The Madding Crowd

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The Madding Crowd is the major-label debut album by the American rock band Nine Days. It spawned to the major hit "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" and other single "If I Am". The Madding Crowd peaked at #67 on the Billboard Top 200. The album's title is a reference to Thomas Hardy's novel Far from the Madding Crowd.

Released

The Madding Crowd, despite not peaking inside the top 50 in the United States, was eventually certified gold within six months of release.

Track listing

1. "So Far Away" (Brian Desveaux, John Hampson) – 3:56
2. "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" (Hampson) – 3:09
3. "If I Am" (Hampson) – 4:18
4. "End Up Alone" (Hampson) – 3:57
5. "Sometimes" (Desveaux) – 5:14
6. "Bob Dylan" (Desveaux, Bob Dylan) – 4:35
7. "257 Weeks" (Hampson) – 4:04
8. "Bitter" (Desveaux) – 6:21
9. "Back to Me" (Desveaux) – 4:00
10. "Crazy" (Desveaux, Hampson) – 4:14
11. "Revolve" (Hampson) – 3:54
12. "Wanna Be" (Desveaux) – 6:03

Personnel

• Jeremy Dean – keyboards
• Brian Desveaux – vocals, guitar
• Nick Dimichino – bass guitar
• John Hampson – vocals, guitar
• Vincent Tattanelli – drums

Demo recordings

Untitled

In January 2013, upon the relaunch of the band's official website, several old live recordings and demos were made available to the band's fans for the first time. Included among these were the original demos for The Madding Crowd.

These demos were recorded in 1998 and 1999 between the band's independently released album Three and their first mainstream hit of "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)."

1. Another Day
2. Absolutely
3. If I Am
4. Too Much Love
5. Esteem
6. Nobody
7. Revolve
8. Bring It Back (released as "Sometimes" on the studio release)
   
9. Day By Daybreak
10. Heart Defect
11. Side To Side (an early version of "257 Weeks")
12. Wanna Be
13. That's How You Are

Of the songs included in the demo album, five were later recorded and included on the actual release of the album in, more or less, an unaltered, though more produced, form. One more track, "Side To Side" carries the same melody and many of the same lyrics as "257 Weeks" but is not completely the same song.

While the tracks that remained nearly unaltered, the increased production is very evident on the official release of the album, especially on the tracks "Absolutely" and "Wanna Be." "Wanna Be" particularly is a faster track on the demo version, whereas the produced version is slower and more haunting.

In popular culture

• One of the songs, "Another Day" was included on the soundtrack to the 2001 film Summer Catch.

See also

• Far from the Madding Crowd