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Eyes Open (Snow Patrol album)

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Untitled

Eyes Open is the fourth album by rock band Snow Patrol. It was released in the UK on 1 May 2006, and 9 May 2006 in the US. The first European single, "You're All I Have", was released on 24 April 2006; the first U.S. single was "Hands Open" and the first Australian single was "Chasing Cars". Eyes Open is the 15th best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK.[2]

Recording and composition

Some of the writing sessions took place in Dingle, Ireland.

The band's primary aim for a fourth album was to create a better one than the previous, Final Straw.[3] They felt the need to become better players of their respective instruments as they thought they had "barely [gotten] away" with the success of the last album. Subsequently, keyboardist Tom Simpson and drummer Jonny Quinn took classical piano and drum lessons respectively, during the recording of the album.[4]

The band visited Dingle, on Ireland's west coast and started writing new material. They stayed in a small house, described by Simpson as a "little round house overlooking the sea". They then did some recording in a studio. The main recording sessions, though, happened in an old "condemned" studio in Westmeath, located in the central part of the country. Simpson found the place to be "laid-back" and "almost like a holiday home". The location was in a secluded area, quite distant from any civilization, with animals running around. This helped the band concentrate well without much distraction. The band stayed there for six weeks. Simpson felt the reason why producer Jacknife Lee was taking the band to different places was because he did not want them to get too comfortable with the surroundings. The songs were generally not written as a whole, but the band wrote them as they "came". The writing process thus varied for each song; instead of spending excess time on one and overworking themselves, the band chose to work on another, often revisiting the song later.[3][4] The band was also constantly changing song arrangements. Due to this, they found they had gotten a much clearer idea of which songs they would ultimately polish to possibly make the album. Simpson noted that the band had much more time to write and record this time, a luxury they had not enjoyed previously.[3]

Inspiration for writing came from the band's record collections, musical tastes and influences.[3] The band, fans of The Posies, met Ken Stringfellow at a couple of festivals they attended, and asked him if he wanted to get involved. He accepted, and visited the studio for a day, contributing piano.[5][6] The band had been listening to Martha Wainwright's Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole during the sessions and were fans of it. Towards the end of the recording sessions, Lightbody wrote a duet with her in mind, hoping to get her to sing it. She liked the song and agreed to record it. Eugene Kelly and a few members from The Reindeer Section also appear as choir in various songs throughout the album.[5] Simpson credited Lee for being supportive of the band, and at the same time critical, when necessary. Each band member used to come to him for opinion on work they were doing. Morale during the sessions was high, with the band feeling a sense of togetherness seeing the hard work everyone was doing.[3]

The album is the first without founding bassist Mark McClelland and represents a step forward for the band. Simpson feels that the album is more confident that its predecessor, as the band pushed themselves more than ever before during its sessions, and had a better understanding of music. According to him, the album title does not mean anything specific and that it can have its own meaning to different people.[5] Bassist Paul Wilson says the it came from the titles of songs they had written, citing "Open Your Eyes" as an example.[7]

Appearances in other media

The album's third track, "Chasing Cars", was featured on the second season finale of the ABC prime time hit drama Grey's Anatomy on 15 May 2006. A Grey's Anatomy-themed video of the song can be seen at the ABC website. The seventh track, "Make This Go On Forever", was later used in the third season of Grey's Anatomy, at the end of the episode entitled "Walk on Water". The album's tenth track, entitled "Open Your Eyes," was used in the season 4 finale of CBS's Cold Case and in the season 12 finale of ER, also appeared in an episode of The Black Donnellys and also in the second episode of the third season of Grey's Anatomy. The sixth track, "You Could Be Happy", was used at the beginning the episode "Promise" of Smallville's sixth season, as well as in advertisements for Australian soap Neighbours. The single was also used in Doctor Who: Top 5 Christmas Moments and the Season 2 finale of BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey. The first track, "You're All I Have" appears on the soundtrack of the teen film The Invisible.

"Open Your Eyes" was used as The Best Bits song for Celebrity Big Brother 2007 during the final watched by over 7m viewers, the year of the Race Row.

Release

Eyes Open was made available in two formats:

  • Standard CD – with two UK bonus tracks
  • Special edition – in a deluxe box, with the full album plus a DVD featuring footage shot over the past months, including the band's tour with U2, special gigs and the making of the new record. Additionally contained exclusive photos and other content.[8]

The artwork for the album and the first single "You're All I Have" was designed by Mat Maitland of Big Active.[9] It was revealed by Hot Press magazine on 16 March 2006, which called it "arty".[10]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Gary Lightbody; all music is composed by Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Tom Simpson, Paul Wilson and Jonny Quinn

No.TitleLength
1."You're All I Have"4:33
2."Hands Open"3:17
3."Chasing Cars"4:28
4."Shut Your Eyes"3:17
5."It's Beginning to Get to Me"4:35
6."You Could Be Happy"3:04
7."Make This Go On Forever"5:47
8."Set the Fire to the Third Bar" (featuring Martha Wainwright)3:23
9."Headlights on Dark Roads"3:30
10."Open Your Eyes"5:41
11."The Finish Line"3:28

Bonus tracks

No.TitleLength
12."-"3:55
13."In My Arms"4:36
14."Warmer Climate"4:08
15."The Only Noise"2:53
16."Perfect Little Secret"4:40
  • The untitled twelfth track is a recording of background noise and one of Jacknife Lee's young children talking.
  • "Perfect Little Secret" is a solo recording from Gary Lightbody.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[11]
Blender[12]
Entertainment.ie[13]
PopMatters[14]
Pitchfork Media(6.6/10)[15]
Rolling Stone[16]
USA Today[17]

The album sold 36,191 units in its debut week throughout the U.S., substantially improving from their first week sales of Final Straw. U.S. sales have totaled over 700,000 as of February 2007.

The album hit #1 in its 11th week on the New Zealand chart and reached 2× Platinum therefore shipping over 30,000 units. In the UK the album sold over 2,000,000 copies being certified 6× Platinum by the BPI. It has also reached #1 in the ARIA Albums Chart, and was certified 3× Platinum on 8 January 2007 (210,000+ units shipped). On 26 November 2006, it became the UK's best-selling album of 2006,[18] selling over 1.5 million copies at the end of the year, with a cumulative total of 1.8 million. It also reached #1 in the Irish albums chart where it went 7× platinum.[19] In total, the album has sold 5 million copies worldwide.

Personnel

Other personnel

Peak positions and certifications

Chart Providers Peak
position
Sales Certification
Argentina Albums Chart CAPIF 50,000 Platinum[20]
Australian Albums Chart[21] ARIA 1 280,000 4× Platinum[22]
Austrian Albums Chart[21] IFPI 3 15,000 Gold[23]
Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart[24] IFPI 9 20,000 Platinum[25]
Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart IFPI 64
Canada Albums Chart[21] CRIA 22 100,000 Platinum[26]
Dutch Albums Chart[21] NVPI 6 Platinum[27]
Dutch Backcatalogue Top 50[28] NVPI 1
European Top 100 Albums[29] IFPI 4 3,000,000 3× Platinum[30]
French Albums Chart[21] SNEP 67
German Albums Chart[21] Media Control 17 200,000 Platinum[31]
Irish Albums Chart[21] IRMA 1 105,000 7× Platinum[19]
New Zealand Albums Chart[21] RIANZ 1 45,000 3× Platinum[32]
Norway Albums Chart[21] IFPI 39
Spanish Albums Chart[21] PROMUSICAE 47
Swedish Albums Chart[21] GLF 16
Swiss Albums Chart[21] IFPI 15 15,000 Gold[33]
UK Albums Chart[21] BPI 1 2,100,000 7× Platinum[34]
US Billboard Albums Chart[21] RIAA 27 1,200,000[35] Platinum[36]
Organization Level Date[36]
RIAA - USA Gold 29 June 2007
RIAA - USA Platinum 17 October 2008

Year-end

End of year chart (2007) Position
German Albums Chart [37] 29
Non-singles
Song Chart Peak
position
"Make This Go on Forever" US Billboard Hot Videoclip Tracks[38] 15
"You Could Be Happy" UK Singles Chart[39] 184

References

  1. ^ Release dates
  2. ^ "Radio 1 to reveal best-selling singles and albums of the Noughties". Press Office. British Broadcasting Corporation. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d e Anthony, Paul. "Interview with Snow Patrol". Kevchino. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  4. ^ a b Paulsen, John (2 June 2006). "Interview with Tom Simpson of Snow Patrol". Bullz-Eye. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  5. ^ a b c "Interview: Tom Simpson from Snow Patrol". PlugInMusic.com. 7 July 2006. Archived from the original on 2009-11-01. Retrieved 2010-06-10. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  6. ^ "Eyes Open (Deluxe Limited Edition CD/DVD) - Snow Patrol". Macrovision. Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
  7. ^ Smith, Sean (20 March 2007). "San Diego Music - The band Snow Patrol!". San Diego.com. Archived from the original on 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2010-06-10. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "Release formats". Jeepster. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  9. ^ "Snow Patrol". Big Active. Retrieved 2009-07-18. Note: Needs to be manually searched.
  10. ^ "Snow Patrol artwork revealed!". Hot Press. 16 March 2006. Retrieved 2009-09-26. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) (subscription required) Note: Archived page, can be found here [1][dead link].
  11. ^ Allmusic review
  12. ^ Blender review
  13. ^ Entertainment.ie review
  14. ^ PopMatters review
  15. ^ Pitchfork Media review
  16. ^ "Eyes Open : Review". Rolling Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2006-06-12.
  17. ^ USA Today review
  18. ^ "Top sellers by year - Albums: Best-selling Albums 06". The Official Charts Company. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  19. ^ a b Jaclyn Ward - Fireball Media Ltd. - http://www.fireballmedia.ie (1962-10-01). "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2012-02-15. {{cite web}}: External link in |author= (help)
  20. ^ Argentina certification
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Snow Patrol - Eyes Open". aCharts. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
  22. ^ "ARIA Charts-Accreditations-2007 Albums". Aria.com.au. 2007-12-31. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  23. ^ "IFPI Austria - Verband der Österreichischen Musikwirtschaft" (in Template:De icon). Ifpi.at. Retrieved 2012-02-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  24. ^ "Snow Patrol - Eyes Open (Album)" (in Dutch). Swiss Charts. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  25. ^ "Goud en platina - Albums - 2008". Ultratop. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  26. ^ "Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum - January 2005". Cria.ca. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  27. ^ Universal Netherlands newsletter. Published: 24 july 2009
  28. ^ Steffen Hung. "Dutch charts portal". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  29. ^ "European Top 100 Albums - Eyes Open". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-07-08. [dead link]
  30. ^ "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards - Q1 2009". Ifpi.org. 2005-09-01. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  31. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank ('Eyes+Open')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  32. ^ NZ certification
  33. ^ Steffen Hung. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community". Swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  34. ^ UK Certification
  35. ^ "Brits Rock". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-07-07. [dead link]
  36. ^ a b "Gold & Platinum - Search Results". RIAA. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  37. ^ [2][dead link]
  38. ^ "Hot Videoclip Tracks - Make This Go On Forever". Bilboard. Retrieved 2009-07-08. [dead link]
  39. ^ "Chart Log UK - 2008". Zobbel. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
Preceded by UK number one album
7 May 2006 – 13 May 2006
27 August 2006 – 2 September 2006
10 September 2006 – 16 September 2006
Succeeded by
Preceded by Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
22 January 2007 – 25 February 2007
Succeeded by