King of Fools is the first official studio album by the British Christian rock band Delirious?. The album reached number thirteen in the UK album chart and produced four singles. The second, "Deeper", peaked at number twenty on the UK singles chart on 11 May 1997. Stylistically, the album epitomises the band's similarity to U2, leading HM Magazine to call the album "the U2 album fans have been waiting for...".[1] It includes perhaps the band's best known song, History Maker, which the band still regularly plays to this day.
History
After a major car accident involving lead singer Martin Smith, his wife, and bassist Jon Thatcher, in which the former was badly injured, the members of the band decided to resign from their respective jobs and become professional musicians. King Of Fools was their first full studio album with the song 'August 30th' inspired by these events.
Four singles were released from the album, including 'White Ribbon Day', a song inspired by the political situation in Northern Ireland at the time, 'Deeper', their highest selling single, 'Promise', which was released as a two cd set, and a re-release of 'Deeper', under the title 'DeEPer EP'. Music videos were filmed for Deeper and Promise to coincide with their respective single releases.
A music video was also filmed for Sanctify, using footage from when the band performed it live at Wembley Stadium. These music videos were released on the band's second video 'Pro-mode', and again on their first DVD, 'Archive:D', both of which are now out of print.
The album was listed at #85 in the 2001 book, CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music.
In 2007, the band took the decision to re-release some of their earlier albums as two-disc 'fuse boxes'. One of these albums included King Of Fools, which was paired with the 1996 live album, Live & In the Can.
Legacy
Several of the tracks on the album have also appeared on other releases since. The band's second live album, 'd:tour', featured Sanctify, Promise, Hands Of Kindness, King Or Cripple, King Of Fools, History Maker, All The Way and Deeper. The band's 2002 worship compilation album Deeper featured Sanctify, Deeper, Revival Town, All The Way, Hands Of Kindness, History Maker and What A Friend I've Found. Other releases to feature songs from King Of Fools include live album Access:d, Hillsong collaboration album UP: Unified Praise, the US release of second studio album Mezzamorphis, the live album and DVD box set 'Now Is The Time', many compilation albums, including the Jumping In The House Of God series, and several single b-sides.
Many of the tracks have also been covered by other artists, particularly History Maker and What A Friend I've Found.
Based upon this, whilst many Delirious? fans debate as to whether Mezzamorphis or Glo is the band's best album, one could certainly argue that King Of Fools has left the greatest legacy.
International Differences
For the US release of the album, two changes were made to the track listing. Firstly, the song 'Revival Town' was remixed. Secondly, a remix of an older Delirious? song, 'Louder Than The Radio' (previously found on Cutting Edge: Fore), was inserted at track position nine, with the following songs taking the subsequent positions. This remix is not to be confused with the Mark Edwards remix included on the Deeper single.
Track listing
- "Sanctify" (Stuart Garrard, Martin Smith) – 4:13
- "Deeper" (Smith, Garrard) – 4:20
- "Revival Town" (Smith, Garrard) – 5:44
- "All The Way" (Garrard, Smith) – 4:15
- "August 30th" (Smith, Garrard) – 6:17
- "Promise" (Smith) – 4:14
- "King Or Cripple" (Smith) – 4:37
- "Hands Of Kindness" (Smith, Garrard) – 4:45
- "White Ribbon Day" (Smith) – 6:47
- "King of Fools" (Garrard, Smith) – 4:00
- "History Maker" (Smith) – 6:33
- "What A Friend I've Found" (Smith) – 5:49
References
