Benjamin Booker (album)

Benjamin Booker
Studio album by Benjamin Booker
Released 9 August 2014 (2014-08-09)
Recorded The Bomb Shelter, Nashville, December 2013
Genre
Length 44:20
Label
Producer Andrija Tokic
Singles from Benjamin Booker
  1. "Violent Shiver"
    Released: 8 April 2014
  2. "Always Waiting"
    Released: 15 August 2014

Benjamin Booker is the self-titled debut album by American musician Benjamin Booker. It was released on 9 August 2014.[1]

Recording and production

The album was recorded in December 2013 in engineer/producer Andrija Tokic’s all-analog Bomb Shelter in East Nashville, Andrija Tokic who has produced recordings for Hurray for the Riff Raff and Alabama Shakes. The Bomb shelter was recommend to Booker as a place to record his album by Alynda Lee Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff and by Sam Doores of The Deslondes.[2] Booker chooses the bomb shelter as a place to recorded his album because he wanted to record the album analog as he stated in an interview: "

I wanted to do the record analog, not digital. So we went to The Bomb Shelter, a studio that is totally analog and where other bands from our label, Alabama Shakes and Hurray For The Riff Raff, recorded their album. I knew the guy there was good… and analog was important to me. If you want to put out an album on vinyl, you might as well do it right."[3]

Booker arrived for the recording of the album with his only band mate max Norton. The recording of the album was done using a RCA overhead on Norton’s kit, a Neumann U 87 on kick, and a Shure 57 on snare. Booker’s vocal chain usually included a Neumann U 67 with an Altec tube preamp and a UA 175 compressor, recording was often done with other instruments such as Sennheiser 441, in rotation to the main instruments used. the main guitars used for recording were 60s hollow-body Super Lynx Deluxe Vox, and an ’80s Ibanez Matsumoku Roadster. After recording started Tokic started bring in bass players and keyboardists to "flesh out recordings". [4] The album was mixed on Tokic's MCI JH600 console.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
NME8/10[7]
The Guardian[8]
musicOMH[9]
DIY8/10[10]
Clash Music7/10[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
Uncut7/10
The Observer[13]
American Songwriter[14]

Upon its release Benjamin Booker's self-titled album Benjamin Booker received critical accliam. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[5]

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Violent Shiver"   2:46
2. "Always Waiting"   2:19
3. "Chippewa"   3:14
4. "Slow Coming"   4:31
5. "Wicked Waters"   3:27
6. "Have You Seen My Son"   5:07
7. "Spoon Out My Eyeballs"   3:03
8. "Happy Homes"   4:34
9. "I Thought I Heard You Screaming"   3:04
10. "Old Hearts"   2:50
11. "Kids Never Grow Older"   5:35
12. "By the Evening"   3:50

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[15]

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[16] 187
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[17] 59
Dutch Albums Chart[18] 80
US Billboard 200[19] 46
US Alternative Albums[20] 10
US Rock Albums[21] 15
Tastemaker Albums[22] 10
Independent Albums[23] 7
Top Album Sales[24] 46

References

  1. "STORE - Benjamin Booker". Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  2. "The Bomb Shelter's Andrija Tokic on Home Recording and Upcoming Projects". Paste (magazine). Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  3. "wordfrom Benjamin Booker". Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  4. "Benjamin Booker: Explosive Debut for a Newcomer With an Old Soul". Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Reviews for Benjamin Booker". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  6. "Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  7. "NME Reviews - Benjamin Booker - 'Benjamin Booker'". NME. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  8. "Benjamin Booker: Benjamin Booker review – fiery blues-rock". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  9. "Benjamin Booker – Benjamin Booker". musicOMH. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  10. "BENJAMIN BOOKER - BENJAMIN BOOKER". DIY. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  11. "Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker An electrifying introduction to the future of the blues...". Clash (magazine). Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  12. "Benjamin Booker Benjamin Booker Album Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  13. "Benjamin Booker review – self-titled pugnacious punk blues". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  14. "Benjamin Booker: Benjamin Booker". American Songwriter. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  15. "Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker album credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  16. "BENJAMIN BOOKER - BENJAMIN BOOKER" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  17. "BENJAMIN BOOKER - BENJAMIN BOOKER" (in French). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  18. "BENJAMIN BOOKER - BENJAMIN BOOKER" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
  19. "Benjamin Booker Chart History". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. June 27, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  20. "Benjamin Booker Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  21. "Benjamin Booker Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  22. "Benjamin Booker Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  23. "Benjamin Booker Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  24. "Benjamin Booker Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.