King (Belly album)

King
Studio album by Belly
Released February 13, 1995
Recorded Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas
Genre Alternative rock
Length 45:00
Label Sire, Reprise
Producer Glyn Johns
Belly chronology
Star
(1993)Star1993		 King
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Chicago Tribune[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[3]
The Guardian[4]
Los Angeles Times[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Slant Magazine[7]
Spin8/10[8]
The Village VoiceA−[9]

King is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Belly, released in 1995, two years after their previous album, Star. Although the members had tightened their focus and polished their hook-laden songs, the album and its singles did not meet label expectations in the grunge-friendly atmosphere of 1995, and the band broke up shortly after it was released.

In the two decades since King's release, many (including some critics) have reconsidered the initial lukewarm attitude towards the album and now hold it as an equal to Belly's highly-regarded debut Star. King was listed at number seven on PopMatters' "Top 15 Overlooked Albums of the 1990s" list.[10] King was also hailed by Will Sheff of Okkervil River as "a winning, confident, masterful collection of songs – poppy and sweet and with a low-key psychedelic undercurrent. Everything good about Star was still there and had been expanded upon, but in many ways this felt like a new, reinvented band."[11]

Track listing

  1. "Puberty" (Tanya Donelly, Gail Greenwood)
  2. "Seal My Fate" (Donelly)
  3. "Red" (Donelly, Tom Gorman)
  4. "Silverfish" (Donelly, Gorman)
  5. "Super-Connected" (Donelly, Greenwood)
  6. "The Bees" (Donelly)
  7. "King" (Donelly)
  8. "Now They'll Sleep" (Donelly, Gorman)
  9. "Untitled And Unsung" (Donelly)
  10. "L'il Ennio" (Donelly)
  11. "Judas My Heart" (Donelly, Gorman)

Chart positions

Album

Chart Position
US Billboard 200[12] 57
UK Albums Chart[13] 6

The album went on to sell over 350,000 copies in the US alone.

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1995 "Now They'll Sleep" US Modern Rock[14] 17
UK Singles Chart[13] 28
"Super-Connected" US Modern Rock[14] 35
"Seal My Fate" UK Singles Chart[13] 35

"Now They'll Sleep" was a modest Pop hit in the U.S charting on the Billboard's Bubbling Under The Hot 100 Singles for 5 weeks in the spring of 1995, peaking at #103.

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "King – Belly". AllMusic. Retrieved March 7, 2006.
  2. ↑ Caro, Mark (March 2, 1995). "A Step Up". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  3. ↑ Sinclair, Tom (February 17, 1995). "King". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  4. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline (February 17, 1995). "Belly: King (4AD)". The Guardian.
  5. ↑ Ali, Lorraine (February 14, 1995). "Donelly Brings Life and Texture to 'King'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  6. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 60. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. ↑ Cinquemani, Sal (October 16, 2003). "Belly: King". Slant Magazine. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  8. ↑ Fleissner, Jen (March 1995). "Belly: King". Spin. 10 (12): 94. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  9. ↑ Christgau, Robert (June 6, 1995). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  10. ↑ Top 15 Overlooked Albums of the 1990s
  11. ↑ Langmead, Jon. "Hail, Hail: Belly and the making of King". Aquarium Drunkard. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  12. ↑ "US Allmusic". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  13. 1 2 3 "UK Chartlog". Zobbel.de. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  14. 1 2 "US Allmusic". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
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