracks	17

External links

• "Worldwide chart info A Perfect Circle Mer de Noms". www.ultratop.be. Retrieved 4 September 2011.