Auf der Maur (album)

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Those two sides – the heavy and the feminine put together – is what does it for me. What moves me when I play bass is a guttural, kind of masculine, heavy, Viking thing. I picture fields and galloping horses. And then there's the dream girl in me who writes in a diary and used to sing in a choir. But I would never want one without the other. Life is good and evil, man and woman. And I want to embrace both. [8]

Upon the completion of the recording sessions, Auf der Maur's budget ran out. She did not have funds to mix the album [9] but was signed to Capitol Records soon afterwards.

Various musicians collaborated during the recording of Auf der Maur. Former bandmates Eric Erlandson and James Iha performed guitar on "Would If I Could" and "Skin Receiver", respectively, Mark Lanegan provided additional vocals to "Taste You", and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme played guitar on four songs and backing vocals on "Skin Receiver". Speaking of the contributions, Auf der Maur said: "I am so lucky I have all these talented friends. It is not too hard to find musicians who are available to play. It just so happens the most generous people are also the best and were willing to play." [3] During the earlier stages of recording, a duet with Rufus Wainwright was also considered. [7]

Release

Auf der Maur was released worldwide on February 2, 2004, [10] May 4 in the United States [10] and June 1 in Canada. [11] Although the album was distributed internationally on Capitol, EMI managed distribution of the album in Canada. [12] For initial promotion upon its American release, Auf der Maur appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on June 17 [13] and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on July 6. [13] [14]

Three singles from the album were lifted. The lead single, "Followed the Waves", was released on February 16, 2004, to accompany the worldwide release. It charted in both the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in the United States and the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 32 [15] and number 35, [16] respectively. "Real a Lie" was released on May 3 to accompany the American release of the album, however, the song only charted in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 33. [16] The album's final single, "Taste You", was released on September 27 and peaked at number 51 in the United Kingdom. All three singles had accompanying music videos which were made available for download on Auf der Maur's official web site in Windows Media Video, QuickTime and RealVideo formats. [17]

Tour

Melissa Auf der Maur performing on-stage in France during her 2004 tour. Melissa Auf der Maur.jpg
Melissa Auf der Maur performing on-stage in France during her 2004 tour.

Auf der Maur promoted the album with an almost-constant tour across Europe, the United Kingdom and North America during 2004. The seven-leg tour commenced on January 30, 2004, and concluded on December 4. The 151-date tour included support from A Perfect Circle, Mínus, The Living Things, The Offspring, The Polyphonic Spree, The Von Bondies, Matthew Good and H.I.M. amongst others. [18] During the tour, Auf der Maur performed at various summer festivals including Curiosa in the United States, [19] Pukkelpop in Belgium, [20] Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands, [21] Reading Festival, [22] Leeds Festival [23] in the United Kingdom, and Independents Day Festival in Italy. [24] During the entire tour, Auf der Maur published photography from the shows on her official web site. [24]

Following the tour, Capitol Records was taken over by EMI. All of the material that had been recorded for Auf der Maur, including outtakes, demos and rehearsal recordings, were seized by EMI's red tape. Following months of negotiations, Auf der Maur won the rights to the recordings and was subsequently dropped from Capitol/EMI in 2006. Reflecting on the experience, Auf der Maur said there is "a gross feeling when you merge your heart with a corporate structure." [25] Auf der Maur took the experience into consideration when considering labels to release Auf der Maur's follow-up, Out of Our Minds (2010), which was self-released.

Reception

Auf der Maur entered the US Billboard Heatseekers chart at number 8 and remained there for two weeks and also peaked at number 187 on the Billboard 200. [26] As of 2006, the album had sold 35,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. [27] The album sold an additional 165,000 copies worldwide, bringing the total sales to 200,000. [28]

Auf der Maur
Auf der Maur cover.jpg
Studio album by
Melissa Auf der Maur
ReleasedFebruary 2, 2004 (2004-02-02)
Recorded2001 (2001)–2003 (2003)
Genre Alternative rock
Length55:11
Label Capitol
Producer Chris Goss, Melissa Auf der Maur
Melissa Auf der Maur chronology
Auf der Maur
(2004)		 Out of Our Minds
(2010)
Alternative cover
Aufdermaur-Selftitledalbum-Altversion.jpg
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic (62/100) [29]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [30]
Alternative Press Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [31]
The A.V. Club (3/10) [32]
BBC positive [33]
Blender Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [34]
Drowned in Sound (7/10) [35]
Entertainment Weekly C+ [36]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [37]
NME Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [38]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [39]

Auf der Maur was generally well received by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62, based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [29] Allmusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album three out of five stars, noting that the album had "a certain nostalgic appeal" and "it's a little slicker and more polished" than her previous work but added that the album's themes were "little embarrassing and juvenile." [30] Alternative Press awarded the album four out of five stars, adding that "the disc's bread and butter is Auf Der Maur's smoking riffs." [31] Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club said that "though Auf Der Maur is never objectionably bad, there's nothing the least bit distinctive about it" and called it "Billy Corgan-inspired, arena-scale, guitar-driven introspective musery" in his three out of ten review. [32] In his review for the BBC, Matt Wicks described the album as "excellent" and "like the Pumpkins in their prime" and compared Auf der Maur to other female contemporaries such as Shirley Manson and PJ Harvey. [33] Blender gave a majorly positive review, awarding the album three out of five stars, but criticized Auf der Maur's vocals, stating: "buffeted by big guitars, her thin, untrained voice occasionally sounds listless." [34]

Tom Edwards of Drowned in Sound noted that the "opening trio of tracks are the most convincing" and the album "still has all the hallmarks of the debut record [...] it has the great songs that have been collected over years in the bedroom and on the road" in his seven out of ten review. [35] Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C+ grade with reviewer David Browne describing the album as "professional, commercial alt-rock that takes flight intermittently" but "the monolithic sound also feels dated and drab" and summarised that Auf der Maur was "the perfect CD for 1995, released too late." [36] Adam Sweeting of The Guardian described the album's songs as "powerful and finely crafted" and "soared", though adding that some were "multi-layered", and awarded the album three out of five stars. [37] NME awarded the album eight out of ten and said that " the mix of stingingly personal lyrics" and "bruisingly heavy music just draws you in even further, while the crunchy production is so massive, so physical, the music fills every in of space it comes into contact with" [38] and Q referred to the album as "a revelation", awarding it four out of five stars. [39]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Melissa Auf der Maur unless noted otherwise

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Lightning Is My Girl" 4:09
2."Followed the Waves" 4:48
3."Real a Lie"Auf der Maur, Steve Durand 4:22
4."Head Unbound" 3:58
5."Taste You" 4:39
6."Beast of Honor" 3:27
7."I'll Be Anything You Want"Auf der Maur, Josh Homme 2:57
8."My Foggy Notion" 4:48
9."Would If I Could" 3:40
10."Overpower Thee" Chris Goss, Josh Homme2:35
11."Skin Receiver"Steve Durand3:35
12."I Need I Want I Will [A] "Auf der Maur, Josh Homme7:32
Total length:55:11
US and Canadian [4] bonus track
No.TitleLength
13."Taste You" (French version, titled as "Te Goûter")4:40
Total length:59:51

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [4]

Chart positions

Chart (2004)Peak
position
Austrian Top 40 [41] 50
Belgian Albums Chart (Vl) [42] 38
Belgian Albums Chart (Wa) [42] 74
Dutch Top 40 [43] 54
French SNEP Albums Chart [44] 47
German Albums Chart [45] 32
Swedish Albums Chart [46] 59
Swiss Hitparade Chart [47] 54
UK Albums Chart [16] 31
US Billboard 200 [26] 187
US Billboard Heatseekers [26] 8

Singles

YearSinglePeak positions
US
[15] 		UK
[16]
2004"Followed the Waves"3235
"Real a Lie"—33
"Taste You"—51
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

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References

  1. ↑ Saraceno, Christina (May 24, 2002). "Hole Call It Quits | Music News". Rolling Stone . Retrieved February 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ Wilonsky, Robert (July 31, 2011). "For Your Excessive Heat Warning Listening Pleasure: Smashing Pumpkins at Bronco Bowl – Dallas News – Unfair Park". Dallas Observer . Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
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  19. ↑ D'Angelo, Joe (August 2, 2004). "At Cure's Curiosa Fest, Stiffness, Old Hits, Inappropriate Black Suits Abound – Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Pukkelpop 2004 :: History :: Pukkelpop 2011". Pukkelpop. Archived from the original on July 27, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  21. ↑ "2004, information on Lowlands Festival Info". festivalinfo.nl. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
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  23. ↑ "More bands announced for Leeds Festival 2004..." Leeds Music Scene. May 11, 2004. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
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  28. ↑ Bosso, Joe (February 5, 2010). "Melissa Auf der Maur calls Hole an "intense" experience | Page 2". Music Radar. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  29. 1 2 "Auf Der Maur Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. June 1, 2004. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  30. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Auf der Maur – Melissa Auf der Maur at AllMusic
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  33. 1 2 Wicks, Matt (January 23, 2004). "BBC – Music – Review of Auf Der Maur – Auf Der Maur". BBC . Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  34. 1 2 "Review: Auf der Maur by Melissa Auf der Maur". Blender (May 2004): 117. 2004.
  35. 1 2 Edwards, Tom (March 19, 2004). "Auf Der Maur – Auf Der Maur / Releases". Drowned in Sound . Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  36. 1 2 Browne, David (June 4, 2004). "Auf Der Maur Review | Music Reviews and News". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on September 29, 2012.
  37. 1 2 Adam Sweeting (February 27, 2004). "CD: Auf Der Maur | Music". The Guardian . Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  38. 1 2 Fitzpatrick, Rob (February 27, 2004). "NME Album Reviews – Auf Der Maur : Auf Der Maur". NME . Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  39. 1 2 "Q Reviews Melissa Auf der Maur – Auf der Maur (Capitol)". Q (April 2004): 107. 2004.
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  46. ↑ "Auf der Maur – Auf der Maur". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  47. ↑ "Auf der Maur – Auf der Maur". Hitparade . Hung Medien. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
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