10,000 Days

10,000 Days
Studio album by Tool
Released May 2, 2006
Recorded August–December 2005 at O'Henry Studios in Burbank, California, Grandmaster Studios and The Loft in Hollywood, California
Genre Progressive metal
Length 75:50
Label Tool Dissectional, Volcano Entertainment
Producer Tool
Tool chronology
Lateralus
(2001)
10,000 Days
(2006)
Singles from 10,000 Days
  1. "Vicarious"
    Released: April 17, 2006
  2. "The Pot"
    Released: 2006
  3. "Jambi"
    Released: 2007

10,000 Days is the Grammy Award-winning fourth studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on April 28, 2006 in parts of Europe, April 29 in Australia, May 1 in the United Kingdom, and May 2 in North America. By the end of 2006 the album had sold almost 3 million copies worldwide and in June 2006 the album was given a Platinum award by the RIAA.[1]

Contents

Recording

The album was recorded at O'Henry Studios in Burbank, California as well as at The Loft and Grandmaster Studios in Hollywood, California. It was mixed at Bay 7 in North Hollywood and mastered at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine. The June 2006 issue of Guitar World (released April 11, 2006) featured an interview with guitarist Adam Jones discussing the new album. Jones explained that recording techniques for the album involved the use of a "pipe bomb microphone" (a guitar pickup mounted inside a brass cylinder), and a talk box guitar solo on the song "Jambi". The "pipe bomb microphone" and other studio related information was further detailed in the June 1, 2006 issue of Mix.[2] Drummer Danny Carey operated many of the sound effects on the interlude tracks on the album using electronic drums called Mandalas.

Packaging

The compact disc packaging for 10,000 Days consists of a thick cardboard-bound booklet partly covered by a flap holding a pair of stereoscopic eyeglasses, which can be used to view a series of images inside (including, for the first time since Undertow, an individual portrait of each band member). Viewed with the glasses, the artwork produces an illusion of depth and three-dimensionality. Alex Grey, who created a majority of the album art for Lateralus and its accompanying video "Parabola", reprised his role for 10,000 Days. The CD face itself is decorated with stylized eyes, arranged in a seemingly logarithmic spiral toward the center (adapted from a previous Alex Grey painting, "Net of Being"). As with Tool's other albums, the lyrics are not printed within the artwork; vocalist Maynard James Keenan has instead released the lyrics online.[3]

On May 5, 2006, the band's official webmaster hinted that "the four individual photos [of the band members] can be used as the pieces of a kind of puzzle", but the puzzle and its meaning "will just be another nut to crack".[4]

On February 11, 2007, Adam Jones, art director and guitarist for the band, received the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for his work on the 10,000 Days packaging.

Singles

On March 27, 2006 Billboard.com posted an article about 10,000 Days,[5] which mentioned that "Vicarious" would be the album's first single. "Vicarious" was officially released to radio on April 17, and entered the Modern Rock Tracks chart at #2. A music video for the song was released on DVD on December 18, 2007.[6] The song has also been featured as a playable track on the video game Guitar Hero World Tour. The second single from the album was "The Pot", which peaked at #5 on the Modern Rock chart. It was the band's first #1 single on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A video for "The Pot" was scheduled to shoot over the 2006 holiday season.[7] "Jambi" was the third radio single and received airtime on both Modern[8] and Mainstream Rock[9] formats.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [10]
Drowned in Sound (8/10)[11]
IGN [12]
Pitchfork Media (5.9/10)[13]
PopMatters [14]
Rolling Stone [15]
The Skinny [16]
Sputnik Music [17]

10,000 Days received generally favorable critical reception, albeit with less enthusiasm than previous Tool albums. Most critics praised the album as another example of Tool's musicianship.[18] Critics who gave 10,000 Days a relatively low score questioned the merits of its ambient interludes, which Tool have also used on their previous releases. In addition, the song "Vicarious" was nominated for the "Best Hard Rock Performance" Grammy. Rolling Stone magazine named it the 38th Best Album of 2006.[19] The album also received a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Recording Package. In 2008, 10,000 Days garnered another Grammy nomination when "The Pot" was nominated for "Best Hard Rock Performance".

Internet leak

On April 14, 2006, a 30-second clip from "Vicarious" aired on Pittsburgh radio station "105.9 The X". Subsequently, the entire song was leaked in WAV format when a private FTP server (used to distribute the song to radio stations) was left open without password protection for a few minutes.[20] The entire album was later leaked to the Internet, despite heavy security and strict conditions regarding media previews. Exactly how the album came to be leaked is unknown. Some rumors had led fans to believe that the band leaked it to spite their record company,[21] yet statements from Keenan in interviews expressing his distaste for Internet leaks seem to contradict this.

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Vicarious"   7:07
2. "Jambi"   7:27
3. "Wings for Marie (Pt 1)"   6:11
4. "10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)"   11:13
5. "The Pot"   6:21
6. "Lipan Conjuring"   1:11
7. "Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)"   3:46
8. "Rosetta Stoned"   11:11
9. "Intension"   7:21
10. "Right in Two"   8:55
11. "Viginti Tres"   5:02
Total length:
75:50

Personnel

Tool
Guests
  • Bill McConnell – vocals on "Lipan Conjuring"
  • Pete Riedling – vocals of "Doctor Watson" on "Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)"[22]
  • Camella Grace – voice of Nurse on "Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)"[23]
Production

Charting

10,000 Days entered the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at number one, selling 564,000 copies in its first week. In Australia, 10,000 Days debuted at #1, selling 39,278 in its first week. In the UK, the album debuted at #4, the highest chart position they have ever managed in that country. It was certified Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA on June 9, 2006. As of April 2007, 10,000 Days has sold 2.75 million copies worldwide. As of July 7, 2010, the album has sold 1,736,000 copies in the US.

Album

Country Chart (2006) Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200 1
Canada Canadian Albums Chart 1
Australia Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1
New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart 1
Austria Austria Top 40 Longplay Charts 1
Denmark Album Chart 2
Finland Top 40 Album Chart 2
France French Albums Chart 7
Germany Media Control Charts 2
Hungary MAHASZ Top 40 Chart 10
Ireland IRMA 6
Israel 1
Netherlands 1
Norway VG/GGF 1
Poland 1
Czech Republic 23
Portugal Top Albums Chart [25]
United Kingdom UK Albums Chart 4[26]
Sweden Grammofonleverantörernas förening (Best selling albums) 2

Singles

Year Single Chart Peak position
2006 "Vicarious" Billboard Hot 100 55
Mainstream Rock Tracks 2
Modern Rock Tracks 2
"The Pot" Billboard Hot 100 94
Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
Modern Rock Tracks 5
2007 "Jambi" Mainstream Rock Tracks 7
Modern Rock Tracks 23

References

  1. ^ "RIAA's Gold and Platinum Program". RIAA. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS. Retrieved 2011-08-06. 
  2. ^ "Jeff Forlenza". "The Making of Tool's '10,000 Days'". Mix. http://mixonline.com/recording/projects/audio_making_tools_days/. Retrieved 2006-06-01. 
  3. ^ lyrics to "10,000 days"
  4. ^ "Blair Mackenzie Blake". "Puzzle?". Billboard. http://www.toolband.com/news. Retrieved 2006-05-10. 
  5. ^ "Jonathan Cohen". "Tool Feeling 'Vicarious' On New Album". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002237083. Retrieved 2006-04-28. 
  6. ^ "Tool News". October 18, 2007. http://www.toolband.com/news/index.html. Retrieved 2007-10-20. 
  7. ^ "Tool finds "Pot" of Gold with Latest Single". The Rock Radio online. 2006-11-29. http://www.therockradio.com/2006/11/tool-finds-pot-of-gold-with-latest.html. Retrieved 2007-01-18. 
  8. ^ "Modern Rock - Available for Airplay". http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=16770. Retrieved 2006-12-13. 
  9. ^ "Mainstream Rock - Available for Airplay". http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=16697. Retrieved 2006-12-13. 
  10. ^ Theakston, Rob. 10,000 Days allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  11. ^ Cowen, Nick. Tool 10,000 Days drownedinsound.com. 2006-05-12. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  12. ^ Tool - 10,000 Days ign.com. 2006-05-02. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  13. ^ Harvell, Jess. Tool 10,000 Days pitchfork.com. 2006-05-01. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  14. ^ Begrand, Adrien. Tool: 10,000 Days popmatters.com. 2006-05-06. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  15. ^ Serpcik, Evan. Tool 10,000 Days rollingstone.com. 2006-06-07. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  16. ^ Kerr, Dave. Tool - '10,000 Days' theskinny.co.uk. 2006-06-15. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  17. ^ http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/6669/Tool-10%2C000-Days/
  18. ^ AllMusicGuide review by Rob Theakston
  19. ^ "The Top 50 albums of 2006". Rolling Stone. 2006-12-29. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/50albums/page/8. Retrieved 2008-01-24. 
  20. ^ Kabir Akhtar. "Vicarious Leaked – Minneapolis Confirmed". Toolshed. http://toolshed.down.net/news/. Retrieved 2006-04-28. 
  21. ^ "Jessa Kay". "Tool's New Album 10,000 Days Leaked to Internet.". "BlogCritics.org". http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/04/19/083102.php. Retrieved 2006-04-30. >
  22. ^ "Tool Newsletter". Tool website. http://www.toolband.com/news/letter/index.php?t=1&id=44. 
  23. ^ "Butcher Biography". Butcher website. http://www.butcherband.com/butcher/bio.php. 
  24. ^ "Joe Barresi". McDonough Management. http://www.mcdman.com/barresi.html. 
  25. ^ 6
  26. ^ "UK chart information 10,000 Days". www.chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=34920. Retrieved 2011-08-06. 
Preceded by
IV by Godsmack
Billboard 200 number-one album
May 14–20, 2006
Succeeded by
Stadium Arcadium
by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Preceded by
The Hard Road by Hilltop Hoods
Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
May 8–14, 2006
Succeeded by
Stadium Arcadium
by Red Hot Chili Peppers