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''Flying Colours'' is the third album by Australian hip hop group
Bliss n Eso Bliss n Eso (formerly known as Bliss n' Esoterikizm) are an Australian hip hop trio based in Sydney. They are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are managed and booked by label co-founders Adam Jankie and Matt Gud ...
. It was released by Illusive Sounds on 26 April 2008. At the J Awards of 2008, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year. The album was recorded in three different continents over twelve months, and features Illmaculate (World freestyle and Scribble Jam champion), a 20 piece African Zulu Choir (The Zulu Connections Choir), Debaser (US), Hyjak and Phrase. In an interview with
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...
newspaper Jonathan Notley (Bliss) explained that the band's previous albums were recorded on the fly, in sporadic periods whenever they could score some studio time, whereas with Flying Colours, the Sydneysiders relocated to Melbourne for three months of dedicated writing and recording at Richmond's Sing Sing Studios
"We decided to get out of Sydney and go somewhere where we could get up every day and just focus on making the record. It was great. We weren't worried about the pressure of what people would think, or forcing it or trying to make hits" - Notley
The cover of the album features artwork by tattoo artist, Steve Cross from Melbourne. It depicts a man with blazing coloured wings leaping off a cliff.
"With this album we wanted to do something a bit different than just pictures of us. We kinda wanted to go a little bit more creative and imaginative. We thought of this concept of this guy like leaping off this cliff with these flaming colourful wings, and it kind of really worked with the context of this album and obviously the title." - Notley
The first single from the album, a reworking of
Citizen Cope Clarence Greenwood (born May 20, 1968), also known by his stage name, Citizen Cope, is an American songwriter, producer and singer. His music is commonly described as a mix of blues, soul, folk, and rock. Citizen Cope's compositions have been ...
's "Bullet and a Target", gained major national commercial radio and television airplay. ''Flying Colours'' features production from Bliss, Phrase and Hattori Hanzo, the album was mixed at Sing Sing Studios (Melbourne) by Noam Dishon and Andy Baldwin (
The Cat Empire The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl (lead vocals, percussion), Harry James Angus (trumpet, vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums) ...
,
Spiderbait Spiderbait is an Australian alternative rock band from Finley, New South Wales, formed in 1991 by bass guitarist and singer Janet English, drummer and singer Kram, and guitarist Damian Whitty. In 2004 the group's cover version of the 1930s Lead ...
,
Killing Heidi Killing Heidi are an Australian rock band, formed in Violet Town, Victoria in 1996, initially as a folk-pop duo by siblings Ella and Jesse Hooper. The band has released three studio albums: '' Reflector'' (March 2000), which reached No.  ...
). The third single off the album "Eye of the Storm" uses the main riff and idea from folk rock duo Angus & Julia Stone song "Paper Aeroplane". It was featured as the
Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broadc ...
feature album in the week leading up to its release. The album debuted a week after its release at the No. 10 position on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart. and reached the No. 1 position on the ARIA Top 40 Urban Albums chart. The album was nominated for a
J Award The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J and which are judged by the music and on-air teams from radio stations Triple J ...
in August 2008. The album was also nominated for an ARIA award for 'Best Urban Release' in 2008. In an interview with Xpress magazine Notley indicated their surprise at the album's success.
"To tell you the truth it smashed any of my expectations. The reception for the record has been fantastic so we couldn't really be happier at the moment." - Notley
Following the group's successful appearance at the Sound Relief concert on 14 March 2009 at the
MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...
, "Field of Dreams" featuring Paris Wells was officially released to radio as a single. On 14 June 2009 the album became only the second
Australian hip hop Australian hip hop traces its origins to the early 1980s and is largely inspired by hip hop and other urban musical genres from the United States. As the form matured, Australian hip hop has become a commercially viable style of music which i ...
record to be certified
gold Gold is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a Brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, s ...
, after being in the
ARIA charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...
for 58 weeks. In October 2010, ''Flying Colours'' was listed in the book, ''
100 Best Australian Albums 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
''.


Track listing

All songs written by Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon and Noam Dishon, except where notedAPRA database
at the
Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...
website (search each song title) ''Flying Colours'' #"The Beginning" – 1:41 #"Woodstock 2008" – 4:27 #"Eye of the Storm" (Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon, A. Stone, J. Stone) – 3:27 #" Bullet and a Target" (featuring the Zulu Connection Choir) ( Clarence Greenwood) – 4:15 #"Happy in My Hoody" (featuring Hyjak and Phrase) (Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon, J McCarthy, Harley Webster, Vester) – 4:19 #"Destiny Lane" (Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon, Mark Landon) – 3:41 #"Zion Bash" (Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon, Mark Landon) – 2:51 #" The Sea is Rising" – 5:36 #"Gorilla Militia" (Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon, Mark Landon) – 3:14 #"How to Listen, Part 1" – 3:02 #"Climb These Cliffs" (Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon, Noam Dishon, Mark Landon) – 3:41 #"At Midnight" – 5:21 #"Royal Flush" – 3:52 #"$5 Steak" (Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon, Noam Dishon, Etheridge, Montgo) – 5:35 #"The Truth" (featuring
ILLmacuLate Gregory Poe (born February 4, 1986), better known by his stage name Illmaculate (a.k.a. Illmac), is an American battle rapper and hip hop artist from St. Johns, Portland, Oregon. He attended Roosevelt High School in Portland. Career At age ...
and Sapient) – 4:41 #"Never Give Up" (featuring Changes) (Jonathon Notley, Max MacKinnon, Noam Dishon, Mchunu, Mhlongo) – 4:31 #"Field of Dreams" (featuring Paris Wells) – 3:24 ''Flying Colours'' limited edition bonus disc #"The Dark Tower" – 5:49 (features a sample from the 1947 radioplay The Dark Tower by
Louis MacNeice Frederick Louis MacNeice (12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet and playwright, and a member of the Auden Group, which also included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis. MacNeice's body of work was widely a ...
) #"Lonely Streets" (featuring Debaser) – 4:33 #"Bullet and a Target" (acoustic version) (featuring the Zulu Connection Choir) – 3:58 #"Mexican Spit Fire" – 2:30 #"Choof Choof Train" – 4:09


Charts


References

{{Authority control 2008 albums ARIA Award-winning albums Bliss n Eso albums