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| Elect the Dead | ||||
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| Studio album by Serj Tankian | ||||
| Released | October 22, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | Serjical Strike Records The Pass Los Angeles, CA |
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| Genre | Alternative rock[1] | |||
| Length | 45:03 (standard edition) 47:52 (Japan) 59:00 (limited edition) 53:52 (iTunes) |
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| Label | Serjical Strike/Reprise | |||
| Producer | Serj Tankian | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
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| Serj Tankian chronology | ||||
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| Alternate Cover | ||||
Alternate cover of Elect the Dead
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| Alternate cover | ||||
Cover of the special edition
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| Singles from Elect the Dead | ||||
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Elect the Dead is the debut solo album by Serj Tankian. Tankian played a majority of the instruments himself but did receive assistance from System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan and former Primus and Guns N' Roses drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia, along with Dan Monti on guitar and bass, opera singer Ani Maldjian and some string players, Antonio Pontarelli among them.[3]
Contents |
Production
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Serj Tankian has stated that while some of the songs are new, a lot of them have been with him for a while. The song "Blue", which appears on the special edition bonus CD, is a reworking of the System of a Down demo song "Blue" that appeared on the Columbia promo tape which was given away before the release of the band's debut album.
| “ | It's very wide sounding — lots of different sounding instruments. The excitement I had making this record was the same excitement I had making the first System record. | „ |
Marketing
The first singles from Elect the Dead are "The Unthinking Majority" and "Empty Walls". The song "Saving Us" was released on Tankian's Last.fm page[4] and his MySpace profile.[5] The music video "Feed Us" was released on the Swedish[6] and UK[7] MTV. Tankian appeared on MTV's You Rock The Deuce to promote Elect the Dead.[citation needed] A music video was directed and filmed for every song on the record, each by unique directors. Tankian explained, "I asked each of the directors for their visual interpretation of my work. They were asked not to write treatments and that they could make whatever they liked. The results have been overwhelmingly amazing!" [8]. Some music videos were initially released exclusively to those who purchased the limited edition of Elect the Dead, while all of the music videos, except "Money", have since been publicly released on Tankian's website and YouTube channel. Some videos have alternative versions which were originally released as well, but later altered.[citation needed]
Three different promo versions of the album have surfaced to the public. The instrumental promotional version, issued by Serjical Strike/Reprise Records and intended for the music and movie industry, contains instrumental versions of the twelve album tracks. Another promotional version, issued by Reprise Records and made only for individual reviewers, features the album in final master form. This promotional CD-R, which was labeled "Smart Talk" as a codename for "Serj Tankian" to prevent leaking by unauthorized persons, also indicates that the album was finalized prior to August 20, 2007.[9] Before this a similar but undated promo, also under the name 'Smart Talk', was issued featuring the final versions of the songs, albeit not yet mastered[citation needed]. Whilst the printed track list on this version is identical the released album, tracks ten and eleven are in fact juxtaposed on the promo itself.
The official tour for Elect the Dead commenced on October 12, 2007 with a show at Chicago's Vic theater. Roughly one thousand people attended the first concert. Although Tankian had stated he would not be performing any material by his former band, System of a Down, he performed "Charades", a song co-written by Daron Malakian, the guitarist of System of a Down. Although it is originally a song restricted to piano and vocals, Tankian used his backing band, the Flying Cunts of Chaos (F.C.C.), to provide guitars, drums, and bass.[citation needed] The song "Beethoven's Cunt" is available as downloadable content for Rock Band. A portion of the song "Lie Lie Lie" is currently featured in the opening title sequence of NBC's Fear Itself, a horror anthology show from the creators of Masters of Horror, and can be viewed on the show's main website.[citation needed]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Serj Tankian.
| # | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Empty Walls" | 3:49 |
| 2. | "The Unthinking Majority" | 3:46 |
| 3. | "Money" | 3:53 |
| 4. | "Feed Us" | 4:31 |
| 5. | "Saving Us" | 4:41 |
| 6. | "Sky Is Over" | 2:57 |
| 7. | "Baby" | 3:31 |
| 8. | "Honking Antelope" | 3:50 |
| 9. | "Lie Lie Lie" | 3:33 |
| 10. | "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" | 4:23 |
| 11. | "Beethoven's Cunt" | 3:13 |
| 12. | "Elect the Dead" | 2:54 |
| Bonus disc | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Blue" | 2:45 | |||||||
| 2. | "Empty Walls" (Acoustic) | 3:46 | |||||||
| 3. | "Feed Us" (Acoustic) | 4:21 | |||||||
| 4. | "Falling Stars" | 3:05 | |||||||
| iTunes Bonus track | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "The Reverend King" | 2:49 | |||||||
| Downloadable single | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Fears" | 3:18 | |||||||
Chart Positions
| Year | Chart | Peak |
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| 2007 | Top Canadian Albums |
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| The Billboard 200 |
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| Austrian Albums Top 75 |
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| German Albums Top 75 |
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| Swiss Albums Top 100 |
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| Finland Albums Top 40 |
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| New Zealand Albums Chart |
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| ARIA Top 50 (Australia) |
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| France Albums Top 150 |
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| UK Albums Chart |
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Personnel
- All Songs Written & Performed by Serj Tankian (Guitars, Bass, Piano, Vocals, Synthesizers, Drum Programming, Melodica, Bells, and various tone generating beauties) - Stunning Suppository Sounds (BMI)
- All songs recorded at Serjical Strike Studios
- Produced by Serj Tankian
- Engineered by Dan Monti & Serj Tankian
- Mastered by Vlado Meller at Sony Music Studios in New York, NY
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- A&R Craig Aaronson & George Tonikian
- Original Artwork Provided by Sako Shahinian
- Album Packaging Design by Sako Shahinian
- Digipack Album Packaging Design by Keith Aazami
- Photography by Greg Watermann
- Worldwide Management Dave Holmes and Darin Harmon
- Booking (US) Don Muller at CAA
- Booking (Europe) Emma Banks at CAA
- Legal Don Passman and Gene Salomon at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, Inc.
- Business Management David Weise at DW & Associates
References
- ^ http://music.ign.com/articles/829/829188p1.html
- ^ SERJ TANKIAN Paints Grim Picture With 'Sky Is Over' - Jan. 16, 2008
- ^ Serj Tankian biography on SOADFans fansite
- ^ Serj Tankian's artist page on Last.fm
- ^ Serj Tankian at MySpace
- ^ Swedish MTV
- ^ UK MTV
- ^ System of a Down Frontman To Post Videos For Each Track On Forthcoming Solo Album
- ^ Picture of the Elect The Dead promo CD-R
External links
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