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Album Review: Cities
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Cities

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  • Artist: Anberlin
  • Rating: StarStarStar
  • Release Date: February 20, 2007
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

Sticky sweet pop melodies, explosive pop-punk chord progressions, "sensitive guy" lyrics. Yep, this should all sound pretty darn familiar if you're a rock fan circa the early 21st century, as there's been an endless stream of bands (for years by this point) that meet all the prerequisites of the aforementioned checklist. And on their 2007 release, Cities, there are certain moments that you can definitely add Anberlin to this list. Thankfully, they don't specialize in that annoying frat-boy-esque shtick that some pop-punk bands do; instead, Anberlin can be quite an ambitious bunch that go the emo route. While songs such as the album opening "Godspeed" sounds like your average pop-punk band of the moment, tracks such as the acoustic guitar-driven "The Unwinding Cable Car" is emo at its most naked (and includes some pretty darn impressive vocal harmonies). But for the most part, the tunes sound like a hopeful trying to win over the judges in the latest episode of Rockstar, especially on such tracks as "Adelaide" and "Hello Alone." Nothing too groundbreaking here, but nothing cringe-worthy, either. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
(Début) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (1:26)
Godspeed (Lyrics) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (3:02)
Adelaide (Lyrics) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (3:14)
A Whisper & A Clamor Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (3:25)
The Unwinding Cable Car Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (4:17)
There Is No Mathematics to Love and Loss (Lyrics) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (3:11)
Hello Alone (Lyrics) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (4:00)
Alexithymia (Lyrics) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (3:23)
Reclusion (Lyrics) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (3:31)
Inevitable (Lyrics) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (3:47)
Dismantle. Repair. Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer, Stephen Arnold Anberlin (4:18)
(*Fin) (Lyrics) Stephen Christian, Nathan Young, Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Strayer Anberlin (8:53)

Credits

Ted Jensen (Mastering), Mike Shipley (Mixing), Aaron Sprinkle (Producer), Aaron Sprinkle (Engineer), Matt Slocum (String Arrangements), Matt Slocum (Choir Arrangement), Aaron Mlasko (Percussion), Aaron Mlasko (Drum Technician), Ryan Clark (Design), Stephen Christian (Group Member), Randy Torres (Engineer), Chad Johnson (A&R), Brian Wohlgemuth (Mixing Assistant), Joseph Milligan (Keyboards), Joseph Milligan (Engineer), Joseph Milligan (Group Member), Deon Rexroat (Group Member), Parker Young (Photography), Aaron Marsh (Vocals)
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Wikipedia: Cities (Anberlin album)
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Cities
Studio album by Anberlin
Released February 19, 2007
Recorded 2006
Compound and London Bridge Studio
Seattle, WA
Genre Alternative rock
Length 46:31
Label Tooth & Nail Records
Stomp Records (Australia release)
Howling Bull (Japan Release)
Producer Aaron Sprinkle
Professional reviews
Anberlin chronology
Godspeed EP
(2006)		 Cities
(2007)		 Lost Songs
(2007)
Alternate cover
Special Edition DVD

Cities is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Anberlin, released on 20 February 2007.[1] The songs "Godspeed" and "The Unwinding Cable Car" were released as singles and had music videos created. The album debuted at #19 on the Billboard 200.

Contents

Production

The band spent more than 40 days in the studio recording Cities and went back on tour on September 14 after listening to the finished work on the morning of September 13. Lead singer Stephen Christian kept fans posted on progress in the studio through the band's online forums. Anberlin asked fans to message their phone numbers to the band through their message board so that they could call the fans and ask for advice on this album. The album was produced by Aaron Sprinkle, who also produced Anberlin's first two albums Blueprints for the Black Market and Never Take Friendship Personal.

Promotion and pre-release

In late 2006, the band started previewing content for the album in various ways. The song "Godspeed" was released as a single on December 28th, 2006. The band started playing "Hello Alone" at concerts under its working title, "The Lesser Thans." Anberlin also posted individual song previews on MySpace and PureVolume. Anberlin streamed the entire album to their MySpace home three days before the album hit stores. The move ratcheted up the band's popularity on the #1 profile site, and made it one of the top 2 most popular bands on the day. Cities was number one on Jesusfreakhideout's list of "the 25 most anticipated albums of 2007" and was incidentally named the number one album of 2007 on December 16, 2007.

Release

Cities was released in the United States on February 20, 2007, as scheduled. It sold 34,000 units in its first week of release and debuted at #19 on the Billboard 200 chart and was well received by critics and fans.[2] It also reached up to number seven on the iTunes Top Albums chart. Some pre-orders were shipped along with a seven-inch collector's vinyl EP.

A special-edition version of the album was also released. This version contains three additional tracks and a bonus DVD featuring a behind the scenes look of the making the album, interviews with the band members, and outtakes.

Except for digitally downloaded albums, each US copy of the album contained a "City Pass" insert. This insert states that it is the buyer's "gateway to the world" providing "free entry to over twenty cities". The inserts were tied to an online-entry contest (which closed on August 31, 2007).

Lyrical content

Stephen Christian stated in an interview that the lyrics throughout the band's discography were progressively becoming more mature. "The first CD (Blueprints for the Black Market) was childish in the manner that it was Man vs. World in the lyrics. The second (Never Take Friendship Personal) was Man Vs. Man. Cities is more adult in the manner that it's Man vs. Self."[3][4]

Track listing

  1. "(Début)" – 1:27
  2. "Godspeed" – 3:02
  3. "Adelaide" – 3:14
  4. "A Whisper & A Clamor" – 3:25
  5. "The Unwinding Cable Car" – 4:17
  6. "There Is No Mathematics To Love and Loss" – 3:11
  7. "Hello Alone" – 4:00
  8. "Alexithymia" – 3:23
  9. "Reclusion" – 3:31
  10. "Inevitable" – 3:47
  11. "Dismantle. Repair." – 4:18
  12. "(*Fin)" – 8:53

Special-edition bonus tracks

These tracks are also included in the compilation album "Lost Songs"

  1. "Uncanny" - 3:28
  2. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (The Smiths cover) - 4:17
  3. "The Promise" (When In Rome cover) - 3:17
  • Special Edition version includes a DVD behind the scenes of the making of Cities.[5]

The album released in Japan had an extra track titled "The Haunting."

Personnel

References

  1. ^ "Anberlin Release Date". AbsoulutePunk.net. http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=194252. Retrieved 2008-08-18. 
  2. ^ Katie Hasty, "Norah Stays Tight At No. 1 Amidst Slow Sales Week", Billboard.com, February 28, 2007.
  3. ^ "LIFE: Anberlin's "Cities" best album of 2007 so far". http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/3434. 
  4. ^ "Live with Stephen Christian and Nathan Strayer". http://live.hollywoodjesus.com/?p=229. 
  5. ^ "Cities (Special Edition) (includes DVD)". http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5603749. Retrieved 2008-08-18. 

External links


v • d • e
Anberlin
Stephen Christian · Christian McAlhaney · Joseph Milligan · Deon Rexroat · Nathan Young
Nathan Strayer · Joey Bruce
Studio albums
Compilations and EPs
Singles
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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