Celebration Rock
Celebration Rock | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 5, 2012 | |||
Recorded | 2010–2011 | |||
Studio | The Hive Creative Labs, Vancouver | |||
Genre |
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Length | 35:10 | |||
Label | Polyvinyl | |||
Producer | Japandroids | |||
Japandroids chronology | ||||
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Singles from Celebration Rock | ||||
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Celebration Rock is the second studio album by Canadian rock duo Japandroids, released on June 5, 2012, by Polyvinyl. Recorded in Vancouver with Post-Nothing engineer Jesse Gander, the band aspired to capture the spirit and energy of their live shows, thus forgoing standard studio techniques such as double tracking and overdubbing, while consciously taking into account the perceived reaction of their audience to hearing the songs live in concert.[1][2]
The album was released to widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its blending of classic rock and punk rock influences.
Background
Japandroids toured extensively in support of their first album, performing over 200 shows in more than 20 countries between June 2009 and October 2010. Following two New Year's shows December 31 and January 1 at Schubas Tavern in Chicago, the band decided to discontinue touring in support of Post-Nothing, and return to Vancouver to begin work on a new album.[11][12]
After taking the bulk of 2011 off to work on new material, Japandroids revealed that they would tour North America with Bass Drum of Death throughout August and September playing primarily smaller, intimate venues in order to test out their new material prior to the recording of their second album.[13] During these shows, the band debuted several new songs including "Fire's Highway,"", "Adrenaline Nightshift", and "Evil's Sway".[14]
Following the tour, the band temporarily relocated from
Recording
The album was recorded in Vancouver with Post-Nothing engineer Jesse Gander. The band has said they intended for the album to capture the spirit and energy of their live shows,[1] thus foregoing standard studio techniques such as double tracking and overdubbing, while consciously taking into account the perceived reaction of their audience to hearing the songs live in concert.[2] On recording the album, guitarist Brian King said "Technically speaking, the process for recording Celebration Rock was almost identical to that of our previous records: same studio, same engineer, same equipment, same techniques, etc. To me, the progression lies in the songwriting, the captured performances, and the mixing/production of the album, all of which are simply reflections of our shared knowledge and experience since recording Post-Nothing."[17]
In an interview with
Music
The music on Celebration Rock has been described as "one part classic rock, one part punk",[3] due to the blending of classic rock influences such as Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, with punk rock influences such as The Replacements and Hüsker Dü.[18][19][4][20] Critic Steven Hyden described Celebration Rock as "taking a mighty lunge at the pantheon of great rock records," commenting that the album "addresses the teenage wasteland with the bombastic mix of fury and empathy that derives from Who's Next; traffics in the same streetwise rock-patter drivel originating from Born to Run; has the drunkard's sentimentality of Let It Be, and the tour-weary determinism of Appetite for Destruction. It's a beefy, pop-conscious punk record in the mold of Nevermind, and it's destined to become, like White Blood Cells, an important battle in the never-ending war to end bass playing as we know it."[21]
The band has repeatedly cited Live at Raji's by The Dream Syndicate as a major influence, stating that it was the record they had listened to the most during the writing and recording of Celebration Rock.[22] The song "The Nights of Wine and Roses" is an homage to The Dream Syndicate song "The Days of Wine and Roses".[22]
Lyrics
Lyrically, Celebration Rock has been described as a callback to classic rock conventions for its use of universal, mythic rock & roll language, including the use of contrasting themes such as good and evil, heaven and hell, life and death, young and old, etc. As Ian Cohen of
Personally, I really like the concepts of good and evil, heaven and hell -- the extreme boundaries of how people can feel and how fast things can change. I like that language. I'm not talking about just some night you felt a certain way, I'm talking about the night you felt that way -- that one time. People have always alluded to those extremes as a way of characterizing the most intense feelings since blues and the early days of rock. A blues singer won't say, "We broke up." He'll say, "Satan stole my baby from me." You just pick it up.
— Brian King, Interview,Pitchfork Media[12]
King has cited the novel
Release and promotion
World tour by Japandroids | |
Location | North America South America Europe Asia Oceania |
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Start date | March 8, 2012 São Paulo, Brazil |
End date | November 10, 2013 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
Legs | 13 |
No. of shows | 228 North America (101) South America (8) Europe (89) Asia (15) Oceania (15) |
Japandroids concert chronology |
On March 26, 2012, Japandroids announced that their second album Celebration Rock would be released by Polyvinyl on June 5, 2012,[24] preceded by a limited edition 7" of the album's first single "The House That Heaven Built" on May 15, 2012.[25] On May 27, 2012, Celebration Rock was streamed in its entirety on NPR Music.[26] The album was released in the band's native Canada on May 29, 2012. On June 8, 2012, the band performed the songs "Fire's Highway" and "The House That Heaven Built" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.[27] On February 25, 2013, the band performed the song "The Nights of Wine & Roses" on Conan.[28] On February 27, 2013, it was announced that "The House That Heaven Built" had temporarily been named the entrance theme for the Vancouver Canucks professional ice hockey team.[29] On June 20, 2013, the band performed the song "Adrenaline Nightshift" on Late Show with David Letterman.[30]
Music video
A video for "
Tour
Japandroids toured heavily in support of Celebration Rock, performing over 200 shows in more than 40 countries between March 2012 and November 2013.
Reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 8.0/10[35] |
Metacritic | 83/100[36] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The A.V. Club | A[38] |
Chicago Tribune | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Irish Times | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
MSN Music (Expert Witness) | A−[41] |
NME | 6/10[42] |
Pitchfork | 8.8/10[43] |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Slant Magazine | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spin | 9/10[46] |
Celebration Rock was released to critical acclaim. On
Not all reviews were positive, however. NME's Alex Denney gave Celebration Rock a mixed review, writing "Japandroids know how to bring the ruckus. But elsewhere the power-chord pummelage gets a bit one-note — and The Gun Club cover only reminds us that journeymen like these have no business dancing with the bones of Jeffrey Lee Pierce."[42] Now's Carla Gillis criticized the album's repetitiveness, writing "[..] the band's refusal ever to let up on volume, bombast, group-shouted vocals, fast-strummed chords or smashing drums makes Celebration Rock an exhausting sonic assault in need of variety."[48]
The album peaked at number 37 on the Billboard 200.
Accolades
Celebration Rock was nominated for the
On June 14, 2012, the album was named as a long-listed nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize.[50] On July 17, Celebration Rock was named as a shortlisted nominee, making it one of ten possible candidates to win $30,000 and the recognition as the best Canadian album of the year as voted by jury of Canadian journalists and broadcasters.[51] The album lost to Feist's 2011 album Metals.
Celebration Rock appeared on many critics year-end best-of lists:
- #1 – MTV's 20 Best Albums of 2012[52]
- #1 – The Globe and Mail's Albums of the Year[5]
- #1 – CBC Music's Top Rock Albums of 2012[6]
- #1 – BuzzFeed's Top Rock Albums of 2012[53]
- #2 – The A.V. Club's Top 25 Albums of 2012[54]
- #2 – USA Today's Top Albums of 2012[55]
- #2 – Insound's Top 50 Albums of 2012[56]
- #3 – Spin's 50 Best Albums of 2012[57]
- #4 – Village Voice's Top 25 Albums of 2012[58]
- #4 – Exclaim!'s Top 30 Albums of 2012[59]
- #5 – Los Angeles Times's Best Music of 2012[60]
- #5 – Consequence of Sound's Top 50 Albums of 2012[61]
- #5 – PopMatters's The 75 Best Albums of 2012[62]
- #6 – Chicago Tribune's Top 10 Albums of 2012[63]
- #7 – Stereogum's Top 50 Albums of 2012[64]
- #7 – Paste Magazine's 50 Best Albums of 2012[65]
- #9 – Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2012[66]
- #11 – Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2012[67]
- NPR's 50 Favorite Albums of 2012[68]
Metacritic lists the album as #5 on its 2012 Music Critic's List, which collects and tallies the individual year-end Top Ten lists published by major music critics and publications.[69] In Canada, The Globe and Mail (Canada's newspaper of record) named Celebration Rock the best Canadian album of 2012,[5] while CBC declared it the best rock album of the year, later ranking it #91 on its list of The 100 Greatest Canadian Albums Ever.[6][7] The album was also well received internationally, with Rolling Stone listing it as one of The 10 Coolest Summer Albums of All Time, and Spin magazine calling it the third best album of 2012, later naming Japandroids 2012's Band of the Year.[8][9]
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Nights of Wine and Roses" | Japandroids | 4:02 |
2. | "Fire's Highway" | Japandroids | 4:44 |
3. | "Evil's Sway" | Japandroids | 4:27 |
4. | "For the Love of Ivy" (The Gun Club cover) | Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Kid Congo Powers | 4:13 |
5. | "Adrenaline Nightshift" | Japandroids | 4:26 |
6. | "Younger Us" | Japandroids | 3:33 |
7. | "The House That Heaven Built" | Japandroids | 4:49 |
8. | "Continuous Thunder" | Japandroids | 4:59 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
9. | " Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover) | Nick Cave | 3:55 |
15. | "Younger Us" (7" Version) | Japandroids | 3:35 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
9. | "Jack The Ripper" ( Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover) | Nick Cave | 3:55 |
10. | "Heavenward Grand Prix" | Japandroids | 3:55 |
11. | "Shame" (PJ Harvey cover) | PJ Harvey | 2:18 |
12. | "Art Czars" | Japandroids | 4:02 |
13. | "Racer-X" (Big Black cover) | Big Black | 3:17 |
14. | "Younger Us" (7" Version) | Japandroids | 3:35 |
15. | "Sex and Dying in High Society" (X cover) | Exene Cervenka, John Doe | 2:38 |
Singles
- "The House That Heaven Built" (May 15, 2012)
- 7" single b/w: "Jack The Ripper" (Nick Cave & The Bad Seedscover)
- 7" single b/w: "Jack The Ripper" (
Personnel
- Japandroids
- Brian King – guitar, lead vocals
- David Prowse - drums, backup vocals
- Technical
- Jesse Gander - Engineering, Mixing, Production
- Alan Douches - Mastering
- Photography
- Reiner Asscheman
- Brian Banks
- Annika Berglund
- Christian Bobak
- Simone Cecchetti
- Andy Collins
- Sam Cowling
- Geoff Hargadon
- Andy Mueller
- Tom Øverlie
- Leonardo Solis Varela
- Maryanne Ventrice
- Charlotte Zoller
Charts
Chart (2012) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard 200 | 37[70] |
US Billboard Independent Albums | 7[70] |
US Billboard Alternative Albums
|
9[70] |
US Billboard Rock Albums
|
17[70] |
References
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