The Understanding

This article is about the Röyksopp album. For the Memphis Bleek album, see The Understanding (Memphis Bleek album).
The Understanding
Studio album by Röyksopp
Released 22 June 2005
Genre
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]
Entertainment Weekly B[4]
The Guardian [5]
NME 8/10[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 music duo Röyksopp, released on 22 June 2005 by Wall of Sound. A limited edition of the album, including a bonus CD, is sold in a Digipak. The Understanding debuted at number thirteen on the UK Albums Chart with 22,466 copies sold in its first week.[12] The album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 1 December 2006,[13] and had sold 103,500 copies in the United Kingdom as of March 2009.[14]

Similarly to Melody A.M., songs from The Understanding were 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[15] and in Slovakia in 2008.[16] It was also used in the films Cashback (2006) and Meet Bill (2007). A remixed version of "What Else Is There?" was featured on the 15 April 2007 episode of the HBO series Entourage.

Track listing

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

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Triumphant"    4:20
2. "Only This Moment"    3:55
3. "49 Percent"  
 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?"  
 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
Notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Understanding.[19]

Charts

Chart (2005–07) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[20] 98
Australian Dance Albums Chart[21] 11
Austrian Albums Chart[22] 60
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[23] 23
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[24] 33
Danish Albums Chart[25] 36
Dutch Albums Chart[26] 48
European Top 100 Albums[27] 31
Finnish Albums Chart[28] 39
French Albums Chart[29] 45
German Albums Chart[30] 41
Greek Albums Chart[31] 23
Irish Albums Chart[32] 16
Italian Albums Chart[33] 21
Japanese Albums Chart[34] 83
Norwegian Albums Chart[35] 1
Swedish Albums Chart[36] 7
Swiss Albums Chart[37] 18
UK Albums Chart[38] 13
US Top Electronic Albums[39] 2
US Top Heatseekers[40] 22
US Top Independent Albums[41] 32

Release history

Region Date Label
Japan[17] 22 June 2005 EMI
Germany[42] 24 June 2005 Parlophone
Italy[43] EMI
France[44] 28 June 2005 Labels
Norway[45] 29 June 2005 Virgin Records
United Kingdom[46] 4 July 2005 Wall of Sound
United States[47] 12 July 2005 Astralwerks
Australia[48] 15 July 2005 EMI

References

  1. ↑ "The Understanding – Röyksopp". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  2. ↑ Bush, John. "The Understanding – Röyksopp". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  3. ↑ Smith, Adam (20 November 2005). "Review of Röyksopp – The Understanding". BBC Music. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  4. ↑ Browne, David (8 July 2005). "The Understanding (2005)". Entertainment Weekly. Time. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  5. ↑ Burgess, John (1 July 2005). "Röyksopp, The Understanding". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  6. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Rob (21 July 2005). "Royksopp : The Understanding". NME. IPC Media. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  7. ↑ Abebe, Nitsuh (11 July 2005). "Röyksopp: The Understanding". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  8. ↑ Stirling, Stephen (31 August 2005). "Röyksopp: The Understanding". PopMatters. 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. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  10. ↑ Cinquemani, Sal (13 July 2005). "Röyksopp: The Understanding". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  11. ↑ Matos, Michaelangelo (27 July 2005). "Royksopp, 'The Understanding' (Astralwerks)". Spin. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  12. ↑ Jones, Alan (11 July 2005). "London events swing sales on UK charts". Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  13. ↑ "Certified Awards". British Phonographic Industry. 1 December 2006. Retrieved 11 February 2014. Enter The Understanding in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  14. ↑ "Key Releases: 28.03.09.". Music Week. HighBeam Research. 28 March 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  15. ↑ "Vyberte si (O2 Ad Choice)". YouTube. 4 July 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  16. ↑ "O2 – 2x viac minut spot SK". YouTube. 13 April 2008. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "The Understanding : Royksopp". HMV Japan. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  18. ↑ "The Understanding [Bonus Disc] – Röyksopp". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 The Understanding (limited edition liner notes). Röyksopp. Wall of Sound. 2005. WALLCD035X.
  20. ↑ "ARIA Top 100 Albums – Week Commencing 25th July 2005". ARIA Charts. Pandora Archive. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  21. ↑ "ARIA Dance – Week Commencing 25th July 2005". ARIA Charts. Pandora Archive. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  22. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in German). austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  23. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  24. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in French). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  25. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  26. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  27. ↑ "Hits of the World". Billboard 117 (29). 16 July 2005. ISSN 0006-2510.
  28. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  29. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in French). lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  30. ↑ "Röyksopp, The Understanding" (in German). charts.de. Media Control. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  31. ↑ "Top 50 Ελληνικών και Ξένων Aλμπουμ – Εβδομάδα 07/2007" [Top 50 Greek and Foreign Albums – Week 07/2007] (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 2 March 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  32. ↑ "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending 7 July 2005". Chart-Track. Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  33. ↑ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 26 (dal 20-06-2005 al 26-06-2005)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  34. ↑ ロイクソップのアルバム売り上げランキング [Röyksopp album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  35. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  36. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  37. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding". swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  38. ↑ "2005 Top 40 Official Albums Chart UK Archive". Official Charts Company. 16 July 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  39. ↑ "Röyksopp – Chart history: Dance/Electronic Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  40. ↑ "Röyksopp – Chart history: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  41. ↑ "Röyksopp – Chart history: Independent Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  42. ↑ "The Understanding" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  43. ↑ "Röyksopp – The Understanding" (in Italian). Internet Bookshop Italia. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  44. ↑ "The Understanding – Röyksopp" (in French). Fnac. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  45. ↑ "The Understanding (Copy Protected) – Röyksopp" (in Norwegian). CDON.no. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  46. ↑ "The Understanding". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  47. ↑ "The Understanding". Amazon.com. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  48. ↑ "Understanding, The – Royksopp". JB Hi-Fi. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2014.