Such Great Heights

"Such Great Heights"
Single by The Postal Service
from the album Give Up
B-side	There's Never Enough Time
Released	January 21, 2003 (2003-01-21)
Genre	Alternative dance, Electropop, Indie rock
Label	Sub Pop
Writer(s)	Ben Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello
Producer	The Postal Service
The Postal Service singles chronology
"Such Great Heights" (2003) "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" (2003)

"Such Great Heights" is a single released on January 21, 2003 by The Postal Service, under the Sub Pop Records label. The single includes a previously unreleased track "There's Never Enough Time" and two cover tracks by The Shins and Iron & Wine of "We Will Become Silhouettes" and "Such Great Heights", respectively.

The tracks were recorded in early 2002, and were written by Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, and include backing vocals in the studio recording by Jen Wood, whose other collaborations include work for The Black Heart Procession and Joan of Arc. It was the first CD released by The Postal Service, and a preview of Give Up, which was released a month later. The cover artwork was designed by Kozyndan.

The title song "Such Great Heights" has exhibited unusual staying power. It has consistently been one of the weekly top 5 most frequently played tracks on social music site Last.fm since the website began, holding the top spot for the majority of 2005. The song's reign in the top 10 ended in March 2007, when after the release of the Arcade Fire album, Neon Bible, the song did not make it as the top 10 was predominantly songs from Neon Bible. The song was featured on an 2004 episode of Veronica Mars. It has also been used in several television commercials, for organizations such as Ask.com, Kaiser Permanente, Target, UPS and M&M's. The song was also featured in the trailer for the 2004 film Garden State and the Iron & Wine cover version was featured in the film and its soundtrack. An instrumental version of the song is currently featured as part of UPS's "Whiteboard" ad campaign, which was launched 6 January 2007, almost four years after the song was officially released.^[1] The song was used in Grey's Anatomy, and appears on its season one soundtrack, Grey's Anatomy Original Soundtrack Volume 1.

Music video

The music video for "Such Great Heights", directed by Josh & Xander, premiered in April 2003. During the bridge of "Such Great Heights" the video zooms from a Skyworks Solutions chip in a satellite and down to the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City. The block where the EnergySolutions Arena sits is modified to look like a computer chip, creating a recursive visual effect.

Skyworks Solutions is a real company and the video is filmed inside one of their fabrication plants.^[2] When the video premiered on iTunes, the name and logo were blurred out during some scenes.

Josh & Xander later created a commercial for Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and Intel using similar footage.^[3] While strikingly similar to the music video, the commercial did not contain imagery of the band or a recording of its music. On January 19, 2006, Gibbard stated on the band's website, "It has recently come to our attention that Apple Computers' new television commercial for the Intel chip features a shot-for-shot recreation of our video for 'Such Great Heights' made by the same filmmakers responsible for the original. We did not approve this commercialization and are extremely disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation or consent." The band did not take legal action against Apple or the filmmakers.

Cover versions

• Ben Folds covered "Such Great Heights" on Australian radio station Triple J using a piano, forks, tin foil, and glass. He also played the song live during his Fall 2006 tour, including once in his MySpace webcast on October 24, 2006, and on his Summer 2007 tour.
• Iron & Wine did a cover of the title track which was featured on the soundtrack for Garden State.
• Teddy Geiger did a cover of the song "Such Great Heights" exclusively in a live performance for Boston radio station KISS 108.
• Matt Nathanson has often covered part of "Such Great Heights" as an outro to his song "Bent".^[4]
• Rilo Kiley did a live cover version.
• The Section Quartet did a cover version on their album Fuzzboxx.
• Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls has performed "Such Great Heights" solo on keyboard at live concerts.
• The Scene Aesthetic did a live cover on tour.
• The Wrong Trousers did a cover of Such Great Heights ^[5] on their album One and Counting ^[6]
• Shael Riley covered Such Great Heights and posted a video^[7] of himself dancing to it on Youtube on February 01, 2009.
• FrankMusik an UK artist, also covered "Such Great Heights"
• The New Standards covers it on their new album "Rock and Roll"
• Post-Hardcore band Confide recently put a cover of the song on their MySpace profile.
• Progressive Ska Band Tip the Van from Connecticut covers this song at concerts.

Track listing

1. "Such Great Heights" – 4:27
2. "There's Never Enough Time" – 3:33
3. "We Will Become Silhouettes" (cover done by The Shins) – 3:01
4. "Such Great Heights" (cover done by Iron & Wine) – 4:10

References

External links

• Side-by-side comparison of Apple's Intel-iMac ad and Postal Service's "Such Great Heights"
• Allmusic link
• Pitchfork (6.3/10) 8/7/03 ^{dead link; view archive here}