''All Rise'' is the debut studio album by English
boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
, released on 26 November 2001 in the United Kingdom and on 27 April 2004 in the United States. It peaked at number one on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and was certified 4× Platinum in the UK.
The album spent 63 weeks on the UK top 75 Albums chart.
Background and release
In May 1999,
Lee Ryan
Lee Ryan (born 17 June 1983) is an English singer, songwriter and actor, best known as a member of the boy band Blue.
Ryan took part in the BBC series '' Strictly Come Dancing''. He was partnered with professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova and was ...
and
Antony Costa
Antony Daniel Costa (born 23 June 1981) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as a member of the boy band Blue.
Early life
Costa was born in Edgware, North London, Costa attended Hendon School in nearby Barnet. He is half-Greek ...
met at the ages of 15 and 17, respectively, when auditioning for a boy band on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's ''
This Morning'', with
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...
putting the group together.
Ryan made it into the band, as did 21-year-old
Will Young
William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 Pop Idol (series 1), inaugural series of the ITV (TV network), ITV talent contest ''Pop Idol'', making him the f ...
(who would go on to win the
first series of ''
Pop Idol
''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...
'' in 2002), although Costa was not chosen.
The boy band never took off, but Ryan and Costa remained friends following their meeting. In 2000, Costa and another one of his friends,
Duncan James
Duncan James (born Duncan Inglis, 7 April 1978) is an English singer and actor. He became widely known in 2001 as a member of the boy band Blue (English group), Blue and later for playing Ryan Knight (Hollyoaks), Ryan Knight in the British soap ...
, decided to form their own band, and they were soon joined by Ryan. Their manager
Daniel Glatman
Daniel Glatman (born 27 June 1975) is an English pop music manager, best known for co-creating and managing the boy band Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in ...
said, "Duncan came to see me with his friend, Antony Costa, who was also in the same position
anted to be in the music industry
Anted is the name of the coins issued by Antedios (or Anted), an ancient king of the Iceni, a Brythonic tribe who inhabited the present day county of Norfolk in Britain from approximately the 1st century BCE until the 1st century CE.
Only the f ...
and they told me that they wanted to do something together. When I asked them if they had anyone in mind to work with, they said they had a friend, Lee Ryan, whom they wanted to invite to join their band. The three of them came in a couple of days later and I was completely blown away by the incredibly talented stars that stood before me."
Ryan, Costa, James and Glatman all felt that something was missing and so they went on to audition for a fourth member, a position eventually filled by Ryan's flatmate,
Simon Webbe
Simon Solomon Webbe (born 30 March 1979) is a British singer. He is best known as a member of the boy band Blue, forming in 2000 before splitting in 2005 and reforming in 2009, selling over 15 million records. Webbe released three solo studio a ...
.
Blue started recording for their debut album following their new line-up. They released their debut single "
All Rise" in May 2001 and it reached number four on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. Their follow-up single "
Too Close" was released in August 2001 and peaked at number one. Following this, the band went to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to film the "
If You Come Back
"If You Come Back" is a song by English boy band Blue, released as the third single from their debut studio album, '' All Rise'' (2001). It was written by Ray Ruffin, Nicole Formescu, Ian Hope, and Lee Brennan of boy band 911. The song topped th ...
" music video, and while there, they witnessed
the attacks on the World Trade Center. The following month, Blue were being interviewed by British newspaper ''
The Sun'' and Ryan commented that "This New York thing is being blown out of proportion" and asked "What about whales? They are ignoring animals that are more important. Animals need saving and that's more important." The other members of the band tried to silence Ryan, but he went on. This caused a huge media backlash that resulted in Blue losing a record deal in the United States and campaigns to sack Ryan from the group. Despite the backlash, Blue went on to achieve a second UK number-one in November with the ballad.
Singles
"
All Rise" — The debut single, released in May 2001. The single peaked at No. 4 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, No. 3 on the Australian Top 40, at No. 1 in New Zealand and No. 5 in Ireland. The song has received a Silver sales status certification for sales of over 200,000 copies in the UK. "
Too Close" was the second single, an it was released in August 2001. The song is a cover version of U.S. R&B group
Next
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
's number one hit. The single peaked at No. 1 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, No. 5 on the Australian Top 40, No. 1 in New Zealand and No. 17 in Ireland. The song has received a Silver sales status certification for sales of over 200,000 copies in the UK.
The third single, released was "
If You Come Back
"If You Come Back" is a song by English boy band Blue, released as the third single from their debut studio album, '' All Rise'' (2001). It was written by Ray Ruffin, Nicole Formescu, Ian Hope, and Lee Brennan of boy band 911. The song topped th ...
", it was released in November 2001. The single peaked at No. 1 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. The song was produced by multi-platinum producer Ray Ruffin & co-written by Nicole Formescu, Ray Ruffin, Lee Brennan and Ian Hope. The song has received a Silver sales status certification for sales of over 200,000 copies in the UK. "
Fly By II
"Fly By II" is a song by English boy band Blue. It was released on 18 March 2002 as the fourth single from their debut studio album, '' All Rise'' (2001). The release includes the band's first non-album exclusive, "Love R.I.P". "Fly By II" is a ...
" was chosen as the fourth and final single, it was released in March 2002. The single peaked at No. 6 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, at No. 9 in New Zealand, No. 16 in Ireland, and No. 23 in Belgium. The song has received a Silver sales status certification for sales of over 200,000 copies in the UK.
The song "
Best in Me" was released as a single exclusively in New Zealand in August 2002, peaking at No. 10 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. A music video was recorded and was later used to promote the group's compilation album, ''Best of Blue''.
Critical reception
The album received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Sharon Mawer of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
gave the album three and half stars out of five and noted, "The vocals were sung as if there was some real feeling, and that maybe is what separated Blue from their peers."
Andre Paine of the ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' gave the album five stars out of ten stating, when describing some of the tracks that "All of these are fine, but so as not to alienate a single teenage girl, there's also the traditional boyband slop; '
If You Come Back
"If You Come Back" is a song by English boy band Blue, released as the third single from their debut studio album, '' All Rise'' (2001). It was written by Ray Ruffin, Nicole Formescu, Ian Hope, and Lee Brennan of boy band 911. The song topped th ...
' ...the ballads and various
Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida.
The gr ...
rip-offs. But at least Stargate & Ray Ruffin know what they do. And Blue are young and talented enough to secure themselves a successful pop career."
Commercial performance
The album ''All Rise'' was released in time for Christmas and reached number one, eventually selling in excess of 1.3 million copies in the UK.
The final single from the album, "
Fly by II
"Fly By II" is a song by English boy band Blue. It was released on 18 March 2002 as the fourth single from their debut studio album, '' All Rise'' (2001). The release includes the band's first non-album exclusive, "Love R.I.P". "Fly By II" is a ...
", reached number six in March 2002. It peaked at number one on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and was certified 4× Platinum in the UK.
The album spent 63 weeks on the UK top 75 Albums chart.
Blue - All Rise
Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
Track listing
Notes
* signifies an additional producer
* signifies an additional vocal producer
* signifies a remix producer
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications and sales
References
{{Authority control
2001 debut albums
Albums produced by Stargate
Blue (English band) albums