Thirteenth Step | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 16, 2003 | |||
Recorded | January–June 2003 | |||
Studio | Perfect Circle Studios (North Hollywood, California) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 50:36 | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Producer |
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A Perfect Circle chronology | ||||
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Singles from Thirteenth Step | ||||
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Thirteenth Step is the second studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle, released on September 16, 2003. The album sold well, charting at the number 2 position on the Billboard 200 in its premiere week, selling over 231,000 copies and staying on the charts for 78 weeks. [5] The album went on to be certified as gold on November 4, 2003, and as platinum on March 24, 2006, by the RIAA. Three singles were released from the album, "Weak and Powerless", which topped both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks, followed by "The Outsider" and "Blue", which also charted on the respective charts.
The band's writing process was very different from the band's first album, Mer de Noms . With the first album, a majority of the album had been already written and recorded over a long period of time by guitarist Billy Howerdel, before a band had even been assembled. [6] He had recorded it with a female vocalist in mind, but upon Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan hearing it and offering to sing for the material, the content was then quickly finalized upon adding Keenan's vocals and re-recording the drums with band member Josh Freese. [6] With beginning the second album, the band found themselves starting fresh, without any material to start with, with the exception of the track "Vanishing", which originally was intended to be on the band's first album, but Howerdel could not find the song file in the studio, having accidentally named it "test". [6] Upon finally recovering the track in 2001, it was only slightly altered for its final release, to better match the eventual sound of Thirteenth Step. [6] The title "Vanishing" was a tongue in cheek allusion to the fact that the song itself had gone missing. [7]
Writing for the album started while Keenan was still touring with his other band, Tool, in support of their 2001 album Lateralus . [8] Howerdel would write most of the music, while Keenan would write most of the lyrics. [9] As such, Howerdel would send work in progress instrumental he would create, and Keenan would write lyrics in between shows, a process they found to be efficient, but ultimately more difficult to balance than they initially expected. [8] Keenan's work with Tool was not the only thing delaying work on the album, as progress was also hampered by other lineup changes, including guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen leaving to be a member of Queens of the Stone Age, and bassist Paz Lenchantin leaving to be a member of Zwan, leading to their contributions to the album being limited to only a few tracks. [8] Lenchantin would be replaced by Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White, while Van Leeuwen would be replaced by Danny Lohner on the album and later James Iha for touring purposes, as Iha did not actually perform on the album. [10]
Once touring for Tool was over with, Keenan returned to the studio to work in person with the rest of the band on the album. The sessions were, as such, marked with far more collaboration, especially between Howerdel and Keenan, now that Howerdel knew who his vocalist was, and what types of ideas he'd support. [6] At times, this would cause a creative struggle between the two as well; since Keenan was involved with some of Howerdel's music writing this time around, he would sometimes give more input in the music, with the two sometimes wanting to move in opposite directions. [8] Keenan, in particular, wanted to move away from the general hard rock sound of Mer de Noms, feeling that taking that approach again would be "redundant". [8] He instead pushed for a softer sound, focusing more on atmospherics and ambience. [10] Conversely, Howerdel preferred the heavier compositions written while waiting for Keenan to return from Tool. [11] White, relatively new to the band, often played the role of mediator between the two, being able to offer an outsider's perspective of the situation. [11]
Danny Lohner played a large part of the productions of the track "The Noose", whereas "The Package" was a full-band collaboration that started with Howerdel playing the song's basic guitar riff in front of everyone. [6]
"I don't think the album is specifically for people who are going through recovery, although that metaphor is absolutely present. Many of the songs are sung from the perspectives of recovery: from the perspective of a person who is in denial about a loved one, and from the drug perspective itself — the perspective of a person who is starting to realize that there is an issue, and of a person who is ready to deal with it." [12]
Lyricist Maynard James Keenan on the album's concept.
Thirteenth Step is a concept album about the different aspects and perspectives of addiction, and the recovery from it. [13] The album's title itself is a reference to the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. [10] Lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Maynard James Keenan explained the concept on the band's DVD Amotion , stating:
"The songs on Thirteenth Step for the most part are about the various processes of addiction, behavioral addictions, chemical addictions, and each song is kind of sung from a different perspective. I have a lot of friends who've gone through a lot of these situations. Some of the songs are sung from the perspective of the actual drug, from the perspective of someone who has realized that they have an issue or a problem, also from the perspective of a person who realizes that if they don't do something they're going to die, a song from the perspective of a person who is in denial about a loved one, dying right before their eyes. And in the case of "The Outsider", it's sung from the perspective of a person who doesn't understand at all what their friend is going through, what their loved one is going through, and they think that it's more like a sprained ankle; they can just kind of walk it off." [14]
Keenan, not having struggled with addiction first-hand, drew from experiencing it happen to others around him, such as Layne Staley, the lead singer of Alice in Chains, who died in 2002 due to drug addiction. [12] The song "The Package" is from the perspective of an addict, desperate for more, while "Blue" is from the perspective of someone having a difficult time dealing with the aftermath of an overdose. [8]
"The Nurse Who Loved Me" is a cover of the song by Failure, originally featured on the 1996 album Fantastic Planet .
The album was released on September 16, 2003, and debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 charts, with 231,000 copies sold. [15] Three singles were released from the album, "Weak and Powerless", which topped both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks, "The Outsider", and "Blue". [15] "Weak and Powerless" and "The Outsider" managed to crossover into mainstream pop radio formats as well, with the two charting at number 61 and 79 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA in early 2006. [16]
The band toured extensively for the rest of 2003 and in early 2004 in support of the album. Just prior to the 2004 Presidential Election, the band released Emotive , a collection of political war cover songs, which contained "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums", which was a reinterpretation of the track "Pet", and a remix album titled Amotion , which contained remixed versions of the tracks across their three albums, including the three singles from Thirteenth Step.
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 74/100 [17] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [18] |
Alternative Press | [19] |
Drowned in Sound | (8/10) [20] |
E! Online | B+ [17] |
Entertainment Weekly | [21] |
Kludge | (6/10) [22] |
Mojo | 7/10 [23] |
Q | 6/10 [24] |
Rolling Stone | [25] |
Spin | 4/10 [3] |
Media reception to Thirteenth Step was generally favorable; aggregating website Metacritic reported a rating of 74 percent based on 11 critical reviews. [26] AllMusic strongly praised the album for having "the sound of a musical and lyrical maturity that normally doesn't occur until a band's third or fourth albums", and concluded that "Lyrically, musically, sonically, the Thirteenth Step is proof positive that mainstream rock has plenty of life and vision left in it." [27]
All tracks are written by Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howerdel except where noted
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Package" | 7:40 | |
2. | "Weak and Powerless" | 3:15 | |
3. | "The Noose" | 4:53 | |
4. | "Blue" | 4:13 | |
5. | "Vanishing" | 4:51 | |
6. | "A Stranger" | 3:12 | |
7. | "The Outsider" | 4:06 | |
8. | "Crimes" | 2:34 | |
9. | "The Nurse Who Loved Me" (Failure cover) | 4:04 | |
10. | "Pet" | 4:34 | |
11. | "Lullaby" | 2:01 | |
12. | "Gravity" |
| 5:08 |
Total length: | 50:36 |
Note
| Additional musicians
Production
|
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | "Weak and Powerless" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 61 |
Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 | ||
Modern Rock Tracks | 1 | ||
2004 | "The Outsider" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 79 |
Mainstream Rock Tracks | 3 | ||
Modern Rock Tracks | 5 | ||
"Blue" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 19 | |
Modern Rock Tracks | 21 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [50] | Gold | 35,000^ |
Canada (Music Canada) [51] | Gold | 50,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [52] | Gold | 7,500^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [53] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [54] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
A Perfect Circle is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle released three of their four studio albums in the early 2000s: their debut Mer de Noms in 2000, a follow-up, Thirteenth Step in 2003; and an album of radically re-worked cover songs, Emotive, in 2004. Shortly after Emotive's release, the band went on hiatus; Keenan returned to Tool and started up solo work under the band name Puscifer, while Howerdel released a solo album, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, under the moniker Ashes Divide. Band activity was sporadic in the following years; the band reformed in 2010, and played live shows on and off between 2010 and 2013, but fell into inactivity after the release of their greatest hits album, Three Sixty, and a live album box set, A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo in late 2013. The band reformed in 2017 to record a fourth album, Eat the Elephant, which was released in 2018. After spending the rest of the year touring in support of the album, the band fell into inactivity until 2024 for a brief tour and one-off song "Kindred".
William L. Howerdel is an American musician, best known as a founding member, guitarist, backing vocalist, songwriter, and producer for the band A Perfect Circle, as well as for his former solo project, Ashes Divide. Howerdel has recorded six studio albums across his career: four with A Perfect Circle, one under the moniker Ashes Divide, and one under his own name.
Emotive is the third studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The album is primarily a collection of anti-war cover songs. It was released on November 2, 2004, via Virgin Records to coincide with the US presidential election. Two singles were released in support of the album; a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine", and "Passive", a previously unreleased song originating from the defunct Tapeworm project. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, though the band would not tour in support of the album, later entering a hiatus. It would be the band's last studio release until 2018's Eat the Elephant.
Amotion is a DVD–CD set released by American rock band A Perfect Circle on November 16, 2004, only two weeks after the debut of the band's third album, eMOTIVe. The DVD consists of music videos for singles such as "Judith", "3 Libras" and "Weak and Powerless" as well as previously unreleased videos for singles such as "Blue" and "Thinking of You". The CD is composed entirely of remixes of the singles from Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step. The songs were retooled by Danny Lohner, Joshua Eustis, Massive Attack, and James Iha among others. The video album debuted at number four on the SoundScan Top Music Video chart and number ten on the Australian music DVD chart. aMOTION was certified Platinum by the RIAA on 17 December 2004.
"3 Libras" is a song by alternative rock band A Perfect Circle. The song was the second single from their debut album Mer de Noms. The song was well received both critically and commercially, with it peaking at number 12 on both the US Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts in 2000.
"The Outsider" is a song from A Perfect Circle's second album, Thirteenth Step. It was the album's second single, following "Weak and Powerless", and charted on the Billboard's Hot 100, Mainstream Rock, and Modern Rock charts in 2003.
Keep Telling Myself It's Alright is the debut studio album by American rock band Ashes Divide, the solo-project by A Perfect Circle guitarist Billy Howerdel. While efforts towards a Howerdel solo album were started even back in his time in A Perfect Circle during touring in support of their 2003 album Thirteenth Step, commitments to A Perfect Circle and other projects, along with some difficult recording sessions, pushed the album's US release out to April 8, 2008. It was released in Australia on April 19. Its first single, "The Stone", entered radio circulation in January of that year.
Maynard James Keenan is best known as the singer of rock band Tool, with whom he has recorded five studio albums, A Perfect Circle, with whom he has recorded four studio albums, and Puscifer, a side project created by Keenan, has released three studio albums.
The discography of American alternative rock supergroup A Perfect Circle consists of four studio albums, two compilation albums, one extended play, one video album, thirteen singles, one promotional single and thirteen music videos. A Perfect Circle is the brainchild of Billy Howerdel. After hearing demos of Howerdel's music, Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of Tool, offered his services as vocalist. Howerdel agreed, and the band formed in 1999. They were then joined by bassist/violinist Paz Lenchantin, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, formerly of Failure, and drummer Tim Alexander, formerly of Primus. Soon after entering the studio to record their first album, Alexander was replaced by Josh Freese of The Vandals. Mer de Noms was released in May 2000, selling 188,000 copies its debut week. The band embarked on a number of headlining tours all over the world to promote the album which was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) one month after its release, and platinum just four months later.
"By and Down" is a single by alternative rock band A Perfect Circle in 2013. The track represented the first studio material from the band in almost a decade's time. The studio version appears on the band's greatest hits album, Three Sixty, while a live version appears on their live box-set A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo, both released in 2013. The song peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. An alternate version of the song, titled "By and Down the River", was later released on the band's fourth studio album, Eat the Elephant.
A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo is a live box set by American rock supergroup, A Perfect Circle. It was released via the band's own label, A Perfect Circle Entertainment, on November 26, 2013, a week after the release of the band's greatest hits album, Three Sixty.
Three Sixty is a greatest hits compilation released by American rock band A Perfect Circle on November 19, 2013. The set compiles songs from previous albums by the band and includes one new song, "By and Down". The album was also released in a deluxe edition which includes additional studio songs from the band's back catalog and live tracks from 2011 featured on the limited edition box set A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo.
"Blue" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. It was the third single from the band's second studio album, Thirteenth Step, behind the releases of the singles "Weak and Powerless" and "The Outsider". While not as successful as the prior two singles, which crossed over into the Billboard Hot 100 charts and hit the top 5 of the Mainstream Rock charts, the song was still a moderate success, peaking at number 19 on the latter chart. A remix version, "Blue ", was created by guitarist James Iha and released on the band's compilation album Amotion as well, and also received radio airplay.
Eat the Elephant is the fourth studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle. It is their first album release in fourteen years since 2004's Emotive. While early work on new material traces back to as early as 2008, years of slow progress would ensue due to conflict between the band's chief music writers, frontman Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Billy Howerdel, largely stemming from their commitments to other projects and inability to come to an agreement on the direction to take the band. Renewed focus, alongside assistance from music producer Dave Sardy, helped propel the band into much more productive sessions across 2017, with the album being completed in early 2018. Thematically, the album covers a variety of Keenan's views on modern societal, religious, and political issues, focusing on his perceived lack of accountability in humanity. Musically, the album was viewed as an extension and maturation of their rock sound, adding more piano and electronic elements into songs for a more mellow sound than prior albums.
"The Doomed" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The song was first released as a single on October 16, 2017. It is the band's first single since 2013's "By and Down" for their greatest hits album Three Sixty, and was the lead single for their fourth studio album, Eat the Elephant. It peaked at number 16 on the Billboard US Mainstream Rock Songs chart in November 2017.
"TalkTalk" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. It was released on February 5, 2018, as their third single off of their album Eat the Elephant. It peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart.
"The Contrarian" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. It is off of the band's fourth studio album, Eat the Elephant.
Mer de Noms is the debut studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The album was released on May 23, 2000, and entered the Billboard 200 at No. 4, making it the highest ever Billboard 200 debut for a rock band's first album. It sold over 188,000 copies in the first week, and was certified platinum by the RIAA later that same year. Three singles were released in promotion of the album, "Judith", "3 Libras", and "The Hollow", all of which hit the top 20 of both the Billboard US Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts.
What Normal Was is a solo studio album by Billy Howerdel, guitarist of A Perfect Circle. The album is his first to be directly released under his own name, and his second solo album overall, after releasing his prior album, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright (2008), under the pseudonym Ashes Divide 14 years prior.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)"Worldwide chart info A Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step". www.ultratop.be. Retrieved September 4, 2011.