Under the Iron Sea
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| Under The Iron Sea | ||
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| Studio album by Keane | ||
| Released | June 20, 2006 | |
| Recorded | April - August 2005 at Helioscentric Studios in Rye, East Sussex October 2005 - February 2006 in New York City |
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| Genre | Rock Piano rock Alternative |
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| Length | 50:30 | |
| Label | Island | |
| Producer(s) | Andy Green | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| Keane chronology | ||
| EP Live Recordings 2004 (2005) |
Under the Iron Sea (2006) |
Keane Live 06 (2006) |
| Alternative Cover | ||
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| Cover for release with Bonus DVD. | ||
Under The Iron Sea is the second album by English piano rock band Keane, and the follow-up to their successful debut album Hopes and Fears. It was released June 12, 2006 internationally, excluding Japan (June 7), Germany, Holland, Ireland, Mexico, Switzerland (June 9) and the United States and Canada (June 20). However, in Belgium it was accidentally released on June 5 on iTunes for two hours; the album was completely leaked to the internet. In Mexico, it was also accidentally released on June 9 since a music store received some early copies of the album.
The band have said that it has a darker, more electronic sound than Hopes and Fears, describing it as a "sinister fairytale-world-gone-wrong"[1].
Contents |
[edit] Description and songs
"Nothing In My Way", "Try Again" and "Hamburg Song" debuted between late 2004 and 2005 during the Hopes and Fears Tour. "Hamburg Song" is an acoustic song, written only for piano and organ, but the album version included an accordion effect. "Is It Any Wonder?", "Atlantic" and "Crystal Ball" (the three first singles) were premiered at a secret gig in London on April 5.
The first release was "Atlantic", which was issued as a download-only music video on April 25, featuring a specially extended version of the song incorporating the outro from album track "The Iron Sea". Irvine Welsh, author of the novel Trainspotting, directed the video, which was filmed in black and white on Sussex beach, and did not feature the band.
"Is It Any Wonder?" followed as the first single proper, out May 29, and released on both CD and 7" in the UK. Its video was directed by Kevin Godley, best known for his work on music videos for The Police and Duran Duran in the mid-1980s.
There was also a Bonus DVD released version (also called "Limited" or "Special Edition") with a book-shaped cover representing a fairy-tale story, with drawings in the inner pages. The DVD includes demo versions for all tracks except "Nothing In My Way", "Hamburg Song" and "Try Again" that were recorded live.
The title of the album is derived from the lyric "I lost my heart, I buried it too deep, under the iron sea", which appears in the eighth song, "Crystal Ball".
This album was accidentally put on sale for a few hours on June 2nd 2006 by Apple Computer's Belgian iTunes Music Store, and while this was widely publicised as a leak of the album, no one on the band's messageboard was able to buy it in this time frame. A US edition of the album eventually leaked in its entirety to file-sharing networks on June 5 2006.
In its first week on sale in the UK, the album went to #1, selling 222,297 copies according to figures from the Official Chart Company. In the United States, the album came in at a respectable #4 on the Billboard 200, selling 75,702 units in its first week. As of August 21, the album had sold above 1,000,000 copies worldwide and remains on the top 9 (UK Albums Chart).
[edit] Cover and Under The Iron Sea era
Compared with the previous releases by Keane during the Hopes and Fears era, are notably the typeface and style of cover art changes. Sanna Annuka Smith, a half-Finnish artist from Brighton had designed the cover art for all Keane releases since March 2006, when the album's cover art was developed.
The typeface also changed from the "Cochin" typeface used on the 2004 and 2005 releases. The newer font was specially designed for Keane but no specific name was given apart from the "UTIS" fan-name (abbreviation of "Under The Iron Sea"). Maybe one of the most notable changes in the UTIS releases are the guitar-distorted piano effects used on several songs on the album (most notably "Is It Any Wonder?"). These are however actually produced by effect pedals bought by Rice-Oxley during the Hopes and Fears Tour in the US.
[edit] Track listing
All tracks written by Tim Rice-Oxley, Tom Chaplin, and Richard Hughes'.
CD
- "Atlantic" 4:13
- "Is It Any Wonder?" 3:01
- "Nothing In My Way" 4:00
- "Leaving So Soon?" 3:58
- "A Bad Dream" 5:04
- "Hamburg Song" 4:37
- "Put It Behind You" 3:36
- The international version of the album, including the US release, featured this song with "The Iron Sea" as one track, totalling – 6:33.
- "The Iron Sea" 2:57
- "Crystal Ball" 3:53
- "Try Again" 4:27
- "Broken Toy" 6:07
- "The Frog Prince" 4:22
[edit] Bonus DVD
The album was also released in the uk with a Bonus DVD. The packaging was also changed for this release, being more like a hard-bound book.
[edit] Videos
- Recording Under The Iron Sea
- Short Film Set To An Extended Version Of Atlantic
- Is It Any Wonder? [Video]
- Making The Is It Any Wonder? Video
[edit] Works In Progress
- Atlantic [Demo 29th January 2005]
- Is It Any Wonder? [Demo 31st March 2005]
- Nothing In My Way [Live From Aragon Theater, Chicago 19th May 2005]
- Leaving So Soon? [Demo 29th October 2005]
- A Bad Dream [Demo 7th July 2005]
- Hamburg Song [Live From Aragon Theater, Chicago 19th May 2005]
- Put It Behind You [Demo 8th January 2005]
- The Iron Sea [Helioscentric Recording Session 9th April 2005]
- Crystal Ball [Demo 7th July 2005]
- Try Again [Live From Aragon Theater, Chicago 19th May 2005]
- Broken Toy [Demo 30th August 2005]
- The Frog Prince [Demo 7th July 2005]
[edit] Information and meaning of songs
- "Atlantic" (album version) (2006) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- "Atlantic" was the first single off Under the Iron Sea. The video version was longer than the album one.
- "Is It Any Wonder?" (2006) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- "Is It Any Wonder?" is Keane's main single from their second album Under the Iron Sea. The "guitar sounds" on the main riff came actually from a distortion piano
- "The Frog Prince" (2006) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- "The Frog Prince" is Keane's closing track from their second album Under the Iron Sea.
- Problems playing the files? See media help.
All information found on Keaneshaped - FAQ - What are the songs about? (except where noted)
[edit] Atlantic
"Atlantic" was the first single off the album, a only download video. It charted at number 35.
[edit] Is It Any Wonder?
"Is It Any Wonder" is the only Keane song completely composed using distortion guitar effects pedals.
[edit] Nothing In My Way
The song will be released as the fourth single of the album. It was previously called "Nothing In Your Way".
[edit] Leaving So Soon?
"Leaving So Soon?" was the last song composed for the album, in 2005. The song is considered as a fan favourite and is remains as the Keane song with the highest tempo ever released (144).
- Tempo: 144bpm
- Key: A6
- Time signature: 4/4 16 beat
| It's a defense of the three of us in the band |
[edit] A Bad Dream
This song will be released as the fifth single from the album on early 2007.
[edit] Hamburg Song
"Hamburg Song" is the only organ-voice Keane song to date. The song talks about Rice-Oxley troubles with Tom Chaplin and how he feels. The song was premiered on October 20, 2004 as a demo. The final version was slowed down and the organ sound changed a little. It doesn't feature drums but a few ride crashes on the outro.
- Tempo: 60bpm (65bpm demo version)
- Key: G (Maj)
- Time siganture: 4/4 8 beat
[edit] Put It Behind You
Composed in mid 2004 because of Richard's break-up with his girlfriend. The song was first mentioned on Strangers by Rice-Oxley. A demo version of this song is included on the Under the Iron Sea DVD. During live performances of this song, the three members of the band sing on the main chorus, contrary to the album version, in which Hughes doesn't sing.
- Tempo: 137bpm
- Key: F (Maj)
- Time signature: 4/4 8 beat
| It's about Richard's messy break-up with his girlfriend after seven years |
[edit] The Iron Sea
It appears as a demo on Strangers, with Tim playing it at the Helioscentric Studios. "The Iron Sea" was composed in 2004 by him. On the UK version, "The Iron Sea" is the eight track but in the International version is a hidden song after "Put It Behind You". The outro was also used on the single version of "Atlantic". The place where the track title should be on the CD tracklist is marked with a change of colour (from dark blue to blue).
- Tempo: 89bpm (increasing)
- Key: Bbm
- Time signature: 4/4
| It's the key track of the record |
[edit] Crystal Ball
This song was the third single released, charting at number 20.
[edit] Try Again
The song will be released only in Germany as the last single from the album.
[edit] Broken Toy
Composed using a jazz rock style, this is the longest song to be released by Keane on any of their major-label releases, at 6:07 minutes in length. (The longest song recorded is The Happy Soldier at 7:43.) The song has split opinion amongst the fanbase, due to the fact it is a marked stylistic departure from previous Keane songs. However because of this, it is also viewed as possibly the best indicator yet as to which direction the band may take on their third album. [1]
- Tempo: 120bpm
- Key: D7
- Time signature: 3/4
| It talks about the relationship between me and Tom (Tim Rice-Oxley) |
[edit] The Frog Prince
"The Frog Prince" was composed in 2004. It was first mentioned by Tim on the Strangers DVD. A demo version also features Tim singing on the lead vocals.
Rice-Oxley explains the song on the 6th podcast:
| (...)It was inspired by a conversation that Tom and I were having in a slightly drunken state in a hotel in Toronto, and we were talking about someone in another band who we felt was a really talented songwriter and really intelligent and talented person, but we felt he was busy bad-mouthing us and every other band that was around it seemed. It was very frustrating to see him go from a cool great songwriter in a small indie band, to suddenly becoming this person who's playing the part of the arrogant rock star(...) |
Richard gives also a meaning to this on the link above.
Despite Rice-Oxley having stated several times that The Frog Prince is about a singer from another band, some fans believe it is actually about Tom Chaplin. A number of artists have been mentioned, including Noel Gallagher, Alex Turner, James Blunt, Morrisey and Chris Martin. On August 19, 2006, an NME article stated the song was about Johnny Borrell of Razorlight. Tim Rice-Oxley has confirmed this in a Keane Newsletter.
- Tempo: 112bpm
- Key: Bmaj7/F
- Time signature: 4/4 16-beat
[edit] Chart Performances
- United Kingdom : (2x Platinum) (Sales:650,000)
- United States : (Sales:270,000)
- Worldwide Sales: 2,114,525
[edit] General charts
| Chart | Peak position |
Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4 | |
| Australia | 16 | |
| Belgium | 3 | |
| Canada | 7 | |
| Denmark | 5 | |
| Finland | 8 | |
| France | 8 | |
| Germany | 3 | |
| Holland | 1 | |
| Hungary | 21 | |
| Ireland | 1 | |
| Italy | 10 | |
| Mexico | 3 | |
| New Zealand | 5 | |
| Norway | 3 | |
| Poland | 69 | |
| Portugal | 3 | |
| Spain | 3 | |
| Sweden | 4 | |
| Switzerland | 2 | Gold (15,000) |
| iTunes Music Store (UK) | 1 | |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 2xPlatinum (635,000) |
| United States | 4 | (270,000) |
[edit] See also
[edit] Quotes
| It's kind of a sinister-fairytale-world-gone wrong |
| We wrote Under The Iron Sea because we needed a record that was going to make us feel alive again |
[edit] External links
| Keane |
|---|
| Tim Rice-Oxley | Tom Chaplin | Richard Hughes |
| Adam Tudhope | Dominic Scott |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Hopes and Fears | Under the Iron Sea |
| Lives and EPs: Live Recordings 2004 | Keane Live 06 |
| Singles: "Call Me What You Like" | "Wolf at the Door" | "Everybody's Changing (Part 1)" | "This Is The Last Time (Part 1)" | "Somewhere Only We Know" | "Everybody's Changing (Part 2)" | "Bedshaped" | "This Is The Last Time (Part 2)"| "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" | "Bend and Break" | "Atlantic" | "Is It Any Wonder?" | "Crystal Ball" | "Nothing in My Way" | "A Bad Dream" | "Try Again" |
| DVDs: Hopes and Fears DVD | Strangers | Under the Iron Sea DVD |
| Tours: Hopes and Fears Tour | Under the Iron Sea Tour |
| Other: List of songs by Keane |
| Related articles |
| Piano rock | Battle, East Sussex | Rye, East Sussex | War Child (charity) | Help - a Day in the Life |
