Bulletproof Picasso | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 12, 2014 | |||
Recorded | 2013–2014 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 43:39 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer |
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Train chronology | ||||
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Singles from Bulletproof Picasso | ||||
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Bulletproof Picasso is the seventh studio album by American rock band Train. The album was released by Columbia Records in Friday-release countries on September 12, 2014, and in the United States on September 16, 2014. It is available on CD, vinyl and as a digital download. [2] It is the band's first album without drummer and founding member Scott Underwood, who departed from the band before it was recorded. It is also the band's first album since 2006's For Me, It's You to feature a full band line up. The producers were Azeem, Espionage, Greg Kurstin, Jake Sinclair, Butch Walker and Whams.
With Bulletproof Picasso, the band set out to achieve goals that would allow them to become a more mainstream band. Guitarist Jimmy Stafford explained that the band had never been "cool" and "hip", something he believed this album would make them, enabling them to feel justified in their desires to play at and sell out Madison Square Garden and even becoming musical guests on an episode of Saturday Night Live . [3] Lead singer Pat Monahan also expressed an intent for a more personal, yet ambitious record, stating that "I've always wanted to emotionally connect with people through the songs, but I also want to get into people's lives with this album" and that he felt that he wanted to create "everything that [he'd] wanted to". [4] [5]
Lead singer Pat Monahan had started creating material for Train's seventh studio album during the band's Mermaids of Alcatraz Tour, in support of California 37 . Monahan stated in a Radio.com interview during the latter stages of the tour, "I'm going to spend the whole fall tightening up what I started and creating everything that I've wanted to. San Francisco, Seattle, New York and Nashville will be the main places I'll write it". [5] Monahan had also stated, in an interview with Jason Tanamor of Zoiks! Online, that due to the ambitions set for the new album, wanting to do their "best work", writing for Bulletproof Picasso was harder than what they had previously written and recorded. [6] The production team on the album were the following: Azeem, Espionage, Greg Kurstin, Jake Sinclair, Butch Walker and Whams. [7]
The title of the album, Bulletproof Picasso, while borrowing the name from the album's second track, also serves as a statement about the band's long-running career, representing the band's 20-year career as artists. The phrase Bulletproof Picasso is a reference to Spanish painter, poet and playwright Pablo Picasso, who, while in a different artistic medium to Train, who are musical artists, creates art nonetheless. The phrase means that the band, as artists, are bulletproof, and will continue as artists, dodging every bullet shot at them. [6]
Bulletproof Picasso was formally unveiled by the band and Columbia Records on June 9, 2014, announced for a September 16, 2014 release date in the United States. [8] "Angel in Blue Jeans" was the first track to be lifted from Bulletproof Picasso. The track was released as a single by Columbia Records on June 9, 2014, serving as the lead single from Bulletproof Picasso. [9] Guitarist Jimmy Stafford originally tweeted a cryptic message on May 5, 2014, a month before the release of "Angel in Blue Jeans", concealing the title of the single in an anagram that read, "sgijannulaebenel". [10] "Angel in Blue Jeans" was also released to Adult contemporary radio and Triple A radio for airplay on June 16. [11] [12]
The album cover and track listing of Bulletproof Picasso was unveiled on July 15, 2014, with preorders for the album on digital download and physical formats starting on the same day. "Angel in Blue Jeans", which appears as the third track on the album, was also released early on the iTunes Store ahead of the full release of Bulletproof Picasso when pre orders for the album started on the store. [13] [14] A music video to accompany the release of "Angel in Blue Jeans" was also released on July 15, coinciding with the commencement of preorders for Bulletproof Picasso. [15] The video, which featured American actor Danny Trejo as his Robert Rodriguez character Machete and Canadian television hostess and actor Hannah Simone, was shot in the Mojave Desert and is staged as a Tarantino-style Spaghetti Western. [16] It also stars lead singer Pat Monahan as the antagonist taking hostage of a woman, played by Simone, who acts as the love interest of Machete, played by Trejo. [17] The video had fetched over a million views by August 1, 2014.
The title track was released to iTunes on July 29, along with the announcement of a sauvignon blanc wine of the same name to be available when the album is released. [18]
A promotional single, "Wonder What You're Doing for the Rest of Your Life", was released on August 25, 2014, preceding the release of Bulletproof Picasso. [19] [20] [21]
"Cadillac Cadillac" was sent to US Hot AC radio stations on September 29, 2014, as the second single off of the album. [22]
"Bulletproof Picasso" was sent to US Hot AC radio stations on January 26, 2015, as the third single off of the album. [22]
"Give It All" was sent to US Hot AC radio stations on May 19, 2015, as the fourth single off of the album. [22]
Train had made numerous performances and appearances on television and radio in the three-month lead up to the release of Bulletproof Picasso. The band had expressed their intent to let fans hear new material on tour before Bulletproof Picasso was released in September, with Jimmy Stafford stating that they were "too excited to not play any other songs off the record", with Stafford being motivated by his opinion that Bulletproof Picasso was the best album the band had ever made. [23] Set lists staged for the band's pre-album performances included "Cadillac, Cadillac", "Bulletproof Picasso", "Angel in Blue Jeans" and "The Bridge"; the most new material the band had played on a single tour. [24] The band, however, while keen to perform new songs, felt uncomfortable at the possibility of throwing off long-time fans during the "limbo period" between the releases of "Angel and Blue Jeans" and Bulletproof Picasso, where fans have not heard the new material. Stafford further explained, "You don't want to put a song no one has heard between "Hey, Soul Sister" and "Meet Virginia" because it feels like a lull in the show. So it's tricky". [25]
The band's promotional media tour started with an appearance on Sirius XM Radio show The Howard Stern Show on June 9, 2014, coinciding with the album's unveiling. The band also premiered "Angel in Blue Jeans" on the show before the track was released as a single the same day. [8] The band also appeared on 94.3 FM The Point on June 11 as part of a radio special entitled "Breakfast with Train", where the band invited fans to ask questions and spend breakfast with them. [26] They performed on the Today Show on June 13, as part of the show's Toyota Summer Concert Series held at Rockefeller Center in New York City. [27] On August 27, they performed at the MLB Fan Cave in New York City.
The Picasso at the Wheel Tour was announced in January 2015, and began on May 21, 2015, in Wheatland, California.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [29] |
Billboard | [30] |
USA Today | [31] |
Writing for USA Today , Elysa Gardner says "The best tracks on Train's latest album are the driving and high-spirited ones, where Pat Monahan's sweet, keening tenor... evocative here of a Wings-era Paul McCartney... rides meaty but crisply percussive arrangements." Richard Bienstock for Billboard writes how "the Bay Area rock band buffed out the rootsier and rockier aspects of its sound for a more pop-centric approach" that's another "extension of its bid for mainstream glory." [30]
The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on its first week of release, selling 50,000 copies in the United States in its first week. [32] As of June 2016, the album has sold 145,000 copies in the US. [33] The album also debuted at No. 7 on the Canadian Albums chart. [34]
The album art features a burning Cadillac (in reference to the album's single "Cadillac, Cadillac") with a licence plate that reads "PICASSO". This album art was cited among Billboard 's worst album covers of 2014. [35]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Cadillac, Cadillac" | Pat Monahan, Al Anderson, Butch Walker | Walker, Jake Sinclair [a] | 3:23 |
2. | "Bulletproof Picasso" | Monahan, Walker, Trent Mazur, Michael Freesh | Walker, Whams [a] | 3:53 |
3. | "Angel in Blue Jeans" | Monahan, Espen Lind, Amund Bjørklund | Walker, Espionage, Sinclair [a] , Ayb Asmar [a] | 3:25 |
4. | "Give It All" | Monahan, Amir Salem | Azeem, Sinclair | 3:44 |
5. | "Wonder What You're Doing for the Rest of Your Life" (featuring Marsha Ambrosius) | Monahan, Jerry Becker, Walker | Walker, Sinclair [a] | 3:23 |
6. | "Son of a Prison Guard" | Monahan, Becker | Walker, Sinclair [a] | 3:39 |
7. | "Just a Memory" | Monahan, Lind, Bjørklund, Naomi Neville | Espionage, Sinclair | 3:48 |
8. | "I'm Drinkin' Tonight" | Monahan, Matraca Berg, Becker | Walker | 3:35 |
9. | "I Will Remember" | Monahan, Walker | Walker | 3:13 |
10. | "The Bridge" | Monahan, Greg Kurstin, Walker | Kurstin | 4:29 |
11. | "Baby, Happy Birthday" | Monahan, Eg White | Walker, White [b] | 3:43 |
12. | "Don't Grow Up So Fast" | Monahan, Tom Douglas | Walker | 3:23 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Drive By" | Monahan, Lind, Bjørklund | |
2. | "Calling All Angels" | Monahan, Charlie Colin, Jimmy Stafford, Scott Underwood | |
3. | "Save Me, San Francisco" | Monahan, Sam Hollander, Dave Katz | |
4. | "Hey, Soul Sister" | Monahan, Lind, Bjørklund | |
5. | "Drops of Jupiter" | Monahan, Colin, Rob Hotchkiss, Stafford, Underwood | |
Total length: | 24:17 |
Chart (2014) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [37] | 15 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [38] | 141 |
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [39] | 7 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [40] | 144 |
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [41] | 32 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [42] | 32 |
UK Albums (OCC) [43] | 9 |
US Billboard 200 [44] | 5 |
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) [45] | 20 |
Region | Date | Format | Label | Catalog no. |
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Germany [46] | September 12, 2014 | Digital download | Columbia Records | none |
Australia [47] | ||||
France [48] | September 15, 2014 | |||
United States [2] | September 16, 2014 |
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Train is an American pop rock band from San Francisco that was formed in 1993. As of 2024, the band consists of Pat Monahan, Taylor Locke, Hector Maldonado, Jerry Becker, and Matt Musty (drums).
My Private Nation is the third studio album by American pop rock band Train. It was released June 3, 2003. The album was reissued February 8, 2005, as a CD+DVD dual disc set. The album is certified Platinum in the US.
Patrick Monahan is an American musician. He is best known as the lead singer and sole constant member of the band Train. He collaborated with multiple artists and recorded a solo album, Last of Seven.
For Me, It's You is the fourth studio album by American band Train, released through Columbia Records on January 31, 2006. It was their last album recorded as a five-piece until 2014's Bulletproof Picasso and the only album to feature the second lineup. The album's first single, "Cab", was released to radio in November 2005. The second and third singles, "Give Myself to You" and "Am I Reaching You Now" were released in mid-2006.
"Drops of Jupiter", initially released and sometimes still listed as "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)", is a song written and recorded by American rock band Train. It was released on January 29, 2001, as the lead single from their second studio album, Drops of Jupiter (2001). The song entered the top five of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and also became an international hit, reaching the top 10 in seven other countries. The European single has tracks "It's Love", "This Is Not Your Life", and "Sharks" as its B-sides.
"Calling All Angels" is a song by American rock band Train. It was included on the band's third studio album, My Private Nation, and produced by Brendan O'Brien. On April 14, 2003, the song was the first single to be released from My Private Nation, peaking at number 19 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topping three other Billboard charts: the Adult Contemporary, Adult Top 40, and Triple-A listings. Outside the US, the song entered the top 40 in Australia and New Zealand.
Save Me, San Francisco is the fifth studio album by pop rock band Train. It was released on October 26, 2009, through Columbia Records. The album was certified 3x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on February 25, 2024.
"Hey, Soul Sister" is a song by American rock band Train. It was written by lead singer Pat Monahan, Amund Bjørklund, and Espen Lind. It was released as the lead single from the band's fifth studio album, Save Me, San Francisco (2009).
American pop rock band Train has released 11 studio albums, three live albums, one compilation album, one video album, four extended plays, 34 singles, six promotional singles, and 29 music videos. The band independently released their eponymous debut studio album in 1996, two years after their formation. In February 1998, the band signed to Aware Records and Columbia Records and re-released the album under the two labels. Three singles were released from Train; the album's first single, "Meet Virginia", peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The album peaked at number 76 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In the period following the release of Train, producer Brendan O'Brien started working with the band in a partnership that would last for three albums. The band released their second studio album Drops of Jupiter in March 2001; it was preceded by the release of its lead single, "Drops of Jupiter ". The single became a commercial success, peaking at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also becoming a top 10 hit in Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. "Drops of Jupiter " also won an award for Best Rock Song at the 44th Grammy Awards. The album peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, earning a double platinum certification from the RIAA. "She's on Fire", the third single from Drops of Jupiter, achieved moderate success in Australia and the UK. Train's third studio album, My Private Nation, was released in June 2003. It peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA. The album's first two singles, "Calling All Angels" and "When I Look to the Sky", peaked at numbers 19 and 74 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. The band released their fourth studio album For Me, It's You in January 2006. The album peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and spawned three singles.
"If It's Love" is the second single from Train's fifth studio album, Save Me, San Francisco.
"Marry Me" is a song written by Pat Monahan and recorded by the group Train, for their fifth studio album Save Me, San Francisco. The song was released on October 25, 2010 as the album's third single. The single peaked in the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the first time the band has had three consecutive top 40 hits and also had three songs from one album chart on the Hot 100.
"Drive By" is a song by American pop rock band Train from their sixth studio album, California 37. It was released in the United States as the album's lead single on January 10, 2012, three months before the release of California 37. The song was written by lead singer Pat Monahan and Norwegian songwriting duo Espen Lind, Amund Bjørklund, the same team responsible for Train's 2009 hit single "Hey, Soul Sister".
California 37 is the sixth studio album from California rock band Train. The album was released on April 13, 2012 through Columbia Records. It is the last Train album to feature drummer Scott Underwood before his departure in 2014 and the last recorded as a three-piece. It was preceded by the lead single "Drive By" on January 10, 2012.
"50 Ways to Say Goodbye" is a song by American pop rock band Train. It is the second single from their sixth studio album, California 37 and is the fifth track on the album. It is considered to be adult contemporary pop radio music. It was released in the United States on June 11, 2012. It is their most recent Top 40 hit, peaking at number 20 on the Hot 100. It was certified gold by the RIAA on September 20, 2012, and has since been certified triple platinum.
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"Angel in Blue Jeans" is a song recorded by American rock band Train for their seventh studio album Bulletproof Picasso. The song was written by Pat Monahan, Amund Bjørklund, and Espen Lind, and was produced by the latter two as well as Butch Walker. It was released on June 9, 2014 as the lead single from the album.
"Cadillac, Cadillac" is a song recorded by American rock band Train for their seventh studio album Bulletproof Picasso. The song was written by Pat Monahan, Butch Walker, and Al Anderson, and was produced by the latter two as well as Butch Walker. It was released on September 29, 2014 as the second single from the album.
"Bulletproof Picasso" is a song recorded by American rock band Train for their seventh studio album Bulletproof Picasso. The song was written by Pat Monahan, Butch Walker, Trent Mazur and Michael Freesh and was produced by the latter two as well as Butch Walker. It was released on January 26, 2015 as the third single from the album.
A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat is the tenth studio album by American rock band Train, released on January 27, 2017, through Columbia Records. It is the band's first album without guitarist and founding member Jimmy Stafford, as well as their last with drummer Drew Shoals.