Elect the Dead: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 05:45, 25 July 2008
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Elect the Dead is the debut solo album by System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian. He played most of the instruments himself but did get help from System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan and former Primus/current Guns N' Roses drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia, along with Dan Monti on guitar and bass, opera singer Ani Maldjian and some string players, Antonio Pontarelli among them.[2] The album was leaked on October 18, 2007. The official tour for Elect the Dead commenced on October 12 with a show at Chicago's Vic theater.
The first concert had roughly 1,000 people attending, in a medium sized venue. Although Serj had stated he would not be performing any of System of a Down's material, he had performed Charades, a song co-written by Daron Malakian, the guitarist of System of a Down. Although it is originally a song restricted to piano and vocals, Serj used his backing band, The Flying Cunts of Chaos (F.C.C.), to provide guitars, drums and bass.
It's very wide sounding — lots of different sounding instruments. The excitement I had making this record was the same excitement I had making the first System record.
Tankian has stated that while some of the songs are new, a lot of them have been with him for a while. The first singles off the album were "The Unthinking Majority" and "Empty Walls". The song "Saving Us" was released on Tankian's Last.fm page[3] and his MySpace.[4] The video for "Feed Us" was released on the Swedish[5] and UK[6] MTV. Serj appeared on MTV's You Rock The Deuce to promote Elect The Dead. He participated in a number of skits featuring himself playing the roles of producer, director, and other various duties.
Until now two different promo versions of the album have surfaced to the public. The instrumental promo (PRO-CD-102124), issued by Serjical Strike/Reprise Records and intended for the music and movie industry, contains instrumental versions of the 12 regular album tracks. Another promo version, issued by Reprise Records and made only for individual reviewers, features the regular album in final master form. This release, which was labeled "Smart Talk" as a codename for "Serj Tankian" to prevent leaking by unauthorized persons, also indicates that the album was finalized prior to August 20, 2007[7].
The album has been met with very positive reception by both critics and fans alike.[citation needed] However, to this day, it has yet to receive gold certification.
"Beethoven's C***" (Beethoven's Cunt) was recently added as a downloadable track to the video game Rock Band.
The song "Blue", which appears on the special edition bonus CD, is a reworking of the System of a Down demo song "Blue".
Track listing
All tracks are written by Serj Tankian
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Empty Walls" | 3:49 |
| 2. | "The Unthinking Majority" | 3:46 |
| 3. | "Money" | 3:53 |
| 4. | "Feed Us" | 4:31 |
| 5. | "Saving Us" | 4:41 |
| 6. | "Sky Is Over" | 2:57 |
| 7. | "Baby" | 3:31 |
| 8. | "Honking Antelope" | 3:50 |
| 9. | "Lie Lie Lie" | 3:33 |
| 10. | "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" | 4:23 |
| 11. | "Beethoven's Cunt" | 3:13 |
| 12. | "Elect the Dead" | 2:54 |
| 13. | "The Reverend King" (Japanese Bonus Track) | 2:49 |
Special Edition Bonus Disc
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Blue" | 2:45 |
| 2. | "Empty Walls" (Acoustic) | 3:46 |
| 3. | "Feed Us" (Acoustic) | 4:21 |
| 4. | "Falling Stars" | 3:05 |
iTunes Edition
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "The Reverend King" | 2:49 |
| 14. | "Blue" | 2:45 |
| 15. | "Falling Stars" | 3:05 |
| 16. | "Lie Lie Lie" (Music Video) | 3:33 |
Chart Positions
| Year | Chart | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Top Canadian Albums | |
| The Billboard 200 | ||
| Austrian Albums Top 75 | ||
| German Albums Top 75 | ||
| Swiss Albums Top 100 | ||
| Finland Albums Top 40 | ||
| New Zealand Albums Chart | ||
| ARIA Top 50 (Australia) | ||
| France Albums Top 150 | ||
| UK Albums Chart |
Music videos
Music videos were made for every song on the standard edition of the record, each directed by a different director. Tankian explained: "I asked each of the directors for their visual interpretation of my work. They were asked not to write treatments and that they could make whatever they liked. The results have been overwhelmingly amazing!" [8]. Some videos were initially released exclusively to Deluxe Members who purchased the Limited Edition of Elect the Dead. All of the videos (except "Money") have since been publicly released on his official website and his YouTube Channel.
The videos that came out publicly and their directors are:
| Song name | Director | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| "Empty Walls" | Tony Petrossian | 2nd video |
| "The Unthinking Majority" | Tawd b. Dorenfeld | 1st video |
| "Money" | Ara Soudjian | 11th Video |
| "Feed Us" | Sevag Vrej | 4th video |
| "Saving Us" | Kevin Estrada | 3rd video |
| "Sky Is Over" (independent video) | José Rivera | 9th video |
| "Baby" | Isaac "Eye-Sack" Flores | 8th video |
| "Honking Antelope" | Roger Kupelian | 6th video |
| "Lie Lie Lie" | Martha Colburn | 5th video |
| "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" | Greg Watermann | 12th video |
| "Beethoven's C---" | Adam Egypt Mortimer | 10th video |
| "Elect the Dead" | Gariné Torossian | 7th video |
| "Sky Is Over" (official video) | Tony Petrossian | 13th video |
Personnel
- All songs written & performed by Serj Tankian (guitars, bass, piano, vocals, synthesizers, drum programming, melodica, bells, and various tone generating beauties [sic])
- Stunning suppository sounds [sic] (BMI)
- All songs recorded at Serjical Strike Studios
- Produced by Serj Tankian
- Engineered by Dan Monti and Serj Tankian
- Mastered by Vlado Meller at Sony Music Studios in New York, NY
Elect the Dead
- All drums recorded at The Pass in Los Angeles, CA
- Drum engineer Krish Sharma
- Assistant drum engineer Bo Joe
- Drum technician at The Pass Sako Karaian
- Mixed by Neal Avron at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA
- Mix assistant Nicholas Fournier
- Drumming on tracks 1, 3, 7-9, 11 by Brain
- Drumming on track 2 by John Dolmayan
- Drumming on tracks 4 and 5 by Brain and John Dolmayan
- Drum programming on track 6 by Dan Monti
- Additional guitar on tracks 1-4, 6, 8, 11 by Dan Monti
- Additional bass on tracks 2, 6-9, 11 by Dan Monti
- Additional solo guitar on track 5 by Diran Noubar
- Additional vocals on tracks 5 and 9 by Ani Maldjian
- Additional cello on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12 by Cameron Stone
- Additional violin on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 by Antonio Pontarelli
- Additional synthesizers on track 6 by Dan Monti and Fabrice Favre
Bonus disc
- Drums on track 4 recorded at The Pass in Los Angeles, CA
- Additional engineering on track 1 by Thom Russo
- Drum engineer on track 4 Krish Sharma
- Assistant drum engineer on track 4 Bo Joe
- Drum technician on track 4 Sako Karaian
- Tracks 1-3 mixed by Serj Tankian and Dan Monti
- Track 4 mixed by Neal Avron
- Track 4 mix assistant Nicholas Fournier
- Drumming on track 4 by John Dolmayan
- Violin solo on track 4 by Antonio Pontarelli
- Additional guitars on track 4 by Dan Monti
- Additional violin on tracks 2-4 by Antonio Pontarelli
- Additional cello on tracks 2-4 by Cameron Stone
Additional credits
- A&R Craig Aaronson and George Tonikian
- Original artwork provided by Sako Shahinian
- Album packaging design by Sako Shahinian
- Digipack Album packaging design by Keith Aazami
- Photography by Greg Watermann
- Worldwide management Dave Holmes and Darin Harmon
- Booking (US) Don Muller at CAA
- Booking (Europe) Emma Banks at CAA
- Legal [sic] Don Passman and Gene Salomon at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, Inc.
- Business management David Weise at DW & Associates
- John Dolmayan appears courtesy of Columbia Records
References
- ^ SERJ TANKIAN Paints Grim Picture With 'Sky Is Over' - Jan. 16, 2008
- ^ Serj Tankian biography on SOADFans fansite
- ^ Serj Tankian's artist page on Last.fm
- ^ Template:MySpace-music
- ^ Swedish MTV
- ^ UK MTV
- ^ Picture of the Elect The Dead promo release
- ^ SYSTEM OF A DOWN Frontman To Post Videos For Each Track On Forthcoming Solo Album
External links
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Live albums | |
| EPs | |
| Singles | |
| Other songs |
|
| Related artists | |
| Related articles | |
