The Family Jewels (Marina and the Diamonds album)

The Family Jewels
Studio album by Marina and the Diamonds
Released 15 February 2010 (2010-02-15)
Recorded 2009; Konk Studios, The Ivory Tower, Sarm Studio 2, Studio Eleven
(London, England)
Biffco Studios
(Brighton, England)
Kingsize Soundlabs
(Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California)
Genre Indie pop, New Wave
Length 47:11
Label 679, Atlantic
Producer Marina Diamandis, Pascal Gabriel, Liam Howe, Ash Howes, Greg Kurstin, Richard Stannard, Starsmith
Marina and the Diamonds chronology
The Crown Jewels EP
(2009)		 The Family Jewels
(2010)		 The American Jewels EP
(2010)
Singles from The Family Jewels
  1. "Mowgli's Road"
    Released: 13 November 2009
  2. "Hollywood"
    Released: 1 February 2010
  3. "I Am Not a Robot"
    Released: 26 April 2010
  4. "Oh No!"
    Released: 2 August 2010
  5. "Shampain"
    Released: 11 October 2010

The Family Jewels is the debut studio album by Welsh recording artist Marina and the Diamonds, released on 15 February 2010 by 679 Recordings and Atlantic Records. The album was mostly produced by Liam Howe, Richard Stannard, Ash Howes, Pascal Gabriel and Greg Kurstin. It was certified gold in the United Kingdom.[1] The NME placed the album at number thirty-three on its list of the Top 75 Albums of 2010.[2]

Contents

Background

Diamandis explained that the album "a body of work largely inspired by the seduction of commercialism, modern social values, family and female sexuality".[3] She also describes it as "a really diverse album stylistically speaking because I'm such a flexible writer, so there's a lot of pop on it, but there's kind of a lot of leftfield experimental stuff as well. It's basically an album about what not to be."[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (68/100)[5]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [6]
BBC Music (fairly positive)[7]
Clash (6/10)[8]
The Daily Telegraph [9]
The Guardian [10]
musicOMH [11]
NME (9/10)[12]
Q [13]
The Sunday Times [14]
Yahoo! Music [15]

The Family Jewels received mostly positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[5] Hugh Montgomery of Q magazine noted that the album presented a range of different styles, skipping "from glam-disco ('Shampain') and bubblegum punk ('Girls') to quavering piano laments ('Obsessions') and cabaret ditties ('Hermit The Frog')", adding that the singer's "imaginative reach" was "complemented by a winning pop savviness."[13] However, The Independent's Andy Gill gave the album a negative review saying it "demonstrates the inevitable workings of entropy on pop methodology" and describes "Shampain" and "Hermit the Frog" as "every bit as annoying as their punning titles, with queasy, prancing piano and synth figures labouring away methodically, Mika-fashion, while she searches unsuccessfully for worthwhile lyrical routes".[16]

Luke O'Neil from The Phoenix stated that "[t]he likes of Kate Nash and company have flitted through this piano siren/exuberant dance-diva territory, but never mind, because this gorgeous genre starts now."[17] Lou Thomas from BBC Music commented that "[t]he consistently diverting changes in style across the album are fine—the wonky 80s shoulder-pad pop of 'The Outsider' is nothing like anything else here, for example. But over 13 songs of Sparks-voice and many similar staccato piano riffs listeners may feel bludgeoned by Marina and her slightly overbearing presence."[7] Leonie Cooper from NME rated the album nine out of ten stars and wrote, "An album with a distinct dual personality, Marina's dazzling The Family Jewels pitches the confident, MTV Awards-headlining superstar of our dreams against a more self-deprecating girl-next-door Marina who's dead set on Supertramping and vamping her way out of her fug."[12]

Singles

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. "Are You Satisfied?"   Marina Diamandis Liam Howe, Richard "Biff" Stannard, Ash Howes 3:21
2. "Shampain"   Diamandis, Howe, Pascal Gabriel Gabriel, Howe, Stannard (additional) 3:11
3. "I Am Not a Robot"   Diamandis Howe 3:35
4. "Girls"   Diamandis, Howe, Gabriel Gabriel, Howe 3:28
5. "Mowgli's Road"   Diamandis, Howe Howe 3:12
6. "Obsessions"   Diamandis Howe 3:38
7. "Hollywood"   Diamandis Stannard, Howes, Starsmith (original production) 3:50
8. "The Outsider"   Diamandis Howe, Diamandis 3:17
9. "Hermit the Frog"   Diamandis Howe, Diamandis (additional) 3:35
10. "Oh No!"   Diamandis, Greg Kurstin Kurstin 3:02
11. "Rootless"   Diamandis, Howe, Gabriel Gabriel, Howe 3:28
12. "Numb"   Diamandis Howe 4:16
13. "Guilty"   Diamandis, Stannard, Howes Stannard, Howes 3:40
Notes

Personnel

  • Dougal Lott – assistant engineer, Pro Tools
  • Alex Mackenzie – harpsichord, drums, additional piano, mandolin
  • Mat Maitland – sleeve art
  • Calina de la Mere – violin
  • Anna Mowat – cello
  • Anna Phoebe – violin
  • Luke Potashnick – guitar
  • Rankin – portraits
  • Raymond67 (Freesound Project) – mechanical monkey
  • Rachel Robson – viola
  • Sandyrb (Freesound Project) – human monkey
  • Lucy Shaw – string arrangements, double bass
  • Richard "Biff" Stannard – producer, mixing, programming, additional producer, keyboards, additional keyboards, drums, instrumentation
  • Starsmith – original producer
  • Dave Turner – mastering
  • David Westlake – drums
  • Richard Wilkinson – engineer
  • Chris Worsey – cello

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[28] 79
Austrian Albums Chart[29] 18
Dutch Albums Chart[30] 88
European Top 100 Albums[31] 20
French Albums Chart[32] 132
German Albums Chart[33] 12
Greek International Albums Chart[34] 7
Irish Albums Chart[35] 9
Swiss Albums Chart[36] 100
UK Albums Chart[37] 5
US Billboard 200[38] 138
US Rock Albums[39] 49
US Heatseekers Albums[40] 2

Certifications

Country Certification
Ireland Gold[41]
United Kingdom Gold[1]

Year-end charts

Chart (2010) Position
UK Albums Chart[42] 87

Release history

Country Date Label Format
Ireland[43] 15 February 2010 679 Recordings, Atlantic Records CD, digital download
United Kingdom[44] 22 February 2010
Scandinavia[45] 24 February 2010 Warner Music
Australia[46] 26 February 2010
France[47] 1 March 2010
Japan[48] 21 April 2010
Germany[49] 14 May 2010
Canada[50] 25 May 2010 CD, LP, digital download
United States[27][51] Chop Shop Records, Atlantic Records
Argentina[52] 19 August 2010 Warner Music CD

See also

References

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  3. ^ a b "Marina And The Diamonds announce debut album details and release date". NME. IPC Media. 1 December 2009. http://www.nme.com/news/marina-and-the-diamonds/48651. Retrieved 3 December 2009. 
  4. ^ Murray, Robin (26 January 2010). "Marina On Musical Background". Clash. http://www.clashmusic.com/news/marina-on-musical-background. Retrieved 19 February 2010. 
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Marina and the Diamonds
Studio albums and singles
The Family Jewels
Extended plays
Tours and concerts
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