Back to Bedlam
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Back to Bedlam is the debut album from British musician James Blunt, released by Custard Records in 2004. Most of the album is soft rock and alternative. Tom Rothrock produced and mixed the album, he and Jimmy Hogarth produced the track "Wisemen", and Linda Perry produced the final song, "No Bravery". Blunt had a part in the writing of every song on the album. The album had a slow climb in the UK Albums Chart, but eventually reached #1 in July 2005 and has since become the best-selling album of that year. It has been on the New Zealand album charts for 32 weeks and has gone #1 with a 6x Platinum certification.
The album also reached #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and subsequently broke into the top ten of the American Billboard 200 (its highest position there so far is #2). It has been certified double platinum in the United States. It has also been listed by Soundscan as the 6th best selling album for 2006 with sales of 2.14 million copies.
In Australia, it reached #1 on the ARIA Albums Chart where it's certified 8x Platinum with sales of over 560,000 copies. ARIA also certified it as the best selling album of 2006.
To date the album has sold about 11 million copies worldwide. The album also entered the Guinness Book of World Records, with most albums sold in a year in the UK, when it sold 2,368,000 copies in 2005. [1] However, the album was awarded as a 'worst album of the year' by the NME magazine.
Track listing
- "High" – 4:03 (James Blunt; Ricky Ross)
- "You're Beautiful" –– 3:33 (J. Blunt; Sacha Skarbek; Amanda Ghost)
- "Wisemen" – 3:42 (J. Blunt; Jimmy Hogarth; S. Skarbek)
- "Goodbye My Lover" – 4:18 (J. Blunt; S. Skarbek)
- "Tears and Rain" – 4:04 (J. Blunt; Guy Chambers)
- "Out of My Mind" – 3:33 (J. Blunt)
- "So Long Jimmy" – 4:24 (J. Blunt; J. Hogarth)
- "Billy" – 3:37 (J. Blunt; S. Skarbek; A. Ghost)
- "Cry" – 4:06 (J. Blunt; S. Skarbek)
- "No Bravery" – 4:00 (J. Blunt; S. Skarbek)
Album information
James Blunt played a large portion of the instruments on the album, and also collaborated with several other musicians. Those listed in the album sleeve are: Mike "Leroy" Tarantino (lead guitar, electric guitar, Mississippi guitar), Mr. Nau (Wurlitzer, piano, Hammond, sustain guitar, backing vocals, tack piano), Sasha Krivtsov (bass guitar, backing vocals), C. Paxon (drums, backing vocals), E. Gorfain and The Section (strings), Jimmy Hogarth (acoustic guitar, keyboard), S. Skarbek (Mid 8 Rhodes), A. Ghost (backing vocals), "Gumby" Goodwin (electric guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar), M. Chait (sample guitar, electric guitar, guitar), G. Chambers (guitar feedback), Tom Rothrock (backing vocals, slide guitar), W. Vincent (bass guitar), Linda Perry (guitar), P. Ill (bass guitar), B. McCloud (drums).
The opening song appears to be a description of love lost and the pain of watching a beautiful sunrise on your own. "So Long, Jimmy" is a tribute to the late great Jimi Hendrix, along with Jim Morrison (member of The Doors) [2]. Blunt describes the song "Goodbye My Lover" as a death march, but refuses to give any further details. The lyrics in the final two tracks seem to reflect the time that Blunt spent in the military. Indeed, the final song on the album, "No Bravery", was written whilst Blunt was serving in war-torn Kosovo.
Charts
| Chart | Provider | Peak position |
Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United World Charts | Media Traffic | 1 | 5x Platinum | 10,663,000 |
| UK Albums Chart | BPI/The Official UK Charts Company | 1 | 10x platinum | 3,000,000+ |
| Australian ARIA Albums Chart | ARIA | 1 | 8x Platinum | 560,000+ |
| Austrian Albums Chart | IFPI | 1 | ||
| Belgian Albums Chart | Ultratop/Nielsen | 1 | ||
| Canadian Albums Chart | Nielsen Soundscan | 1 | 6x Platinum | 600,000 |
| Danish Albums Chart | 1 | |||
| German Albums Chart | Media Control | 1 | 4x Platinum | 800,000 |
| Greek Albums Chart | IFPI | 1 | ||
| Irish Albums Chart | IRMA | 1 | ||
| New Zealand Albums Chart | RIANZ | 1 | 6x Platinum | 90,000 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | GLF | 1 | ||
| Swiss Albums Chart | Media Control Europe | 1 | ||
| Dutch Albums Chart | Megacharts | 2 | Gold | 40,000 |
| French Albums Chart | SNEP/IFOP | 2 | ||
| U.S. Billboard 200 Albums | Billboard | 2 | 2x Platinum | 2,000,000+ |
| Spanish Albums Chart | Promusicae/Media Control | 4 | Platinium | +100,000 |
| Japanese Albums Chart | Oricon | 7 | ||
| Finnish Albums Chart | GLF | 10 | ||
| Total Sales: | 12.022.050 |
| Chart | Provider | Year End position (2006) |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 | Billboard | 7 |
Back to Bedlam was first released in October 2004. However, it didn't chart until late March 2005 (No. 56). It fell off the chart after a week, but then re-entered fourteen days later (No. 73), but then fell off the charts again. Due to the success of its single "You're Beautiful", the album re-entered for a second time at No. 71 in late April 2005. It eventually climbed to No. 1, as did "You're Beautiful". The album stayed there for 10 non-consecutive weeks, and was the best selling album of 2005 in the UK. By the end of the year, the album had sold 2.5 million copies and was certified 8x platinum. To date the album has sold 3.0 million copies, therefore is now certified 10x Platinum.
In Canada the album has sold more than 600,000 copies, and was certified 6x platinum.[1]
Mediatraffic.de cover 90/95% of music market, plus the 7,5% that Mediatraffic don't cover, total sales is 12.022.050.
References
- ^ "Canadian Recording Industry Association". September 2006 publication. Retrieved December 24 2006.