The Richest Man in Babylon is the third studio album by American electronic music duo Thievery Corporation. It was first released on September 30, 2002 in Belgium and on October 1, 2002 in the United States by ESL Music. The album features contributions from Emiliana Torrini, LouLou, Pam Bricker, and Notch, and features both electronic and live instrumentation.[1] The album combines influences such as dub, jazz, dance music, rap, reggae, and Indian music, and incorporates protest music into the group's sound.
Reception
The critical reception was mixed. BBC's Collective magazine said that "This, their third 'proper' album, is certainly their most complete work to date, and arguably the first to be presented as one complete, cohesive whole. … this ranks as Thievery Corporation's finest yet."[4] Allmusic's John Bush said that the album "doesn't have the hooks or the production finesse to compete with The Mirror Conspiracy" but that "a few tracks on the backside do plow new ground, thanks in part to new guests..."[2] Among fans the album is popular, peaking at number 9 on Billboard's Independent Albums list on October 19, 2002[5] and number 2 on the Dance/Electronic Albums list on October 26, 2002.[5]
Track listing
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1. | "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes" | Emilíana Torrini (vocals) | 4:10 |
2. | "Facing East" | Pam Bricker (vocals) | 3:43 |
3. | "The Outernationalist" | Ras Pidow (vocals) | 3:30 |
4. | "Interlude" | | 1:21 |
5. | "Omid (Hope)" | LouLou Ghelichkhani (vocals) | 3:48 |
6. | "All That We Perceive" | Pam Bricker (vocals) | 3:46 |
7. | "Un Simple Histoire (A Simple Story)" | LouLou Ghelichkhani (vocals) | 3:45 |
8. | "Meu Destino (My Destiny)" | Patrick dos Santos (vocals) | 3:29 |
9. | "Exilio (Exile)" | Verny Varela (vocals & flute) | 3:03 |
10. | "From Creation" | | 4:19 |
11. | "The Richest Man in Babylon" | Notch | 3:50 |
12. | "Liberation Front" | | 5:04 |
13. | "The State of the Union" | Sleepy Wonder and Shinehead (vocals) | 4:28 |
14. | "Until the Morning" | Emilíana Torrini (vocals) | 3:56 |
15. | "Resolution" | | 4:46 |