The Understanding

The Understanding
Studio album by Röyksopp
Released 4 July 2005
Genre Downtempo, trip hop, synthpop
Length 58:40
Label Wall of Sound
Producer Röyksopp
Röyksopp chronology
Melody A.M.
(2001)		 The Understanding
(2005)		 Röyksopp's Night Out
(2006)
Singles from The Understanding
  1. "Only This Moment"
    Released: 27 June 2005
  2. "49 Percent"
    Released: 26 September 2005
  3. "What Else Is There?"
    Released: 5 December 2005
  4. "Beautiful Day Without You"
    Released: 26 June 2006
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (68/100)[1]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]
BBC Music (favourable)[3]
The Guardian [4]
NME (8/10)[5]
Okayplayer (4/5)[6]
Pitchfork Media (8.1/10)[7]
PopMatters (6/10)[8]
Rolling Stone [9]
Slant Magazine [10]
Spin (7/10)[11]

The Understanding is the second studio album by Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp. It was released in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2005 by Wall of Sound and in the United States on 12 July 2005 by Astralwerks. The deluxe edition, including a bonus CD, is sold in a Digipak. The single "Curves" was released alongside The Understanding via the Internet.

Similarly to Melody A.M., songs from The Understanding have been used widely in television adverts and computer games. "Circuit Breaker" and "Only This Moment" were used in an episode of Danmarks Radio's consumer programme, named Rabatten. "Follow My Ruin" was also included on the soundtrack to FIFA 06, the 2005 edition of EA Sports's long-running soccer video game franchise. "What Else Is There?" was used in an O2 television advertisement in the Czech Republic in 2007[12] and in Slovakia in 2008.[13] It was also used in the 2006 film Cashback and the 2007 film Meet Bill. A remixed version of "What Else Is There?" was featured on an episode of the popular HBO TV series Entourage.

Contents

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Röyksopp, except where noted. 

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Triumphant"     4:20
2. "Only This Moment"     3:55
3. "49 Percent"   Röyksopp, Chelonis R. Jones 5:11
4. "Sombre Detune"     4:52
5. "Follow My Ruin"     3:51
6. "Beautiful Day Without You"     5:29
7. "What Else Is There?"   Röyksopp, Karin Dreijer 5:17
8. "Circuit Breaker"     5:24
9. "Alpha Male"     8:11
10. "Someone Like Me"     5:23
11. "Dead to the World"     5:20
12. "Tristesse Globale"     1:24
Sample credits

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2005) Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart[14] 60
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[15] 23
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[16] 33
Danish Albums Chart[17] 36
Dutch Albums Chart[18] 48
European Top 100 Albums[19] 31
Finnish Albums Chart[20] 39
French Albums Chart[21] 45
German Albums Chart[22] 41
Greek Foreign Albums Chart[23] 4
Irish Albums Chart[24] 16
Italian Albums Chart[25] 21
Norwegian Albums Chart[26] 1
Swedish Albums Chart[27] 7
Swiss Albums Chart[28] 18
UK Albums Chart[29] 13
US Top Electronic Albums[30] 2
US Top Heatseekers[30] 22
US Top Independent Albums[30] 32

Certifications

Country Certification
United Kingdom Gold[31]

References

  1. ^ "The Understanding – Röyksopp". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. http://www.metacritic.com/music/the-understanding. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
  2. ^ Bush, John. "The Understanding – Röyksopp". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-understanding-r780861/review. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  3. ^ Smith, Adam (20 November 2005). "Review of Röyksopp – The Understanding". BBC Music. BBC Online. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/qpcz. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  4. ^ Burgess, John (1 July 2005). "Röyksopp, The Understanding". The Guardian. guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/jul/01/popandrock.shopping5. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  5. ^ Fitzpatrick, Rob (21 July 2005). "Royksopp : The Understanding". NME. IPC Media. http://www.nme.com/reviews/royksopp/7708. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  6. ^ "Röyksopp: The Understanding". Okayplayer. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071213100531/http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews/index.php/weblog/more/the_understanding/. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  7. ^ Abebe, Nitsuh (11 July 2005). "Röyksopp: The Understanding". Pitchfork Media. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6861-the-understanding/. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  8. ^ Stirling, Stephen (31 August 2005). "Röyksopp: The Understanding". PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/royksopp-understanding. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  9. ^ Swanson, David (20 June 2005). "The Understanding : Royksopp". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on 30 December 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071230100447/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/7396370/the_understanding. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  10. ^ Cinquemani, Sal (13 July 2005). "Röyksopp: The Understanding". Slant Magazine. http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/royksopp-the-understanding/597. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  11. ^ Matos, Michaelangelo (27 July 2005). "Royksopp, 'The Understanding' (Astralwerks)". Spin. Spin Media LLC. http://www.spin.com/reviews/royksopp-understanding-astralwerks. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  12. ^ "Vyberte si (O2 Ad Choice)". YouTube. 4 July 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntPDAZmssHY. Retrieved 22 October 2010. 
  13. ^ "O2 – 2x viac minut spot SK". YouTube. 13 April 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5tuQazqXJ0. Retrieved 22 October 2010. 
  14. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in German). IFPI Austria. Hung Medien. http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  15. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  16. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in French). Ultratop. Hung Medien. http://www.ultratop.be/fr/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  17. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". IFPI Denmark. Hung Medien. http://danishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  18. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Hung Medien. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  19. ^ "European Albums – Week of July 16, 2005". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/european-albums?chartDate=2005-07-16&order=gainer. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  20. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". IFPI Finland. Hung Medien. http://finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  21. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Hung Medien. http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  22. ^ "Roeyksopp | Longplay-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control. PhonoNet GmbH. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Roeyksopp/?type=longplay. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  23. ^ "Top 50 Ξένων Aλμπουμ [Top 50 Foreign Albums]" (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070218153851/http://www.ifpi.gr/chart01.htm. Retrieved 1 August 2011. 
  24. ^ "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending 7 July 2005". Irish Recorded Music Association. Chart-Track. http://www.chart-track.co.uk/index.jsp?c=p%2Fmusicvideo%2Fmusic%2Farchive%2Findex_test.jsp&ct=240002&arch=t&lyr=2005&year=2005&week=27. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  25. ^ "Artisti – Classifica settimanale dal 24/06/2005 al 30/06/2005" (in Italian). Federation of the Italian Music Industry. http://www.fimi.it/classifiche_result_artisti.php?anno=2005&mese=06&id=163. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  26. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". Verdens Gang. Hung Medien. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  27. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". Swedish Recording Industry Association. Hung Medien. http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  28. ^ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". Media Control. Hung Medien. http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=R%F6yksopp&titel=The+Understanding&cat=a. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  29. ^ "Chart Stats – Royksopp – The Understanding". The Official Charts Company. Chart Stats. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=34705. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  30. ^ a b c "The Understanding – Röyksopp". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/royksopp/the-understanding/720344. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
  31. ^ "Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. 1 December 2006. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/Search.aspx. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
Preceded by
Den Nye Arbæidsdagn by Ravi & DJ Løv		 Norwegian Albums Chart number-one album
5 July 2005		 Succeeded by
Den Nye Arbæidsdagn by Ravi & DJ Løv
Röyksopp
Albums
Melody A.M. · The Understanding · Junior · Senior
Live EPs
Singles
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