Tourist

Tourist
Studio album by Athlete
Released	31 January 2005
Genre	Indie rock
Length	46:15
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Victor Van Vugt, John Cornfield, Athlete
Professional reviews
AbsolutePunk (69%) link Allmusic link Entertainment.ie link Pitchfork (3.6/10) 02/04/05 PopMatters (3/10) 04/19/05 Rolling Stone 05/05/05
Athlete chronology
Vehicles & Animals (2003) Tourist (2005) Beyond the Neighbourhood (2007)

Tourist was the second album by English rock band Athlete, released in January 2005 (see 2005 in British music). For this album, Athlete demonstrate a more mature musical style, creating a more stripped-down, sombre and reflective album than their first album Vehicles & Animals.

The first single from the album, "Wires", became the biggest hit so far for the band when it entered the UK Singles Chart at #4. The album also fared well in the charts, reaching the top of the UK Albums Chart the week it was released, selling 89,000 copies being more than half of Feeder's Pushing the Senses on 43,000. Despite this success, Tourist had a mixed critical reception, with some suggesting that Athlete had failed to sustain the unique style of their previous album, while others saw the new album as a logical progression from their old sound. Despite the mainstream breakthrough the band achieved with this album, their fanbase was reduced to a mere cult when follow-up Beyond the Neighbourhood became their smallest-seller, while Feeder unlike Athlete went on to sustain their success with the follow-up The Singles.

At the end of 2005, Tourist became the 32nd best-selling album of the year in the UK, and "Wires" was the 89th best-selling single.

This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.

Track listing

1. "Chances" – 4:50
2. "Half Light" – 3:41
3. "Tourist" – 3:57
4. "Trading Air" – 4:27
5. "Wires" – 4:20
6. "If I Found Out" – 5:02
7. "Yesterday Threw Everything At Me" – 3:45
8. "Street Map" – 4:38
9. "Modern Mafia" – 2:45
10. "Twenty Four Hours" – 5:01
11. "I Love" – 3:49
12. "Lay Your Head" - 4:55
    • Bonus track on the Japanese editions.

Bonus DVD

1. "Wires" (video)
2. "Tourist" (Behind the Scenes Documentary)
3. "Wires" (live video - Shepherds Bush 2004)
4. "Tourist" (live video - Shepherds Bush 2004)
5. "New Project" (live audio - Shepherds Bush 2004)
6. "Vehicles and Animals" (live audio - Shepherds Bush 2004)
7. "You Got the Style" (live audio - Shepherds Bush 2004)
8. "Shake Those Windows" (live audio - Shepherds Bush 2004)

Singles

• "Wires" 17 January 2005 - UK #4
• "Half Light" 25 April 2005 - UK #16
• "Tourist" 15 August 2005 - UK #43
• "Twenty Four Hours" / "Stand in the Sun" 14 November 2005 - UK #42

Release history