Wonderland (McFly album)

Wonderland
Studio album by McFly
Released 29 August 2005
Recorded September 2004 - July 2005, London, England, United Kingdom
Genre Pop rock, pop punk, Baroque pop
Length 43:29
Label Island
Producer Hugh Padgham, Steve Power
McFly chronology

Room on the 3rd Floor
(2004)		 Wonderland
(2005)		 Motion in the Ocean
(2006)
Singles from Wonderland
  1. "All About You"
    Released: 7 March 2005
  2. "I'll Be OK"
    Released: 15 August 2005
  3. "I Wanna Hold You"
    Released: 17 October 2005
  4. "Ultraviolet / The Ballad of Paul K"
    Released: 12 December 2005
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic link
Channel 4 link

Wonderland is the second studio album by English pop rock band McFly. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 August 2005, and was a success, being certified platinum, selling over 300,000 copies in the UK. Despite being less of a success in the UK, the album went on to match the worldwide sales of McFly's debut album Room on the 3rd Floor, selling over one million copies. Nemesis, a popular inverted roller coaster at Alton Towers, was briefly renamed Wonderland for a month in 2005, to celebrate the release of the album. The band took a ride on Nemesis on music television programme CD:UK.

Background

The album contains production from early collaborator Hugh Padgham, who co-produced the majority of the band's debut album, as well as production from former Busted producer Steve Power. The album follows more of a story-like narrative than the band's first album, and adopts a slightly more advanced style of pop. Unlike the band's first album, there is no hidden track on the album. Four singles were released from the album: "All About You", which was released as the official Comic Relief single for 2005, "I'll Be OK", "I Wanna Hold You" and the double A-side of "Ultraviolet and The Ballad of Paul K". A deluxe version of the album was released in special gatefold packagaing, with fold-out photos of the band as well as an extended booklet.[1] The Japanese edition of the album contains two additional tracks plus two music videos.

Critical reception

Sharon Mawer of Allmusic said of the album: "The often difficult second album was made to look easy by McFly, the four lads from London who saw Busted, their main rivals for the affections of pre-teenage hearts, split up in 2005, leaving them the only guitar-based pop band in town, and McFly did not disappoint their army of fans with Wonderland. At the time of release, it already contained two number one singles, "I'll Be OK" and the Comic Relief charity hit "All About You," although the Carly Simon/James Taylor B-side, track two on the CD single, "You've Got a Friend" was not included. The same mixture of good, fun 1960s-influenced pop songs and mid-tempo ballads is here, as on the debut album Room on the 3rd Floor, the opening track, "I'll Be OK," being a good example of a boy band trying to sound as little like a boy band as possible with real instruments, mainly guitars that, if you really stretched your imagination, on the intro could be compared to the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," although it only lasted about fifteen seconds. The boys even felt confident enough to include a sitar on the song "Ultraviolet," which became their least successful single release to date. The turning point of the album came about half way through - on vinyl it would have been side two - with the "All About You" track, which opened with an orchestral piece and then continued throughout the song with a strummed acoustic guitar and even had a woodwind instrumental break. And of course, there was quite a memorable song in there as well. This theme was expanded even further on the two-part track "She Falls Asleep"—part one a dreamy instrumental heavy on the orchestral string section; part two a sophisticated ballad, quite dramatic in its production—and the album concluded as it began, with more guitar-led harmony pop with the songs "Nothing" and "Memory Lane". One might sneer, but Wonderland was a good album from an obviously talented group of young lads."[2]

Track listing

Standard edition
No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "I'll Be OK"  Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie PoynterHugh Padgham 3:24
2. "I've Got You"  Fletcher, Jones, Graham GouldmanHugh Padgham, Graham Gouldman 3:18
3. "Ultraviolet"  Fletcher, JonesSteve Power 3:56
4. "The Ballad of Paul K"  Fletcher, Jones, PoynterHugh Padgham 3:17
5. "I Wanna Hold You"  Fletcher, Jones, PoynterHugh Padgham 2:59
6. "Too Close for Comfort"  Fletcher, Jones, PoynterHugh Padgham 4:37
7. "All About You"  FletcherHugh Padgham 3:06
8. "She Falls Asleep - Part 1"  FletcherHugh Padgham 1:43
9. "She Falls Asleep - Part 2"  FletcherHugh Padgham 4:11
10. "Don't Know Why"  Jones, Vicky JonesSteve Power 4:20
11. "Nothing"  Fletcher, Jones, PoynterSteve Power 3:50
12. "Memory Lane"  Fletcher, James BourneHugh Padgham 4:40
Total length:
 43:29

Charts and certitications

Charts

Chart (2005) Peak
Position
European Top 100 Albums[3]
9
Irish Album Chart
11
Japan Oricon Weekly Albums Chart[4]
61
South Korea (GAON)[5]
70
UK Albums Chart
1

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)[6] Platinum 300,000^

See also

References

  1. ↑ "McFly - Wonderland (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2005-08-29. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  2. ↑ Sharon Mawer (2005-09-27). "Wonderland - McFly | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  3. ↑ Billboard - Google Books. Books.google.ca. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  4. ↑ "マクフライのCDアルバムランキング │オリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "British album certifications – McFly – Wonderland". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 25 July 2012. Enter Wonderland in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search

External links

Preceded by
Back to Bedlam by James Blunt		 UK number one album
4 September 2005 – 11 September 2005 		Succeeded by
Back to Bedlam by James Blunt