Simple Plan (album)

Simple Plan is the third studio album by Canadian pop punk band Simple Plan, released on February 12, 2008. It reached #2 on the Canadian album charts, #14 on the US Billboard 200 and charted in the top 10 worldwide in countries including Australia, Austria, Brazil, Sweden and Switzerland.

History

Having finished most touring in support of Still Not Getting Any... in March 2006, Simple Plan took some time off and then began work on writing new material with Arnold Lanni, who had produced their first album. On July 1, 2007, they went to the studio and began tracking. They started with drum tracking in Los Angeles after pre-production, then went back to Montreal to finish the rest of the recording process. During September 2007, the band had finished recording and went back to L.A. to mix the album with Chris Lord-Alge. After mixing, the band went to New York to master the album, thus finishing the building of the album. This was announced on October 21.

The CD was originally set for release on January 29, 2008. However, on November 29, 2007, the band announced a two weeks' delay due to production difficulties, and the need to re-record some lyrics from the song "Generation". The released version of "Generation" would be considerably different from that distributed on the review copies of the CD, with the latter beginning "This world's so sad and lonely/Won't you come and spend some time with me?"^[7]

An album cover was released in early December 2007. Soon afterwards, in his MySpace blog, band frontman Pierre Bouvier responded to fan concerns about the cover, defending the artwork. However, on December 12, the band released a second proposed album cover, and invited fan views by email about each, indicating (despite Bouvier's earlier comments) that they were fine with either cover. On December 14, 2007, the alternative cover depicted above was announced as selected over the original one depicted below. In April 2008, the rejected CD was released as a limited-edition CD cover in Australia.

"Your Love Is a Lie" was first publicly performed at a taping for YouTube on December 18, 2007. All the songs on the CD, except "Holding On" were played at a small show in Montreal on January 11, 2008.

The album would also be nominated for the 2008 Juno Awards in the "Best Album" category, but lost to Nickelback's Dark Horse.

The album took more of an alternative rock sound than their previous albums, which usually feature a pop punk style. However pop punk influences are present in the tracks, "When I'm Gone", "Take My Hand", "Generation" and "Time to Say Goodbye".

Singles and notable songs

• The first single from the album was "When I'm Gone", and was released on October 29, by iTunes and lala.com. The "World Premiere" of the song was part of a webcast with band members, in which the band answered fan questions. On October 24, Simple Plan had put up a 25 second preview of "When I'm Gone" on their website. It peaked at No. 11 on the Canadian Hot 100 and No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart.

• The second single "Your Love Is a Lie" was released in February and reached No.16 on the Canadian Hot 100 and No.8 (108) on the U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles.

• The third single "Save You" was released on August 14. Lead singer Pierre Bouvier has stated in interviews that the song deals with his brother's battle with cancer. To promote awareness of this issue, the music video featured many famous cancer survivors. The song peaked at No. 18 on the Canadian Hot 100.

• Even without being released as a single, in August 2008, "I Can Wait Forever" was chosen as the title track for Animax Asia's original feature length anime "LaMB". Animax Asia made an animated video for "I Can Wait Forever", released in December 2008.^[8]

• The song "No Love", despite not being released as a single, entered on the Canadian Hot 100 in the issue of March 12, 2009. The song peaked at No. 77.^[9]

• The song "Generation" was chosen to be the goal song for the 100th season of the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL. Also, despite not being released as a single, it managed to peak at No. 90 on the Canadian Hot 100 in the issue of June 18.^[9]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Pierre Bouvier and Chuck Comeau. 

Limited and Japanese editions bonus tracks^[10]

Limited Australian edition bonus DVD

• Track listings on commercial sites refer to "explicit" and "amended" versions, on the latter of which Bouvier's use of "f**ks" in the song "Your Love Is A Lie" is amended.

Release dates

• January 31, 2008 – Argentina^[11]
• February 6, 2008 – Japan
• February 8, 2008 – Germany, Belgium, Netherlands
• February 11, 2008 – France, Portugal, South Africa
• February 12, 2008 – Canada, United States, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Southeast Asia
• February 13, 2008 – Finland, Sweden
• February 14, 2008 – Malaysia
• February 15, 2008 – Italy
• February 16, 2008 – Australia
• February 17, 2008 – Denmark
• February 18, 2008 – United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, India

Charts

Weekly charts

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Simple Plan Back In Action With Third Album". Billboard. October 24, 2007. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003662224. 
2. ^ Simple Plan (album) at Allmusic
3. ^ Feb 2008, p. 109.
4. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20176799,00.html
5. ^ http://entertainment.iafrica.com/music/latest/155292.htm
6. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/music/simple-plan/critic-reviews
7. ^ Review copy of CD, registered number #1763, issued to Naoko Isozaki of bayfm and subsequently purchased on eBay, track 6
8. ^ Channelnewsasia.com
9. ^ ^{a b} Bilboard.com
10. ^ Amazon.com: Simple Plan (Deluxe Edition) PA: Simple Plan: Music
11. ^ Release date in Argentina MusiMundo.com
12. ^ Australian Record Industry Association
13. ^ "Austrian Charts > Simple Plan" (in German). austriancharts.at Hung Medien. http://austriancharts.at/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Simple+Plan. Retrieved 2009-12-15. 
14. ^ ABPD.org.be
15. ^ Canoe.cam, Music SoundScan Charts
16. ^ Mexicancharts.com, Mexican Charts – Albums – 12.12.2008
17. ^ "French Charts > Simple Plan" (in French). lescharts.com Hung Medien. http://lescharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Simple+Plan. Retrieved 2009-12-15. 
18. ^ "Dutch Album Charts > Simple Plan" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl Hung Medien. http://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?search=simple+plan&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-12-25. 
19. ^ ProMusicae.es
20. ^ ^{a b} Acharts.us, Simple Plan – Simple Plan – Music Charts