Prior to its release, The Fray had independently released two extended plays and signed with Epic in December 2004 after the single "Over My Head (Cable Car)" became a sleeper hit on Denver radio stations. Recording sessions for How to Save a Life mostly took place over six weeks in Echo Park Studios in Bloomington, Indiana, with other sessions taking place in New York City and Colorado. The album was produced by Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn and incorporates dramatic melodies and piano-driven ballads, while its lyrics exhibit themes of loss, regret, personal crisis, and heartache.
Four singles were released for the album, including "Over My Head (Cable Car)", "How to Save a Life", "Look After You" and "All at Once".[1] "How to Save a Life" reached number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and "Over My Head (Cable Car)" reached number 8, while the album peaked in the top 15 on the US Billboard 200 and was a top ten hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
After independently releasing two EPs, The Fray were looking for a record company to release a full-length album. The band released their song "Cable Car" to Denver radio station KTCL, and the song saw significant airplay.[2] Denver alternative newsweekly Westword named the band "Best New Band" in 2004, and this prompted Epic RecordsA&R man Mike Flynn to sign the band to a recording contract on December 17, 2004.[3] The album was recorded over six weeks in Echo Park Studios in Bloomington, Indiana, and was produced by Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn.[4] Former bass guitar player Dan Battenhouse left the band a year before entering the studio; Jake Smith, former lead singer and guitarist of the band The Mysteries of Life, took over bass guitar duties.
Overall, critical reception for the album was mixed. The piano-oriented sound of the album drew comparisons with British piano-rock band Keane, and Coldplay (whose music – although classified as alternative – is driven by the piano).[10][12]
AllMusic, whilst giving the album a modestly positive review, stated that the band "lacked originality" and the album itself lacked any "inspiration and excitement".[5]Stylus Magazine gave the album a negative review, stating "The Fray, as a rule, are moribund, emotionally strained, uninvolving, and have a tendency to sound like The Cranberries fronted by a man."[11]Rolling Stone and Blender echoed many of these statements, both giving the album three stars out of five.[6][10]
The album was released on September 13, 2005 by Epic Records. While the album did not make a splash commercially or critically initially, the success of "Over My Head (Cable Car)" propelled the album from the Top Heatseekers chart to the top 20 of The Billboard 200 chart. The release of the second single, "How to Save a Life", a world-wide smash, helped the album enter the top 5 in several charts across the world, and brought The Fray mainstream popularity.[13] The song remains the band's best known and most successful song to date.
The album received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and was also certified platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK; it became the best-selling digital album of all time until Eminem's Recovery (2010), breaking the record held previously by Coldplay's X&Y (2005).[14][15][16]Billboard listed the album on their Best Digital Albums of the Decade list – at number 21.[17]
Awards and nominations
The album won all three awards in the digital category at the 2005 Billboard Music Awards: Digital Album of the Year, Digital Album Artist of the Year and Digital Songs Artist of the Year while the band was nominated for New Artist of the Year.[18]
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