| Army of Anyone | ||||
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| Studio album by Army of Anyone | ||||
| Released | Nov. 14, 2006 (US) Dec. 4, 2006 (UK) |
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| Recorded | The Village Studio, Santa Monica | |||
| Genre | Hard rock Post-grunge |
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| Length | 49:24 | |||
| Label | The Firm | |||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin, Army of Anyone | |||
| Army of Anyone chronology | ||||
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Army of Anyone was the debut and lone album by Army of Anyone, an American rock band featuring Richard Patrick of Filter, the DeLeo brothers from Stone Temple Pilots (Robert and Dean), and David Lee Roth's former drummer, Ray Luzier of KoRn. The album was released on November 14, 2006 in America, December 4, 2006 in the UK. It was produced by Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Kiss, Alice Cooper) and mixed by Ken Andrews. Despite largely positive reviews, Army of Anyone was considered a commercial disappointment (given the previous success of Stone Temple Pilots and Filter), debuting at #56 on the Billboard Top 200. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold 88,000 copies as of April 2010.[1]
Contents |
"A Better Place" was the first song written by the band and was originally composed for Filter's fourth album. However, after recording the song at a home studio, Richard Patrick and the DeLeo brothers decided to halt Filter and form their own group, Army of Anyone.
"Goodbye" would be the album's lead single. It was performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on November 20, 2006[2] and Last Call with Carson Daly on November 23. "Goodbye" received considerable radio play, ultimately reaching #3 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A music video was also produced for the track. The follow-up single, "Father Figure," also received radio play but did not match the same success as its predecessor. It was performed on the July 5, 2007 edition of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The iTunes bonus track "Used to Know Her" was a downloadable mp3 on the band's official website prior to the album's release. It was later removed from the website. The iTunes version cuts out abruptly at the 2 minute 59 seconds mark. Army of Anyone has since reposted it for download on their official website.[1]
The song "It Doesn't Seem to Matter" is featured in the 2007 video game Burnout Dominator.
The band had mentioned that they had worked on up to thirty songs for the album, however, only thirteen have ever surfaced, the eleven standard songs, and the 2 b-sides "Used to Know Her" and "Good Time to Loosen".
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [3] |
| Dose | [4] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B+)[5] |
| Jam! | [6] |
| PopMatters | [7] |
| Rolling Stone | [8] |
Despite low album sales, Army of Anyone received largely positive reviews by various major publications. David Fricke of Rolling Stone proclaimed, "What looks on paper like a gene-splice supergroup, Audioslave part deux, sounds much better than that on this debut." He acknowledged the easily identified style of STP's former guitarists and cited Patrick as "a less idiosyncratic singer than STP's Scott Weiland, cleaner in tone, more on the note."
Jo-Ann Greene of Allmusic described the album as boasting "sharply written numbers filled with dynamics, musical nuances, and a big sound courtesy of producer Bob Ezrin." She satisfyingly closed by noting, "With its mixtures of moods, subtle use of genre-shifting, and powerhouse guitars, Army of Anyone breaks down the rock barriers, and fans should be joining up by the droves."
The album received an overall positive review from Marc Weingarten of Entertainment Weekly as well. Citing the group's reversion to '90s rock, he elaborated, "There's a place for this band in 2006. . . It's all a bit derivative, but the DeLeo brothers' melodic twists and turns prevent the songs from settling into a tired groove."
| Year | Song | US Hot 100 | U.S. Modern Rock | U.S. Mainstream Rock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "Goodbye" | - | 21 | 3 |
| 2007 | "Father Figure" | - | - | 31 |
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Billboard Top 200 | 56 |