Some Cities

Last updated

Some Cities
SomeCities.jpg
Studio album by
Released21 February 2005 (2005-02-21)
Recorded2004–2005
Studio
Genre Indie rock
Length46:50
Label Heavenly
Producer Doves and Ben Hillier
Doves chronology
Lost Sides
(2003)
Some Cities
(2005)
Kingdom of Rust
(2009)
Singles from Some Cities
  1. "Black and White Town"
    Released: 7 February 2005
  2. "Snowden"
    Released: 9 May 2005
  3. "Sky Starts Falling"
    Released: 12 September 2005

Some Cities is the third studio album by the British indie rock band Doves. The album was released by Heavenly Recordings on 21 February 2005, and became the band's second consecutive album to top the UK Albums Chart at number 1. Some Cities was conceived as a rawer, stripped-down record, and conceptually touches upon the physical changes of the band's hometown of Manchester, as well as emotional transformations.

Contents

The album features the band's second-highest charting single, "Black and White Town", which peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. Two further singles from the album—"Snowden" and "Sky Starts Falling"—also fared moderately well on the chart, peaking at number 17 and 45, respectively.

Background and recording

After the worldwide success of Doves' second album The Last Broadcast , Jez Williams recalled, in a 2010 interview with Under the Radar following the release of the band's compilation album The Places Between: The Best of Doves , that the band decided to take a more "stripped-down" approach to recording Some Cities, which included decamping to rural locations in England, Scotland, and Wales. "With [Some Cities] we were also wanting to make a few social comments about the area we lived in. There's a lot of subject matter on that album dealing with change. Buildings get ripped down and replaced by more generic ones. It kind of gave ourselves a bit of purpose to write about it. We also listened to a lot of Motown and Northern soul, and I think that came out in that album. It was a definite change. Our albums do tend to change character and personality with every release." [1]

Initially, the band set out to record their third album with producer William Orbit. In a February 2005 interview with The Irish Times , vocalist/bassist Jimi Goodwin said, "Jeff Barrett from our label, Heavenly, suggested we work with William and we were fine with that, we're always up for trying new stuff. But I think we expected too much from him. He was happy just to be in the studio with us because he hadn't worked with a band since Blur. His point was he was just recording what he was hearing. He wasn't doing anything that we wouldn't do ourselves normally and we put a lot of pressure on him almost to subvert us. He's a top guy, but it just didn't work." [2] The band subsequently co-produced Some Cities with Ben Hillier, who also mixed the album (except for "Some Cities" and "Walk in Fire", which were mixed by Rich Costey). Much of the recording occurred at a farmhouse in the English countryside over the course of 2004, except for closing track "Ambition", which was recorded in an empty Benedictine monastery in Scotland, which the band had found while doing a photo shoot for the album. The huge reverb effect was achieved using the acoustics of the main hall. The recording process is shown in the mini-documentary Cities Under Construction, featured on the bonus DVD included with the special edition of the album.

In a 2010 interview with Spinner.com, Jimi Goodwin stated, "I look back fondly at the Some Cities period, going to this old schoolhouse in Scotland with Ben Nevis out the window. I spent six weeks up there and didn't want to come home; my mum had just died and I just wanted to be away." [3]

Release

Some Cities was released in the United Kingdom on 21 February 2005, where it entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1. [4] The album was released on several different formats in the UK: the standard CD and double 12" vinyl LP, and also as a special edition with a bonus DVD containing a short documentary entitled Cities Under Construction, featuring the making of the album inside a purple-coloured digipak. [5] In addition, a limited edition version, packaged inside a hessian cloth-covered box with fold-out poster and bonus DVD, was also released. [6] The album was released in Japan on 23 February 2005 and included two bonus tracks, "Eleven Miles Out" and "At the Tower" (which had been released as B-sides to "Black and White Town"). On 1 March 2005, the album was released in North America by Capitol Records.

In late December 2004, the album's first single "Black and White Town" was issued to radio stations; two weeks prior to the album's release, the single was released commercially and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 6, [4] the band's second-highest charting single to date. In May 2005, the album's second single "Snowden" was released and peaked at number 17. [4] The third and final single "Sky Starts Falling" was released in September 2005 and peaked at number 45. [4] Throughout 2005, Doves rigorously toured the world, including England, the United States, and Australia; [7] in April 2006, a special download-only EP entitled Some Cities Live EP , featuring select recordings from various dates on the Some Cities tour, was released to online digital outlets.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 72/100 [8]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Drowned in Sound 9/10 [10]
Entertainment Weekly A− [11]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Pitchfork 7.8/10 [13]
PopMatters 7/10 [14]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Stylus Magazine D+ [16]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]

Some Cities was released to generally positive reviews. Drowned in Sound awarded the album a 9 out of 10 rating, saying, "Though it may be gentle and frequently maudlin, it is no doubt a release to spend 50 minutes with this record. Some Cities may not be a summer record, but it might quite possibly be the record that gets you through it." [10] MusicOMH praised the album, calling it "an ethereal outpouring of emotion; melancholic madness meeting soul-soaring serendipity head on," and noted that, "Gone is the prog-like polished production of The Last Broadcast, it's more akin to debut Lost Souls in timbre. Yet while those were records that sounded like they were conceived in wide open countryside or of the rolling sea this is an ode to the industrial heartland of their childhood; at turns crunching and urban, desolate and apocalyptic." [18] Pitchfork Media gave Some Cities a 7.8 out of 10 rating, and concluded that, "In the three years since Last Broadcast, Doves have cultivated a better understanding of their strengths and limitations, and Some Cities beams with a revivified looseness." [13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jez Williams, Jimi Goodwin, and Andy Williams, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Some Cities" 3:22
2."Black and White Town" 4:15
3."Almost Forgot Myself" 4:42
4."Snowden" 4:12
5."The Storm"Williams, Goodwin, Williams, Ryuichi Sakamoto [upper-alpha 1] 4:52
6."Walk in Fire" 5:34
7."One of These Days" 4:50
8."Someday Soon" 4:08
9."Shadows of Salford" 2:44
10."Sky Starts Falling" 4:11
11."Ambition" 4:00
Japan bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Eleven Miles Out" 4:32
13."At the Tower"Williams, Goodwin, Williams, Lee Hazlewood [upper-alpha 2] 4:37

Bonus DVD

  1. Cities Under Construction – a short film, edited by Matthew Norman
  2. Photo gallery (set to an instrumental version of "Ambition")
  3. "Black and White Town" video (director's cut, directed by Lynne Ramsay)

Release history

CountryDateLabelFormatCatalogue #
United Kingdom21 February 2005 Heavenly Recordings CDHVNLP50CD
Special edition CD/DVD in purple digipak HVNLP50CDS
Limited edition CD/DVD in hessian cloth-covered boxHVNLP50CDX
Double LP (heavyweight vinyl; gatefold sleeve)HVNLP50
Japan23 February 2005 Toshiba-EMI CD (2 bonus tracks)TOCP-66327
United States1 March 2005 Capitol Records/EMI CD724387460928
Europe31 May 2019Universal Strategic Marketing/Virgin EMIDouble LP (limited/numbered edition on white-coloured vinyl) [19] 7748265
United Kingdom27 November 2020Double LP (black vinyl)856872
United States15 January 2021

Credits

Additional musicians

Charts

Chart (2005)Peak
position
UK Albums Chart [4] 1
Irish Albums Chart [20] 2
Australian Albums Chart [21] 23
Belgium Ultratop [22] 45
MegaCharts Netherlands [23] 62
US Billboard 200 [24] 111
French Chart [25] 149
Japan Oricon [26] 149

Notes

  1. Contains elements of Snake Eyes score, composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
  2. Contains elements of "Come on Home to Me", written by Lee Hazlewood.

Related Research Articles

<i>Stand Up</i> (Jethro Tull album) 1969 studio album by Jethro Tull

Stand Up is the second studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1969. It was the first Jethro Tull album to feature guitarist Martin Barre, who would go on to become the band's longtime guitarist until its initial dissolution in 2012. Before recording sessions for the album began, the band's original guitarist Mick Abrahams departed the band as a result of musical differences with frontman and primary songwriter Ian Anderson; Abrahams wanted to stay with the blues rock sound of their 1968 debut, This Was, while Anderson wished to add other musical influences such as folk rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doves (band)</span> English alternative rock band

Doves are an English indie rock band formed in Manchester. The band is composed of twin brothers Jez Williams and Andy Williams, and Jimi Goodwin. Additionally, the band employs Martin Rebelski, as a touring and session musician on keyboards. The band released four studio albums between 2000 and 2009, two of which reached #1 on the UK album charts. A compilation album, The Places Between: The Best of Doves, was released in April 2010.

<i>Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium</i> Live album by Rage Against the Machine

Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium is the second live album by the American rock band Rage Against the Machine, released on November 25, 2003, by Epic Records. It is a recording of two shows Rage played at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in their hometown of Los Angeles on September 12 and 13, 2000. The album was originally planned to be released in November 2000, but was delayed due to the break-up of the band shortly after the September concerts. It was then slated for release a year later, but was again delayed due to the formation of Audioslave by the remaining three members of Rage with vocalist Chris Cornell. The album was released amid mixed reviews in November 2003, mainly due to poor mixing rather than musical performance, where on the other hand the DVD version was praised by fans and critics alike.

<i>Vulture Street</i> (album) 2003 studio album by Powderfinger

Vulture Street is the fifth studio album by Australian alternative rock band by Powderfinger, released on 29 July 2003 by Universal Music. It won the 2003 ARIA Music Award for Best Rock Album. Produced by Nick DiDia, Vulture Street was certified platinum, and spent 47 weeks on the ARIA Charts and peaked at #1. Singles from the album included "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind", "Since You've Been Gone", "Love Your Way" and "Sunsets".

<i>The Last Broadcast</i> (album) 2002 studio album by Doves

The Last Broadcast is the second studio album by British indie rock band Doves. The album was released by Heavenly Recordings on 29 April 2002, and went straight to number 1 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's first single "There Goes the Fear" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3, the band's highest-charting single to date, despite being released and deleted on the same day. Two further singles, "Pounding" and "Caught by the River", were also successful, charting in the Top 30. The Last Broadcast garnered critical acclaim upon its release, and was a shortlist nominee for the Mercury Prize in 2002.

<i>Lost Souls</i> (Doves album) 2000 studio album by Doves

Lost Souls is the debut studio album by British indie rock band Doves, released by Heavenly Recordings on 3 April 2000. The album was recorded over a period of several years, following the dissolution of Doves' original musical incarnation as house music act Sub Sub. Lost Souls was a moderate chart success in the UK; the album peaked at number 16, while the three singles taken from the album charted in the Top 40.

<i>BBC Sessions</i> (The Jimi Hendrix Experience album) 1998 live album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

BBC Sessions is an album of recordings by the rock group the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released on MCA Records on June 2, 1998. It contains all the surviving tracks from their various appearances on BBC radio programmes, such as Saturday Club and Top Gear, recorded in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillsong United</span> Australian worship band

Hillsong United is a worship collective that originated as a part of Hillsong Church. Formed in 1998 as part of Hillsong's youth ministry, the band consists of several rotating worship leaders from the church, including Joel Houston, Taya Smith-Gaukrodger, Matt Crocker, Jonathon Douglass, Brooke Fraser, Jad Gillies and Benjamin Hastings. Due to several songs written by the youth ministry, Hillsong Worship leader Darlene Zschech recommended that they record an album, which resulted in their debut extended play, One, which was released alongside the Hillsong Worship album Touching Heaven Changing Earth. Since then, the group has released fourteen live albums, as well as five studio albums. The band composes songs and performs in church services as well as concerts in worldwide tours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black and White Town</span> 2005 single by Doves

"Black and White Town" is the lead single from English rock band Doves' third album, Some Cities (2005). The single was released on 7 February 2005 and gave the band their second top-10 hit, charting at No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart. The atmospheric single is noted for its heavy piano and guitars played in unison, with Andy Williams' percussion maintaining a driving beat. The music video for "Black and White Town", directed by Lynne Ramsay, was filmed on the Summerston council estate and Prospecthill Circus estate in Toryglen Glasgow. There also exists a "director's cut" of the video, featuring different footage, which can be found on the DVD in the limited edition box set version of the Some Cities album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimi Goodwin</span> Musical artist

Jimi Goodwin is the bassist, vocalist and guitarist for Doves. Before their incarnation as Doves, the three members were in a house music group, Sub Sub.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doves discography</span> Band discography

The discography of the English alternative rock trio Doves comprises five studio albums, sixteen singles, and seven EPs, as well as a best-of compilation album, a B-sides compilation, and a full-length DVD compilation. After self-releasing their first three EPs on Casino Records, the band signed to Heavenly Recordings and released their debut album Lost Souls in April 2000. The album reached number 16 on the UK Albums Chart, and has since been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Their second album The Last Broadcast was even more successful upon its release in April 2002, reaching number 1 on the charts and yielding the band's highest-charting single to date, "There Goes the Fear", which peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The album has also been certified platinum by the BPI. In February 2005, Doves released their third studio album Some Cities, which again topped the albums chart at number 1, and produced the hit single "Black and White Town", which charted at number 6, and the minor hit "Snowden", which peaked at number 17.

<i>Thirst for Romance</i> 2007 studio album by Cherry Ghost

Thirst for Romance is the debut album by Cherry Ghost, released on 9 July 2007 in the UK. The album was made available on CD, digital download, and double vinyl LP. It was recorded at Ape Studios in Cheshire and Moolah Rouge Studios in Stockport. The first single, "Mathematics", was released on 9 April 2007; the second single "People Help the People" was released on 25 June 2007, just two weeks ahead of the album's release date; and the third single was "4 AM", released on 24 September 2007. "Roses" was an iTunes "single of the week" for the week that the album was released. Thirst for Romance was co-produced by Simon Aldred and Dan Austin. Thirst for Romance entered the UK Albums Chart at #7 upon its first week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowden (song)</span> 2005 single by Doves

"Snowden" is the second single from British indie rock band Doves' third album, Some Cities (2005). It was released in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2005, charting at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and number 42 on the Irish Singles Chart. The single version of the song was mixed by Rich Costey. Two music videos were produced for the song, directed by Dominic Leung. One features the album version of the song, and the other features the Rich Costey mix, with both videos featuring different footage.

"Sky Starts Falling" is the third and final single from English rock band Doves' third album, Some Cities (2005). It was released in the UK on 12 September 2005 on CD, DVD and 7-inch vinyl, and charted at number 45 on the UK Singles Chart. The B-sides include 2 different remixes of "Some Cities" by Echoboy and a remix of "The Storm" by unofficial fourth Doves band member Martin Rebelski.

<i>Kingdom of Rust</i> 2009 studio album by Doves

Kingdom of Rust is the fourth studio album from British indie rock band Doves. The album was released on 6 April 2009 in the UK via Heavenly Recordings. Kingdom of Rust was met with generally positive critical acclaim, and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 2. Two singles were released from the album: the title track, released a week prior to the album in March 2009, which charted at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart; and "Winter Hill", released in July 2009, which became the band's first single not to chart in the top 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter Hill (song)</span> 2009 single by Doves

"Winter Hill" is the second single from Doves' fourth studio album Kingdom of Rust. The single was released on 20 July 2009 via Heavenly Records. The song is one of three songs recorded during the album sessions produced by John Leckie. The radio edit of "Winter Hill" features a new mix by David Bascombe. In a track-by-track discussion with NME, Doves said that the song is about Winter Hill near Bolton, and that the track had been "hanging around since Lost Souls but we've not worked on it before...it just kept knocking on our door." "Winter Hill" was released as a limited edition 7" vinyl single, with the exclusive new "Dylanesque" B-side "Brazil." Three limited edition 12" singles or two separate digital download-only sets feature exclusive remixes of "Jetstream" and "Compulsion" by Sasha, Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, and Andrew Weatherall. "Winter Hill" became the band's first single not to chart in the top 100 of the UK Singles Chart on its week of release. It does not appear on their 2010 best-of album The Places Between, although its video is included on the accompanying DVD.

<i>The Places Between: The Best of Doves</i> 2010 greatest hits album by Doves

The Places Between: The Best of Doves is a compilation album from Manchester-based indie rock band Doves. The compilation was released on 5 April 2010 in the UK via Heavenly Recordings, and on 20 April 2010 in North America via Astralwerks. The album encompasses the band's entire career, collecting from their 2000 debut album Lost Souls, 2002's The Last Broadcast, 2005's Some Cities, and their 2009 album Kingdom of Rust, as well as an assortment of EPs and singles. The compilation was released as a standard single-disc best-of, as well as a deluxe three-disc edition, featuring the best-of album along with a bonus disc of B-sides, rarities, alternate versions, and album cuts, plus a bonus DVD collecting all of the band's music videos from 1998 through 2009. It peaked at #12 on the UK Albums Chart.

<i>Odludek</i> 2014 studio album by Jimi Goodwin

Odludek is the debut solo album by Jimi Goodwin, released on Heavenly Recordings on 24 March 2014. The album follows a few years after his band, Doves, announced they were taking an "indefinite hiatus." The word odludek is a Polish word, meaning "pilgrim" or "loner." Goodwin wrote and played almost everything on Odludek himself, with only a handful of guest musicians, including Elbow frontman Guy Garvey and former Dungen member Fredrik Bjorling, and the album was recorded and co-produced with Dan Austin at a studio in the Forest of Dean across 18 months. Goodwin said, "Initially I wanted to have loads of guests on it. Maybe I wasn't trusting my own instincts because I'd collaborated in a band for such a long time, but that idea soon went out the window. Very quickly I decided I wanted to get my Prince head on and play everything. I became very protective of it. There was no-one steering me. I made it myself and paid for it myself, and that was very free and liberating."

<i>Songs for Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts</i> 2019 box set live album by Jimi Hendrix

Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts is a chronologically sequenced collection of American musician Jimi Hendrix's 1969–1970 New Years recorded performances at the Fillmore East in New York City. It was released as a box set of five-CDs on November 22, 2019 and an eight-LP set on December 13.

<i>The Universal Want</i> 2020 studio album by Doves

The Universal Want is the fifth studio album by British rock band Doves. The album was released by Heavenly Recordings and Virgin/EMI on 11 September 2020. The Universal Want is the band's first album following a hiatus that began in 2010; the band members pursued solo projects in the interim.

References

  1. Davis, Hays. "Doves: This Bird Has Flown". Under the Radar .
  2. Carroll, Jim (11 February 2005). "HOME TO ROOST". The Irish Times . Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  3. Mugan, Chris. "Doves Wipe the Slate Clean With Best-Of". Spinner.com . Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Doves - Chart Stats
  5. Doves - Some Cities (Special Edition) (CD, Album + DVD-V, PAL) at Discogs
  6. Doves - Some Cities (Special Limited Edition) (CD, Album + DVD-V + Box, Ltd) at Discogs
  7. Doves - Gigography 2005
  8. "Doves: Some Cities (2005): Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  9. Wilson, MacKenzie. "Some Cities - Overview". AllMusic . Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  10. 1 2 Annot, Michaela (22 February 2005). "Doves - Some Cities - Drowned in Sound". Drowned in Sound . Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  11. Entertainment Weekly, 4 March 2005 issue, p.73
  12. Clarke, Betty (18 February 2005). "CD: Doves, Some Cities - Music - The Guardian". The Guardian . Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  13. 1 2 Ubl, Sam (28 February 2005). "Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Doves: Some Cities". Pitchfork . Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  14. Begrand, Adrien (1 March 2005). "Doves: Some Cities - PopMatters Music Review". PopMatters . Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  15. Q magazine, March 2005 issue, p.97
  16. Mathers, Ian (1 March 2005). "Doves - Some Cities - Review - Stylus Magazine". Stylus Magazine . Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  17. Uncut magazine, March 2005 issue, p.94
  18. Turner, Catherine. "Doves - Some Cities - album reviews - musicOMH". MusicOMH . Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  19. "The uDiscover Music Store - Some Cities: White Coloured Vinyl". 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  20. irishcharts.com - Discography Doves
  21. Australian Charts - Doves
  22. ultratop.be - Doves
  23. Dutch Charts - Doves
  24. Billboard - Artist Chart History - Doves
  25. lescharts.com - Discographie Doves
  26. oricon.co.jp - Doves