Razorlight (album)

Razorlight
Studio album by Razorlight
Released 17 July 2006
Studio British Grove Studios, Chiswick, West London
Genre Indie rock, post-punk revival
Length 34:57
Label Mercury, Vertigo
Producer Razorlight, Chris Thomas
Razorlight chronology
Up All Night
(2004)Up All Night2004		 Razorlight
(2006)		 Slipway Fires
(2008)Slipway Fires2008
Singles from Razorlight
  1. "In the Morning"
    Released: 3 July 2006
  2. "America"
    Released: 2 October 2006
  3. "Before I Fall to Pieces"
    Released: 18 December 2006
  4. "I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got"
    Released: 19 March 2007
  5. "Hold On"
    Released: 9 July 2007

Razorlight is the self-titled second studio album by English indie rock band Razorlight. The album was released on 17 July 2006 in the United Kingdom and debuted at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart.

The band achieved their first and only number one hit from this album, with "America" peaking at the top of the UK Singles Chart in October 2006. The song also peaked at number 6 in Ireland, number 9 in the Netherlands, number 10 in New Zealand, number 17 in Austria, number 21 in Belgium, number 22 in France, number 29 in Switzerland and number 38 in Germany. "Before I Fall to Pieces" was a UK Top 20 hit too, as was "In the Morning". "Hold On" was a minor hit.

The album has a more mature sound than their debut, and received a mixed reception. Although it scored 8/10 in NME, it was nominated for the 'Worst Album' title at the 2007 NME Awards – award winner Rudebox by Robbie Williams also scored 8/10.[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic60/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The A.V. ClubB[4]
ARTISTdirect[5]
Drowned in Sound5/10[6]
MusicOMH[7]
NME8/10[8]
Pitchfork2.8/10[9]
PopMatters3/10[10]
Rolling Stone[11]
Stylus MagazineF[12]

Razorlight received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, based on 18 reviews.[2]

Paul Stokes of NME gave high praise to the album's production and lyrics for being larger than life and containing sincere romantic tales that come after various parties, concluding that "It's [also] a record that sees Razorlight comfortably leap the "difficult second album" trap. Now that calls for a party."[8] MacKenzie Wilson of AllMusic praised the band's collaboration with producer Chris Thomas of being able to craft different genres into a unique sound with sharp musicianship that helps set them apart from their contemporaries, saying that "They make honest indie rock for those looking for a solid, good song. There's no frills, no fancy production, just the purity of these songs."[3] Doug Kamin of ARTISTdirect found the album's tight and polished sheen oft-putting and its latter tracks lacking replay value but praised the first four tracks for their strong production and energetic tone, concluding that "this is ultimately going to age very well for Razorlight as they become arena rock gods in the years to come."[5]

Paul Rees editor of Q magazine, gave the album an effusive 5 star review, referring to it as 'the best guitar album since definitely maybe.'

Dan Wale of Drowned in Sound felt disappointed with the album, saying that some decent tracks can't deviate listeners away from the band's attempt at maturity that comes across more sophomoric in its new sound, saying that "This is not a great album – that needs to be said while the dust is still settling. Though it's not bad, we have to disperse such a thick smokescreen before we can even start to ascertain its worth – any reward has already been bled out in the disparity between expectation and reality."[6] John Murphy of MusicOMH said that despite Björn Ågren's guitar work saving Johnny Borrell's subpar tales of romance and rock star glory, the album reveals poor musicianship and retreads from their debut album, saying that "It's not so much that much of Razorlight is bad exactly, it's just very ordinary. In deciding to ditch their more spiky side and go all out for commercial glory, the band have lost sight of what made them special in the first place."[7] Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone admired the band's basic three instrument formula to deliver catchy pop rock tracks but felt that "the overall feel still falls somewhere between sterile and silly."[11] Liz Colville of Stylus Magazine panned the album for recycling the same formula and influences found in the band's debut effort and delivering it under a studio polish that feels more self-satisfied than true artistic growth, saying that, "[T]he solipsism and trite accounts of benders from the first album are still there, but the music has gone exceedingly soft."[12]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Johnny Borrell, except where noted..

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."In the Morning" 3:42
2."Who Needs Love?" 3:32
3."Hold On" 3:26
4."America"Borrell, Andy Burrows4:10
5."Before I Fall to Pieces"Borrell, Burrows3:22
6."I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got"Borrell, Björn Ågren3:26
7."Pop Song 2006" 2:41
8."Kirby's House" 2:51
9."Back to the Start" 3:12
10."Los Angeles Waltz" 4:39
11."Keep the Right Profile" (iTunes Store bonus track) 3:28

Personnel

  • Produced by Chris Thomas except "America" produced by Razorlight
  • Engineered by Jamie Johnson except "America" engineered by Sean Miller
  • Assisted by Richard Cooper
  • Recorded at British Grove Studios, London
  • Additional engineering by Chris Thomas
  • Mixed by Jeremy Wheatley
  • Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing (UK) Ltd.
  • Management by Roger Morton
  • Cover photography by Max Vadukul
  • Other photography by Jill Furmanovsky

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2006) Peak
position
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[13] 29
French Albums (SNEP)[14] 34
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] 39
Irish Albums (IRMA)[16] 2
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[17] 33
UK Albums (OCC)[18] 1
US Billboard 200[19] 180

Singles

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Ireland (IRMA)[20] 3× Platinum 45,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[21] 5× Platinum 1,550,000[22]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Country Date Label Format Catalog
Japan 2006-07-12 Universal International CD UICR-1048
United Kingdom 2006-07-17 Mercury, Vertigo Records LP 6 02517 01090 1
CD 6 02517 01284 4
CD / DVD 6 02517 01290 5
United States 2006-08-22 Universal Motown, Vertigo Records CD B0007215-02 / 6 02517 03360 3
CD / DVD B0007430-10 / 6 02517 03795 3

See also

References

  1. ↑ "And the Other Winners Are..." NME. IPC Media: 46. 10 March 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  2. 1 2 "Reviews for Razorlight by Razorlight". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 Wilson, MacKenzie. "Razorlight – Razorlight". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  4. ↑ Murray, Noel (12 September 2006). "Dirty Pretty Things / Razoright". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  5. 1 2 Kamin, Doug. "Razoright by Razorlight". ARTISTdirect. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  6. 1 2 Wale, Dan (18 August 2006). "Razorlight – Razorlight". Drowned In Sound. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  7. 1 2 Murphy, John (17 July 2006). "Razorlight – Razorlight". MusicOMH. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  8. 1 2 Stokes, Paul (17 July 2006). "Razorlight: Razorlight". NME. IPC Media. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  9. ↑ Moerder, Adam (21 July 2006). "Razorlight: Razorlight". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  10. ↑ Lomas, Michael (29 September 2006). "Razorlight: Razorlight". PopMatters. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  11. 1 2 Hiatt, Brian (21 August 2006). "Razorlight : Razorlight". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on 18 June 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  12. 1 2 Colville, Liz (1 August 2006). "Razorlight – Razorlight". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Razorlight – Razorlight". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Razorlight – Razorlight". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  16. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 29, 2006". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Razorlight – Razorlight". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "Razorlight | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  19. ↑ "Razorlight Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  20. ↑ "Irish album certifications – Razorlight – Razorlight". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  21. ↑ "British album certifications – Razorlight – Razorlight". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 5 January 2016. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Razorlight in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  22. ↑ Copsey, Rob (28 August 2018). "Razorlight announce first album in ten years, release four new songs". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
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