This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2008) |
King | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 13, 1995 [1] | |||
Recorded | Compass Point (Nassau, Bahamas) | |||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 45:00 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Glyn Johns | |||
Belly chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from King | ||||
King is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Belly, released on February 13, 1995.
Although the members had tightened their focus and polished their hook-laden songs, King and its singles did not meet label expectations in the grunge-friendly atmosphere of 1995, and the band broke up shortly after it was released. The album sold over 350,000 copies. [4] In the two decades since King's release, many (including some critics) have reconsidered the initial lukewarm attitude towards the album and now hold it as an equal to Belly's highly regarded debut Star .[ citation needed ]
Belly released their debut studio album Star in January 1993, which peaked at number two in the United Kingdom and number 59 in the United States. Of its singles, "Feed the Tree" performed the best, reaching number 32 in the UK and number 95 in the US. Belly was nominated for a Best New Act at the Grammy Awards, and won Boston Music Awards for Best Modern Rock Act and Debut Album of the Year. Bassist Fred Abong departed in May 1993 and was replaced by Gail Greenwood. They travelled to Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas to record their next album. [5]
Preceded by the "Now They'll Sleep" single in January 1995, King was released in February 1995. "Seal My Fate" was issued as the next single in July 1995. Belly went on a US tour with Catherine Wheel; they officially broke up in early 1996. [5]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [6] |
Chicago Tribune | [7] |
Entertainment Weekly | B+ [8] |
The Guardian | [9] |
Los Angeles Times | [10] |
NME | 5/10 [11] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
Slant Magazine | [13] |
Spin | 8/10 [14] |
The Village Voice | A− [15] |
In 2012, King was listed at number seven on PopMatters ' "15 Overlooked and Underrated Albums of the 1990s" list. [16] In 2016, the album was hailed by Will Sheff of Okkervil River as "a winning, confident, masterful collection of songs – poppy and sweet and with a low-key psychedelic undercurrent. Everything good about Star was still there and had been expanded upon, but in many ways this felt like a new, reinvented band." [17]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Puberty" | 3:48 | |
2. | "Seal My Fate" | Donelly | 4:03 |
3. | "Red" |
| 3:35 |
4. | "Silverfish" |
| 4:00 |
5. | "Super-Connected" |
| 4:25 |
6. | "The Bees" | Donelly | 4:58 |
7. | "King" | Donelly | 4:18 |
8. | "Now They'll Sleep" |
| 3:14 |
9. | "Untitled and Unsung" | Donelly | 3:33 |
10. | "L'il Ennio" | Donelly | 3:45 |
11. | "Judas My Heart" |
| 5:21 |
Total length: | 45:00 |
Chart (1995) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [18] | 87 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [19] | 66 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [20] | 89 |
UK Albums (OCC) [21] | 6 |
US Billboard 200 [22] | 57 |
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal, her twin sister Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson (drums).
Lush were an English rock band formed in London in 1987. The original line-up consisted of Miki Berenyi, Emma Anderson, Steve Rippon and Chris Acland (drums). Phil King replaced Rippon in 1991. They were one of the first bands to have been described with the "shoegazing" label. Following the death of Acland, the group disbanded in 1996.
Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects.
4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of the label's first four singles. Later that year, Watts-Russell and Kent purchased the label from Beggars Banquet to become an independent record label, and Kent sold his share to Watts-Russell a year later.
The Great Escape is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Blur. It was released on 11 September 1995 on Food and Virgin Records. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and charted in the top 10 in more than ten countries around the world. Less than a year after the album was released, it was certified triple platinum in the UK. The album received near-universal acclaim on release.
Belly is an alternative rock band formed in Rhode Island in 1991 by Tanya Donelly. The original lineup consisted of Donelly on vocals and guitar, Fred Abong on bass, and brothers Tom and Chris Gorman on guitar and drums respectively. The band released two albums during the early 1990s alternative rock boom before breaking up in 1995. They reunited in 2016 and mounted limited tours in the United States and United Kingdom that year.
Tanya Donelly is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New England. She came to prominence as a co-founder of the band Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh. Donelly went on to co-form the alternative rock band The Breeders alongside Kim Deal in 1989, before leaving to front her own band Belly in 1991. By the late 1990s, she settled into a solo recording career, working largely with musicians connected to the Boston music scene.
A.R. Kane was a British musical duo formed in 1986 by Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala. After releasing two early EPs to critical acclaim, the group topped the UK Independent Chart with their debut album 69 (1988). Their second album, "i" (1989), was also a top 10 hit. They were also part of the one-off collaboration MARRS, whose surprise dance hit "Pump Up the Volume" was released in 1987. Ayuli is believed to have coined the term "dreampop" in the late 1980s to describe their eclectic sound, which blended elements such as effects-laden guitars, dub production, and drum machine backing.
Razorblade Suitcase is the second studio album by English rock band Bush, released on 19 November 1996 by Trauma and Interscope Records. The follow-up to their 1994 debut Sixteen Stone, it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with engineer and producer Steve Albini. Its sound is more raw than that of its predecessor and has frequently been compared to Nirvana's In Utero (1993), which was also produced and engineered by Albini. The album is widely regarded as being the last major "grunge" album of the 1990s.
American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold has released eight studio albums, one soundtrack album, one live album, two compilation albums, 24 singles, two video albums and 29 music videos. Formed in Huntington Beach, California in 1999, the band originally featured vocalist M. Shadows, guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Matt Wendt and drummer The Rev. Synyster Gates joined as lead guitarist in 2001, just after the group released their debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet on Good Life Recordings, which was later reissued on Hopeless Records.
Star is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band Belly, released on January 25, 1993.
Air Cuba, previously known as Cuba, were a British electronic music duo formed by Christopher Andrews and Ashley Bates. They released two singles and an album, Leap of Faith, on 4AD in 1998 and 1999. Their sound demonstrated a range of electronic, pop, and rock influences, and they were frequently compared with Primal Scream.
The discography of Soundgarden, an American rock band, consists of six studio albums, two live albums, six compilation albums, eight extended plays, 24 singles and 23 music videos.
The discography of American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, consists of 12 studio albums, 23 live albums, 3 compilation albums, 42 singles, and numerous official bootlegs.
American rock musician Kid Rock has released 12 studio albums, one compilation album, two extended plays and one live album. His debut album, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, was released by Jive Records in 1990. Following its release, Kid Rock was dropped and shuffled between an independent artist and label-signed for most of the 1990s until he created his own Top Dog label and released his mainstream debut album, Devil Without a Cause, on August 18, 1998, via Atlantic Records. The album was certified diamond by the RIAA and sold 11 million copies in the United States. From 1999 to 2000 he produced four major Billboard "Hot 100" hits: "Bawitdaba", "Cowboy", "Only God Knows Why", and "American Bad Ass".
"Feed the Tree" is a song by American alternative rock band Belly, released as the band's first single from their debut album, Star, in 1993. It is the band's biggest hit, reaching number one on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 32 on the UK Singles Chart. According to lead singer Tanya Donelly, the song is a metaphor about commitment and respect, with the tree being a place on a large farm where a family would be buried.
The discography of the American rock band Live consists of nine studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums, three extended plays, twenty-eight singles and twenty-six music videos. After initially self-releasing a full-length album and an EP under the name Public Affection, their first studio album as Live, 1991's Mental Jewelry, peaked at number 73 on the Billboard 200. The single "Operation Spirit " peaked at number nine on the Alternative Songs chart.
"Boombastic" or "Mr. Boombastic" is a song by Jamaican musical artist Shaggy, released in May 1995 by Virgin Records as the second single from his third studio album, Boombastic (1995). The song was both produced and co-written by Shaggy. After being used in an ad for Levi's, it achieved commercial success in many countries, including Ireland, UK, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia, where it topped the singles charts. It spent a week at number one on both the US Billboard R&B chart and the UK Singles Chart. It also reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The track contains a sample from King Floyd song "Baby Let Me Kiss You". A remix featuring Sting International, which features a sample of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On", was released in January 1996. The latter is featured on some versions of the Boombastic album as a bonus track.
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime is the fifth studio album by American rock band Faith No More, released on March 13, 1995, by Slash and Reprise Records. It was their first album recorded without longtime guitarist Jim Martin. The album showcased a variety of musical genres, with Rolling Stone calling the result a "genre shuffle". King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime spawned three singles: "Digging the Grave", "Ricochet" and "Evidence".
Cigarettes After Sex is an American dream pop band, formed in El Paso, Texas in 2008 by Greg Gonzalez. The band is known for their ethereal, limerent and often dream-like musical style, lyrics often based on the themes of romance and love, as well as Gonzalez's voice, which has been described as "androgynous". While marketed as an ambient pop band, Cigarettes After Sex are also considered to be shoegaze, slowcore and indie rock.
Citations
Sources