Last Train Home (Lostprophets song)
| "Last Train Home" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"Last Train Home" is the second single from Start Something, the second album by the Welsh rock band Lostprophets. This single is the band's joint highest charting in the UK to date, tied with "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)". It remains their most successful in the USA. "Last Train Home" was released to radio on December 2, 2003.[4]
Release and reception
"Last Train Home" was released in the spring of 2004 and became the most successful song from Start Something on the rock charts and arguably the band's most recognizable and popular song. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and number ten on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Last Train Home" is the second Lostprophets single to ever chart in the U.S., the first one being "Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja". The song won the Kerrang! Award for Best Single.
Johnny Loftus of Allmusic said "'Last Train Home' was an absolute masterpiece of pop single mixing board surgery, flawlessly, brazenly binding the properties of three of California's most marketable acts into one monster of an alternative rock anthem, sung by a bunch of immaculately T-shirted dudes from Pontypridd. Beginning with an instrumental run through its unstoppable chorus, the song drifted into faraway echoes of piano as vocalist Ian Watkins emoted vaguely meaningful lyrics like 'Love was once apart / But now it's disappeared.'"[1]
Kirk Miller of Rolling Stone said "Last Train Home" is "one of the catchiest hard-rock songs to hit the radio in the past three years. Singer Ian Watkins has Mike Patton's croon/scream down cold, and his group deftly applies FNM's anything-goes approach: equal parts thrash riffs, symphonic keyboards and moody jazz intervals."[2]
The music video was directed by Brian Scott Weber, and was shot in various Downtown Los Angeles locations in November 2003. In the video, Ian Watkins wears the Pittsburgh Strikers T-shirt (an amateur football club in Western Pennsylvania).
"Last Train Home" was also the song which introduced Geoff Rickly to Lostprophets.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Last Train Home" (radio edit) | 4:04 |
| 2. | "Cry Me a River" (BBC Radio One session) (Justin Timberlake cover) | 5:00 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Last Train Home" (radio edit) | 4:04 |
| 2. | "Last Train Home" (demo) | 4:40 |
| 3. | "The Politics of Emotion" (demo) | 3:22 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Last Train Home" (radio edit) | 4:04 |
| 2. | "The Politics of Emotion" (demo) | 3:22 |
| 3. | "Cry Me a River" (BBC Radio One session) (Justin Timberlake cover) | 5:00 |
| 4. | "Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja" (acoustic) | 3:04 |
| 5. | "Last Train Home" (demo) | 4:10 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Last Train Home" (radio edit) | 4:04 |
| 2. | "Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja" (acoustic) | 3:04 |
Personnel
- Ian Watkins – lead vocals
- Jamie Oliver – synth, turntables, samples, vocals
- Lee Gaze – lead guitar
- Mike Lewis – rhythm guitar
- Stuart Richardson – bass guitar
- Mike Chiplin – drums, percussion
- Benji Madden - Writer
- Additional group vocals
On "Last Train Home"
- Billy Martin & Benji Madden, both of Good Charlotte
Chart positions
| Chart (2004) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 68 |
| German Singles Chart | 48 |
| UK Singles Chart | 8 |
| US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 10 |
| US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 75 |
References
- ^ a b c AllMusicGuide review
- ^ a b "Album Reviews, Ratings, and Best New Albums". Rolling Stone.
- ^ "Top Ten Nu-Metal Bands – Staff Top 10". stylusmagazine.com. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
- ^ "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Incorporated. Retrieved October 30, 2016.