''Blue-Sky Research'' is the third major label

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With r ...

band

Taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

which was released on August 15, 2005 internationally and a day later in the

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Smashing Pumpkins Smash may refer to: People * Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler * Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above. * DJ Smash, DJ and music producer Art, ...

frontman

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...

co-wrote three songs on the album.

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first five ...

guitarist

Stephen Carpenter Stephen "Steph" Carpenter ( /ˈstɛfən/ ''STEF-ən''; born August 3, 1970) is an American musician, known as the co-founder and a guitarist of the alternative metal band Deftones. His guitar technique makes use of both ringing open strings an ...

and

Jonah Matranga Jonah Rzadzinski Matranga (born Jonah Sonz Matranga, August 11, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who has released a variety of solo material under his own name and onelinedrawing, and has previously been part of the bands ...

from Far and

Onelinedrawing Jonah Rzadzinski Matranga (born Jonah Sonz Matranga, August 11, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who has released a variety of solo material under his own name and onelinedrawing, and has previously been part of the bands ...

make guest appearances. The band wrote over 80 songs for the effort. " Calling" was released as the first single and was a moderate hit, while the second single, "

Birthday A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person, or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with birthday gifts, birthday cards, a birthday party, or a rite of passage. Many relig ...

", followed quietly. It is Taproot's last album with Atlantic Records, as both parties have decided to part ways. It has a different, softer, more alternative melody from the first two albums. The album has sold over 150,000 copies in the U.S.

Critical reception

''Blue-Sky Research'' garnered mixed reviews from

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

s who admired the genre shift and lush production but found it wasted with angst-filled lyrics. Corey Hoffy of

AbsolutePunk ''AbsolutePunk'' was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to fea ...

praised the album for Wright's stellar production, the band's controlled instrumentation and Richards's lyrics approaching close to political territory, concluding that "this remains their most complex and best album to date." Vik Bansal of

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praised the band for taking a melodic approach to the record along with their standard nu-metal formula, concluding that "Depending on your point of view, ''Blue-Sky Research'' will either come across as hopelessly unfocused or else one of the more ambitious and versatile rock albums to emerge for quite a while. With the consistent strength of the tunes here, I lean towards the latter." Johnny Loftus of

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found the self-deprecating lyrics formulaic at times but found the contributions of Corgan and Matranga to the record a nice addition to the band's improved musicianship, saying that "even without the hired guns ''Blue-Sky Research'' is the most dynamic Taproot album yet (the self-penned "So Eager" proves that), and the album's heightened textures and less predictable turns successfully updates the band's sound." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s

Christian Hoard Christian David Hoard is an American music journalist and music editor for ''Rolling Stone''. A 2000 graduate of the University of Michigan, he began his career as a music journalist writing for the ''Michigan Daily''. He later moved to New York Ci ...

said that despite the band adding elements of modern rock and electronica to its brand of nu-metal, the album's songs get "dragged down by melodrama and the kind of adenoidal choruses that

Incubus An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...

do much better." Mikael Wood, writing for ''

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'', felt that the band was starting to become a relic of its given genre, saying that "On their third album, their lean Everydude grind—processed guitars stacked atop booming arena-rock drums—probes their feelings of insignificance in an all-too-workmanlike fashion."

Track listing

Notes

* "Calling" was released in late 2005. It was used by the

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as the theme song for their ''

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'' pay-per-view event in 2005. ** Received radio airplay on June 27, 2005. ** Music video premiered on MTV.com. * Another song titled "Who's to Say" was recorded during the ''Blue-Sky Research'' sessions but was not included because of record politics. Stephen Richards was hoping for it to be a single, but was disappointed that it did not make the final cut. The song was, however, available for download on the band's official MySpace page for a limited time, and would later be included on the band's boxset ''Besides'' in 2018. * "Facepeeler" was supposed to be the band's third single, but because of record politics and poor album sales, it did not make it as a single. However, the band did have a contest for fans to create a music video.

Credits

Credits for ''Blue-Sky Research'' adapted from

. Taproot * Mike DeWolf - Art conception, composer, design direction, guitar * Philip Lipscomb - Bass, composer * Jarrod Montague - Composer, drums * Stephen Richards - Composer, guitar, vocals Production * Keith Armstrong - Assistant engineer * Elliott Blakey - Engineer * Trevor Cole - Guitar technician * Lanre Gaba - Artist coordination * Eric Hackett - Drum technician * Dmitar Krnjaic - Assistant engineer *

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic compression for molding mixes that play wel ...

- Mixing *

Vlado Meller Vlado Meller is a Slovak audio mastering engineer, currently with Vlado Meller Mastering in Charleston, South Carolina. Meller works across many genres of music, with credits on rock, hip-hop, pop, jazz, metal, dance, opera, Broadway, and classica ...

- Mastering * Craig Rosen - Artist coordination * Mindy Ryu - Layout design * Mark Santangelo - Assistant * Tom Storms - A&R * Nitin Vadukul - Photography * Mark Wakefield - A&R *

Toby Wright Toby Wright is an American record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with artists such as Alice in Chains, Metallica, Sevendust and Korn. Credits Producer * 3rd Strike - '' Lost Angel'' *8stops7 - ''In Moderation'' *Alice in Chains - ...

- Engineer, producer

Charts

Album -

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(North America) Singles - Billboard (North America)

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums Taproot (band) albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Toby Wright