''Deconstruction'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter

Meredith Brooks Meredith Ann Brooks (born June 12, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist best known for her 1997 hit song "Bitch", for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award. Career Brooks started her music career in 1976 as a member of ...

. It was released on September 28, 1999, by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

. Following the album's disappointing commercial reception, Brooks was dropped from the record label.

Recording

Unlike her involvement with ''Meredith Brooks'' (1986) and ''

Blurring the Edges ''Blurring the Edges'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Meredith Brooks. It was released on May 6, 1997, by Capitol Records. Following the release of her self-titled debut album in 1986 and her departure from the short-liv ...

'' (1997), Brooks sought to take more control over the compositions on ''Deconstruction''. With the exception of "

Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" is the second single from Melanie Safka's 1970 album '' Candles in the Rain''. It was her breakthrough hit in the United States, climbing to number six on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number three on the Cash Box T ...

", Brooks wrote or co-wrote and played lead guitar on every song on the album, in addition to co-producing the album with David Darling. Thematically, Brooks claims that the material on ''Deconstruction'' was a direct reaction to her experiences with the success of "

Bitch Bitch may refer to: * A female dog or other canine * Bitch (slang), a vulgar slur for a human female Bitch or bitches may also refer to: Arts and media Film and television * ''The Bitch'' (film), a 1979 film starring Joan Collins * ''Bitc ...

". She explained: "The new album is about deconstructing everything, letting people know that I'm not just any one thing."

Release and promotion

''Deconstruction'' was released on September 28, 1999. Prior to the album's release, Brooks released rough mixes of several album tracks on her official website. Fans had the opportunity to vote for their favorite songs and discuss the then-upcoming album with Brooks on the site's

message board An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

. In an effort to promote the album, Brooks opened for the

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...

on their Peace Tour (1999).

Critical reception

Tom Demalon 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 ...

referred to the album as "another pleasant if somewhat derivative helping of adult rock rom Brooks" Demalon highlighted "Nobody's Home" and "I Said" as the standout tracks from the album. Beth Johnson of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' remarked that the album starts off strong with "Shout," before delving into "sound-alikes of

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three li ...

, late-'90s

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, and (oh so annoyingly) Blondie's rap."

Commercial performance

In the United States, ''Deconstruction'' was considered a commercial disappointment in comparison to Brooks' previous effort, ''Blurring the Edges''. ''Deconstruction'' failed to chart on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and the album only sold approximately 20,000 units over two months after release.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

of ''Deconstruction''. ;Production *

– vocals, writer, producer * David Darling – producer, programming *

Melanie Safka Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (born February 3, 1947), professionally known as Melanie or Melanie Safka, is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for the 1971–72 global hit "Brand New Key", her cover of " Ruby Tuesday", her compositi ...

– writer *

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

– vocals, writer *

Larry Dvoskin Larry Dvoskin is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, producer, professor and entrepreneur. He is best known in the industry as the songwriting partner of The Beach Boys' Al Jardine. The founder of Do What You Love Media, Miracle Music Inc a ...

– writer *

Shelly Peiken Shelly Meg Peiken is an American songwriter who is best known for co-writing the US No. 1 hits " What a Girl Wants" and " Come On Over Baby" by Christina Aguilera the US No. 2 hit "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks, "Almost Doesn't Count" by Brandy, and ...

– writer *

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists Adam Gorgoni Adam Gorgoni (born 16 December 1963 in New York City) is a prolific composer of film and TV scores and has composed music for over 20 films, including '' Candyman: Day of the Dead'', '' Waiting...'', ''The Dead Girl'', ''Breakable You'', '' Sta ...

– writer * Brian Reeves – engineering * Scott Humphries – mixing * Paul Fox – producer * Jeff Tomei – engineering * Mark Needham – mixing * Tom Weir – engineering * John Bogosian – engineering * David Bryant – assistant engineer * Michael Parnell – 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 * Matt Silva – mixing assistant * Steve Genewick – mixing assistant * Doug Sax – mastering ;Instruments * Meredith Brooks – guitars * Rob Ladd – drums * Paul Bushnell – drums, bass * Michael Parnell – keyboards * David Darling – percussion, keyboards, bass * Paul Trudeau – percussion, keyboards, piano * Crenshaw High School Elite Choir – background vocals * Mark Meadows – bass * Matt Laug – drums * David Faragher – bass * Arlen Shirebaum – keyboards * Denny Fongheiser – drums * Rami Jaffe – keyboards

Charts

Notes

{{Authority control Meredith Brooks albums 1999 albums