The Last Broadcast (album)
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The Last Broadcast is the second studio album by British indie rock band Doves. The album was released by Heavenly Records on 29 April 2002, and went straight to number 1 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's first single "There Goes the Fear" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3, the band's highest-charting single to date, despite being released and deleted on the same day. Two further singles, "Pounding" and "Caught by the River", were also successful, charting in the Top 30. The Last Broadcast garnered critical acclaim upon its release, and was a shortlist nominee for the Mercury Prize in 2002.
Background and recording
Following the success of their debut album Lost Souls and subsequent tours of the United Kingdom and their first tour of North America, the band entered the studio in January 2001 to begin work on the follow-up album. "When we went back into the studio this time, we were determined to get rid of the perception that people had of us," said Jimi Goodwin in an interview with NME.[1] Jez Williams told NME, "This time around, we had a lot more confidence."[1] In a 2010 interview with Spinner.com, Jez furthered, "It was like a big burst of energy... it affected our songwriting. We wanted it to be optimistic, more hopeful."[2] The band moved away from the Cheetham Hill studio they had recorded Lost Souls in for Revolution Studios in Manchester, Parr Street Studios in Liverpool, Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Bath, The Dairy and 2 kHz Studios in London, and a cottage in Lancashire (additionally, "M62 Song" was recorded under a flyover of the M62 motorway in Northenden).[1] In a 2009 interview with QTheMusic.com, Jez said that the songs came quickly and effortlessly: "I had this little house in Northenden where my makeshift studio was. It took a couple of nights to get the backing track with the top line melody to the "There Goes the Fear". Literally the next night I had "Words" coming out of the speakers."[3] "Caught by the River" was the final song recorded for the album, which took form at a rehearsal room in Stockport called The Green Room. "Jimi, Andy and I just started to play these three chords. Jimi started to sing this great top line melody and there it was... very natural and easy. Andy started to write these very poignant lyrics about a friend of ours; everything started to click like at the start of the recording. That was the last piece of the jigsaw for the album," said Jez.[3] The band also incorporated string, brass, and woodwind arrangements into the songs, arranged by The High Llamas frontman Sean O'Hagan, as well as gospel choir vocals on "Satellites", while lead single "There Goes the Fear" features a Brazilian Carnival-inspired percussive outro. Doves wrote, recorded, and mixed the album within eight months, "which for Doves was incredibly fast," concluded Jez Williams.[3]
"M62 Song" is credited to the band and Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald, and Peter Sinfield because, as stated in the album sleeve, the song is an adaptation of "Moonchild" by King Crimson. Similarly, the B-side "Hit the Ground Running" is an adaptation of "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon.
Release and legacy
"For me they were good days. The simple focus of writing and recording that album; no personal fuck-ups or problems, I was in a good place. We were just in it riding the wave – enjoying the act of making music – so simple!"
—Jez Williams on the album's streamlined recording process[3]
The Last Broadcast was released on 29 April 2002, and topped the UK Albums Chart.[4] The release of the first single "There Goes the Fear" on 15 April brought the band their highest-charting single to date, peaking at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart.[4] The single, pressed as a limited edition eCD and a 10" vinyl record, was released and deleted on the same day. When asked in a 2010 interview with Under the Radar as to why the single was limited, Jez Williams stated, "It was to do something different from the norm. Just wanted to try something different really. I can't remember exactly whose idea it was. It might have been the manager's, but we were kind of into it. A kind of statement, in a way. We liked the fact that you could only get a hold of a certain amount of this or a certain amount of that. Especially in this day and age of readily available bits of music, it's kind of nice: a physical copy that's precious to you because you managed to get to the shop that day and actually own that."[5] The Last Broadcast sold 52,000 copies in its first week,[6] and has since been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.[7] The album's second single "Pounding" was released in July 2002, and peaked at number 21, while third and final single "Caught by the River" was released in October 2002 and reached number 29 on the charts.[4] Like "There Goes the Fear" before them, the singles for "Pounding" and "Caught by the River" were also limited in released quantities. The Last Broadcast was released by Capitol Records in the United States on 4 June 2002; first pressings of the album stateside included a limited edition bonus disc, featuring four songs released as B-sides on the UK singles.
The band began touring in promotion for the album at the end of February 2002. By summer of 2002, Doves were touring for the album in the United States, the Netherlands and Europe, Australia, and Japan.[8] Their July performance at The Eden Sessions in Cornwall was filmed and featured on the band's full-length compilation DVD Where We're Calling From, released in September 2003. In addition to the live concert, the DVD prominently featured a documentary on the band, including previously unreleased footage of the recording of The Last Broadcast as well as previous album Lost Souls, along with all of the band's music videos to date and a myriad of special features.[9]
A remixed version of "Words" entitled Live for City is played at the start of all Manchester City F.C. games at the City of Manchester Stadium, due to the band's support of the team. The intro to "Words" has also been used as the background music for both ITV Sport's FA Cup coverage and the NFL Network's commercials during the 2006-07 football season. "There Goes the Fear" was featured in the film and on the original motion picture soundtrack to (500) Days of Summer in 2009, while "Pounding" was used in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics With Glowing Hearts/Des Plus Brilliants Exploits advertisement campaign and in pre-event intros.
Reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 85/100[10] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [11] |
| Blender | [12] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A–[13] |
| The Guardian | [14] |
| NME | 9/10[15] |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.0/10[16] |
| Q | [17] |
| Rolling Stone | [18] |
| Uncut | [19] |
| The Village Voice | B–[20] |
The Last Broadcast was met with critical praise. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 85, based on 20 reviews.[10] NME awarded the album 9 out of 10 stars, calling the album "the most uplifting miserable album you'll hear all year."[15] The Austin Chronicle called the album "[a] stunner... an infectious, melancholy, ultimately euphoric barrage of sound wrapped in a sheeting of guitars and subtle effects that coalesce around frontman Jimi Goodwin's plaintive voice and brothers Jez and Andy Williams' lovely, pounding, relentless vibe that echoes with hints of Northern soul and terrifically big beats."[21] Blender called the album "utterly entrancing,"[12] while AllMusic praised it as a "musical daybreak."[11]
Like its predecessor Lost Souls in 2000, The Last Broadcast was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2002. The album lost to Ms. Dynamite's debut album A Little Deeper. Kludge included it on their list of best albums of 2002.[22]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Jez Williams, Jimi Goodwin, and Andy Williams, except where noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro" | 1:18 | |
| 2. | "Words" | 5:42 | |
| 3. | "There Goes the Fear" | 6:54 | |
| 4. | "M62 Song" | Williams, Goodwin, Williams, Fripp, Giles, Lake, McDonald, Sinfield | 3:48 |
| 5. | "Where We're Calling From" | 1:24 | |
| 6. | "N.Y." | 5:46 | |
| 7. | "Satellites" | 6:50 | |
| 8. | "Friday's Dust" | 3:35 | |
| 9. | "Pounding" | 4:45 | |
| 10. | "Last Broadcast" | 3:22 | |
| 11. | "The Sulphur Man" | 4:37 | |
| 12. | "Caught by the River" | 5:55 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hit the Ground Running" | Zevon, Marinell, Wachtel | 2:54 |
| 2. | "Far from Grace" | 4:24 | |
| 3. | "Northenden" | 4:03 | |
| 4. | "Willow's Song" (full length version) | Traditional | 4:20 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Far from Grace" | 4:24 |
| 14. | "Northenden" | 4:03 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 29 April 2002 | Heavenly Records | CD | HVNLP35CD |
| Double LP (heavyweight vinyl; gatefold sleeve) | HVNLP35 | |||
| Japan | 1 May 2002 | Toshiba-EMI | CD (2 bonus tracks) | TOCP-65975 |
| 22 January 2003 | CD (tour edition with purple-tinted artwork; 2 bonus tracks + enhanced video) | TOCP-66129 | ||
| United States | 4 June 2002 | Capitol Records | CD (initial pressings include bonus disc) | 724381223222 |
Credits
- Produced by Doves, except "Satellites" produced by Steve Osborne for 140dB, and "Caught by the River" co-produced by Steve Osborne and Doves.
- Additional production by Martin "Max" Heyes for Z Mint.
- Recorded, programmed and mixed by Doves and Max Heyes.
- Recorded and mixed between January 2001 and January 2002 at: Revolution, Manchester; Parr St., Liverpool; The Dairy and 2 kHz, London; Real World, Bath; under the M60 flyover, Northenden; Jez's house; Lynch Mob studio; and various country seats.
- Mastered by Miles Showell at Metropolis.
- Engineered by Max Heyes, Adrian Bushby, and Danton Supple.
- Assistant engineers – Andrea Wright, Darren Nash, Marco Migliari, and Paul Grady
- Art direction and design by Rick Myers.
- Photography by Rich Mulhearn.
- Band photograph by Kevin Westenberg.
- Artwork features Julia Baker.
Additional musicians
- Martin Rebelski – keyboards and glockenspiel on "Words," "N.Y.," "Satellites," and "The Sulphur Man"
- Brian Madden – megaphone on "Words"
- Jay Rofe-Turner – tambourine on "Satellites"
- Rosie Lowdell – violin on "Words" and "The Sulphur Man"
- Strings on "N.Y.": Paulette Bailey and Celia Goodwin – violin; Rob Shepley – viola; Ian Bracken – cello
- Percussion on "There Goes the Fear": Marc Starr, Chris Davies, Billy Booth, and Richard Sliwa
- Strings on "Friday's Dust" and "The Sulphur Man": Jackie Norrie and Sally Herbert – violin; Brian Wright – violin and viola; Marcus Holdaway – cello; arranged by Sean O'Hagan and Marcus Holdaway
- Brass and woodwind on "Friday's Dust" and "The Sulphur Man": Andy Robinson and Marc Bassey – trombone; Steve Waterman – trumpet and flugal horn; Colin Crawley – tenor sax and flute; arranged by Sean O'Hagan and Andy Robinson
- Duncan Ashby – clarinet on "Friday's Dust"
- Backing vocals on "Satellites": Barrington Stewart, Fyza, Lisa Saddoo, and Joanne Watson
Charts
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart[4] | 1 |
| Irish Albums Chart[23] | 2 |
| VG-lista[24] | 11 |
| Australian Albums Chart[25] | 17 |
| New Zealand Chart[26] | 34 |
| Swedish Chart[27] | 49 |
| US Billboard 200[28] | 83 |
| French Chart[29] | 94 |
References
- ^ a b c NME 13 April 2002 issue, pgs.24-26. How These Men Made the Most Life-Affirming Album of the Year, by James Oldham.
- ^ Ishaq, Farah (12 April 2010). "Doves Video - The Story of 'The Last Broadcast' - Spinner". Spinner (website). Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Doves on: The Last Broadcast - Features - QTheMusic.com". Q (magazine). 7 April 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c d Doves - Chart Stats
- ^ Davis, Hays. "Doves: This Bird Has Flown". Under the Radar (magazine).
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Doves Music Blog - The Last Broadcast
- ^ "BPI Searchable database - Gold and Platinum". BPI. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ Doves - Gigography 2002
- ^ Doves - Where We're Calling From (DVD-V) at Discogs
- ^ a b "Reviews for The Last Broadcast by Doves". Metacritic. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ a b Wilson, MacKenzie. "The Last Broadcast – Doves". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ a b Considine, J. D. (June–July 2002). "Doves: Last Broadcast". Blender (7): 104. Archived from the original on 13 April 2005. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ "July 2002". Entertainment Weekly. 12 July 2002. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ "Sweet and sour". The Guardian. 26 April 2002. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ a b Fox, Jason (23 April 2002). "Doves : The Last Broadcast". NME. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
- ^ Tangari, Joe (6 June 2002). "Doves: The Last Broadcast". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
- ^ "Doves: The Last Broadcast". Q (296): 98. March 2011.
- ^ Blashill, Pat (20 June 2002). "Doves: The Last Broadcast". Rolling Stone (898). Archived from the original on 21 November 2002. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ "Doves: The Last Broadcast". Uncut (61): 110. June 2002.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (11 February 2003). "Consumer Guide: The Prelude". The Village Voice. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ^ Savlov, Marc (14 June 2002). "Austin Music: Review - Doves - AustinChronicle.com". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "The Best of 2002". Kludge. Archived from the original on 22 July 2004. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^ irishcharts.com - Discography Doves
- ^ Norwegian Charts - Doves
- ^ Australian Charts - Doves
- ^ charts.org.nz - Doves
- ^ swedishcharts.com - Doves
- ^ Billboard - Artist Chart History - Doves
- ^ lescharts.com - Discographie Doves