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A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation

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A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
Studio album by
The Wombats
Released5 November 2007
RecordedRockfield Studios, Monmouth, Wales
Electric Lady Studios, New York City, United States
Brick Lane, London, England
RAK Studios, London, England
GenreIndie rock, post-punk, new wave
Length44:24
Label14th Floor
ProducerStephen Harris, The Wombats, Jimmy Robertson
The Wombats chronology
Girls, Boys and Marsupials
(2006) 		A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
(2007) 		This Modern Glitch
(2011)
Singles from A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
  1. "Backfire at the Disco"
    Released: 9 April 2007
  2. "Kill the Director"
    Released: 25 June 2007
  3. "Let's Dance to Joy Division"
    Released: 8 November 2007
  4. "Moving to New York (re-release)"
    Released: 14 January 2008
  5. "Backfire at the Disco (re-release)"
    Released: 21 April 2008
  6. "Kill the Director (re-release)"
    Released: 7 July 2008
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic65/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Digital Spy[3]
The Guardian[4]
LAUNCHcast(7/10)[5]
NME(7/10)[6]
Pitchfork Media(5.9/10)[7]
Spin[8]
stv.tv[9]
This Is Fake DIY[10]
Yahoo! Music UK[11]

The Wombats Proudly Present A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, usually shortened to A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, is the debut major studio album by English rock band the Wombats. It was released by 14th Floor Records on 5 November 2007.[2] Most of the songs first appeared on the band's 2006 Japan-only album Girls, Boys and Marsupials. A DVD to accompany the album includes footage of the band at the South by Southwest festival, along with music videos from their recent singles.

The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios and reached No. 11 in the UK Albums Chart. It contains a pregap before the first track, which contains the band attempting to make wine glasses "ring" and extolling the virtues of the French wine Beaujolais, ending with them performing a mock advert for Beaujolais. The album had sold 335,361 copies in the UK as of April 2015.[12]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Matthew Murphy, except where noted; all music is composed by The Wombats, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."Tales of Girls, Boys & Marsupials" (lyrics by The Wombats)1:10
2."Kill the Director"2:42
3."Moving to New York"3:31
4."Lost in the Post"3:06
5."Party in a Forest (Where's Laura?)"3:27
6."School Uniforms"3:14
7."Here Comes the Anxiety"2:31
8."Let's Dance to Joy Division"3:11
9."Backfire at the Disco"3:13
10."Little Miss Pipedream"4:12
11."Dr. Suzanne Mattox PhD" (includes elements from the chorus of "Help Me, Rhonda", by the Beach Boys)3:33
12."Patricia the Stripper"4:01
13."My First Wedding" (track ends at 4:36. hidden track; Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials piano instrumentation version)6:38
iTunes bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."Derail and Crash"3:29
15."Metro Song"3:51
Bonus DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Let's Dance to Joy Division" (video) 
2."Kill the Director" (video) 
3."Backfire at the Disco" (video) 
4."Moving to New York" (video) 
5."The Wombats in Austin" 
6."Found Footage" 

Personnel

  • Matthew Murphy – vocals, guitar, synthesizers, piano
  • Dan Haggis – backing vocals, drums, synthesizers, piano, stylophone, harmonica, melodica
  • Tord Øverland-Knudsen – backing vocals, bass, synthesizers, cello
  • Llangattock Primary School – kids choir on "Let's Dance to Joy Division"
  • Ian McNabb - banjo

Charts and certifications

References

  1. ^ "Reviews for A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation by The Wombats - Metacritic". Metacritic.
  2. ^ a b Mason, Stewart. "A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation - The Wombats". AllMusic. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  3. ^ Alex Fletcher. "The Wombats: 'A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation'". Digital Spy.
  4. ^ Leonie Cooper. "CD: The Wombats, A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation". the Guardian.
  5. ^ "LAUNCHcast review". yahoo.com.
  6. ^ "NME Reviews - The Wombats: A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation". NME.
  7. ^ "The Wombats: A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation". Pitchfork.
  8. ^ Young, Jon (23 June 2008). "The Wombats, 'The Wombats Proudly Present…A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation'". Spin. Archived from the original on 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  9. ^ "stv.tv review". Archived from the original on 2007-11-01. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
  10. ^ Mutch, John (11 May 2007). "The Wombats - A Guide To Love, Loss and Desperation: Album Review". This Is Fake DIY. Archived from the original on 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  11. ^ "Yahoo Celebrity UK". Yahoo.
  12. ^ Jones, Alan (20 April 2015). "Official Charts Analysis: Paul Simon scores 6th No.1 with 15,487 sales". Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  13. ^ a b c "A Guide To Love Loss & Desperation". acharts.us.
  14. ^ "The Wombats". billboard.com.
  15. ^ "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 - 2008". officialcharts.com.
  16. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  17. ^ "British album certifications – The Wombats – A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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