''Moon Landing'' is the fourth

studio 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 the British singer-songwriter

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...

, released on 18 October 2013 through

Custard Records Custard Records is an American record label, best known for its success with English singer-songwriter James Blunt. The label is run by former 4 Non Blondes member Linda Perry and has a partnership with Warner Music Group's Atlantic Records ...

and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. The album is the follow-up to 2010's '' Some Kind of Trouble'', making it Blunt's first new material in three years. The album features production from the likes of

Tom Rothrock Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

Steve Mac Steve McCutcheon (born 15 January 1972), known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British record producer, songwriter and musician. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern British ...

Guy Chambers Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams. Education Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, h ...

and

Steve Robson Steve Robson is an English songwriter and record producer who has sold in excess of 138 million records around the world. He has written and produced 12 no 1 UK/US singles, 38 no 1 UK/US albums and a further 41 top 5 UK/US albums and singles. H ...

, and was executively produced by

, who worked with Blunt on 2004's ''

Back to Bedlam ''Back to Bedlam'' is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter James Blunt, released on 11 October 2004 through Atlantic Records. It is named after the famous psychiatric institution of Bethlem Royal Hospital, which is commonly ...

''. The first single from the album " Bonfire Heart" debuted at number six before peaking at number four the following week in 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 single peaked at one in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It was in the top 10 in different countries all over the world. On 10 November 2014, the album was re-released as ''Moon Landing – Apollo Edition'', with five bonus tracks.

Background

On 11 July 2013, Blunt announced that he had finished recording his fourth studio album, entitled ''Moon Landing''. The album features production from ''Back to Bedlam'' producer Tom Rothrock. The lead single, " Bonfire Heart", was released on 4 October 2013, the song is fueled by just acoustic guitars and a stomping kick drum, reflects Blunt's newly stripped-down take. The song "Miss America" is a tribute to

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

, as revealed by Blunt in an acoustic video of the song on his YouTube channel. Blunt's return to music received widespread press coverage, after an error in the mailing system lead to the link to "Bonfire Heart" being e-mailed to a large number of e-mail accounts in the United Kingdom. Unplugged versions of the songs called "Miss America" and "Face the Sun", and the lyrics video of the song "Satellites" were unveiled on YouTube. On 16 September 2014, Blunt confirmed on his official Instagram account that ''Moon Landing'' would be re-released on November that same year. That new version of the album will be named ''Moon Landing - Apollo Edition'' and will contain 19 tracks: the 11 of the original disc, plus the 3 bonus tracks of the album's deluxe version (''Telephone'', ''Kiss This Love Goodbye'' and ''Hollywood'') and five new tracks (''Smoke Signals'', ''When I Find Love Again'', ''Breathe'', ''Trail of Broken Hearts'' and ''Working It Out''). The new track ''When I Find Love Again'' was released as a single that same day, after being played in BBC's Radio 2 for the first time ever. This new version of the album will also contain a 19-track live DVD recorded during Blunt's performance in the 2014 edition of the

Paléo Festival The Paléo Festival de Nyon, usually just called Paléo, is an annual rock festival held in Nyon, Switzerland. It started in a small way in 1976 as the Nyon Folk Festival. The first one was held in the village hall in Nyon. From 1977 until 1989, ...

Critical reception

''Moon Landing'' received mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

Track listing

The album is available in three editions – a standard 11-track release, deluxe 14-track release and super deluxe box set, containing a bonus DVD, handwritten lyric booklet and special photographs from the making of the album, with the first five hundred to be signed by James himself. The Japanese edition also contains three exclusive bonus recordings. On 21 October 2014, the album was re-released as ''Moon Landing: Apollo Edition'' with five additional tracks. In the United States, the new tracks were released as part of the ''Smoke Signals EP'' on 15 December 2014.

Personnel

– lead vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards *

Sasha Krivtsov Alexander Sasha Krivtsov, (born June 6, 1967) is a Russian bassist, best known as the bass player for the house band on the TV reality shows '' Rock Star: INXS'', '' Rock Star: Supernova'' and ''The Voice''. He has played with singer-songwriter Van ...

– bass *Charlie Paxson – drums, percussion *John Nau – keyboards *Matt Chait – guitars *

- guitars, keyboards *Mike Tarantino –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

*Smith Carlson - Engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums James Blunt albums Albums produced by Tom Rothrock Albums produced by Ryan Tedder