Gloriana (album)

Gloriana
Studio album by Gloriana
Released August 4, 2009 (2009-08-04) (NA)[1]
January 11, 2010 (2010-01-11) (AUS)
March 22, 2010 (2010-03-22) (re-issue)
Recorded Black Bird Studios (Nashville, TN)
Emblem Studios (Calabasas, CA)
Genre Country
Length 47:12
Label Emblem/New Revolution
Reprise Nashville
Warner Bros. Nashville
Producer Matt Serletic
Gloriana chronology
The Way It Goes
(2009)		 Gloriana
(2009)		 A Thousand Miles Left Behind
(2012)
Singles from Gloriana
  1. "Wild at Heart"
    Released: February 2, 2009 (2009-02-02)
  2. "How Far Do You Wanna Go?"
    Released: September 28, 2009 (2009-09-28)
  3. "The World Is Ours Tonight"
    Released: February 8, 2010 (2010-02-08)

Gloriana is the self-titled debut album of the American country music group Gloriana. It was released on August 4, 2009 via Emblem Music Group, with Warner Bros. Records Nashville serving as distributor. The album debuted at position number 3 on US Billboard 200, and number 2 on Billboard Country Albums. The album spawned two singles in "Wild at Heart" and "How Far Do You Wanna Go?" The album was re-released in March 2010 to include "The World Is Ours Tonight," which was released in March 2010 as the album's third single.

Contents

Content

Several of the album's tracks were co-written by Emblem Music Group owner Matt Serletic, who also produced the album. Among his credits are the album's first two singles, "Wild at Heart" and "How Far Do You Wanna Go?" He co-wrote the former with Josh Kear and former Epic Records artist Stephanie Bentley, and the latter with Jeffrey Steele and former Western Flyer member Danny Myrick. "Wild at Heart" was the group's debut single and reached a peak of #15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The second single, "How Far Do You Wanna Go?" was released in September 2009, and was a minor Top 40 hit.

The album was re-issued on March 22, 2010, to include "The World Is Ours Tonight," which was recorded for the 2010 Winter Olympics.[2] It was released as the album's third single in February 2010; it debuted at #51 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of April 3, 2010 and reached a peak of #37. All proceeds from the single went to Team USA.[3]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "How Far Do You Wanna Go?"   Danny Myrick, Matt Serletic, Jeffrey Steele 3:50
2. "Wild at Heart"   Stephanie Bentley, Josh Kear, Serletic 3:42
3. "The Way It Goes"   Myrick, Serletic, Steele 3:15
4. "Lead Me On"   Bentley, Ben Glover 4:05
5. "If You’re Leavin’"   Bentley, Trey Bruce, Kevin Kadish 2:39
6. "You Said"   Chuck Jones, Serletic, Steele 2:44
7. "Cry on Command"   Kear, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Serletic 3:57
8. "Over Me Now"   Tyler Hayes, Karyn Rochelle, Shane Stevens 3:00
9. "Come and Save Me"   Jess Cates, Lindy Robbins, Serletic 3:36
10. "Even If I Wanted To"   Jones, Serletic, Steele 3:55
11. "All the Things That Mean the Most"   Myrick, Serletic, Steele 3:53
12. "Change Your Mind"   Glover, Jennifer Schott, John Paul White 3:46
13. "Time to Let Me Go"   Kyle Cook, Mike Gossin, Tom Gossin, Rachel Reinert 5:02

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Country Standard Time [4]
Country Weekly [5]
Entertainment Weekly C[6]
The 9513 [7]

The album has received mixed reviews, with the main point of criticism being over-production. Chris Neal of Country Weekly magazine gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five. He noted the vocal harmonies and the shared lead vocals among all four members, and added "[Serletic] sometimes obscures the songs with sonic knickknacks they don't need."[5] Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album three stars out of five, saying that the band's sound was "stylized synthesis of Fleetwood Mac and '70s Californian country rock" and "country in name only."[1] He also said that the sound was "entirely too slick" on some tracks but reminiscent of "prime Rick Springfield" on others.[1] Jim Malec of The 9513 also gave a three-star review, saying the songs were well-written and performed, but lacked a sense of personality.[7] Country Standard Time writer Jessica Phillips considered the album overproduced as well, but added that the band "seem[s] to have found a comfortable niche" and noted a theme of relationships among each song.[4] Whitney Pastorek of Entertainment Weekly gave a C rating, saying that the band "falls somewhere between maudlin boy band songwriting clichés and a particularly melodramatic Six Flags country revue." She cited "Come and Save Me" and "Time to Let Me Go" as the strongest tracks due to their simpler production.[6]

Chart performance

Album

As of April 2010, the album has sold just over 200,000 copies.

Chart (2009) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200 3
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 2
Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart 43
Australian Top Country Albums 3

End of year charts

Chart (2010) Year-end
2010
US Billboard Top Country Albums 62[8]

Singles

Year Single Peak chart
positions
US Country US
2009 "Wild at Heart" 15 53
"How Far Do You Wanna Go?" 36 —
2010 "The World Is Ours Tonight" 37 —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

References

  1. ^ a b c d Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Gloriana". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1606068. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  2. ^ Roland, Tom (12 February 2010). "Rascal Flatts, Gloriana, Sugarland Aid Olympic Album". Great American Country. http://blog.gactv.com/blog/2010/02/12/rascal-flatts-gloriana-sugarland-aid-olympic-album/. Retrieved 7 July 2010. 
  3. ^ "Gloriana learn the world is theirs". Country Standard Time. 22 February 2010. http://www.countrystandardtime.com/NEWS/newsitem.asp?xid=3819. Retrieved 7 July 2010. 
  4. ^ a b Phillips, Jessica. "Gloriana review". Country Standard Time. http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4208. Retrieved 2009-08-25. 
  5. ^ a b Neal, Chris (2009-08-03). "Reviews". Country Weekly 16 (25): 51. 
  6. ^ a b Pastorek, Whitney (2009-07-29). "Gloriana review". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20294573,00.html. Retrieved 2009-08-25. 
  7. ^ a b Malec, Jim (2009-08-05). "Gloriana review". The 9513. http://www.the9513.com/album-review-gloriana-gloriana/. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
  8. ^ "Best of 2010 - Top Country Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts-year-end/top-country-albums?year=2010. Retrieved 2010-12-31.