''Our Earthly Pleasures'' is the second
studio album by
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
-based
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...
band
Maxïmo Park
Maxïmo Park are an English alternative rock band, formed in 2000 in Newcastle upon Tyne. The band consists of Paul Smith (vocals), Duncan Lloyd (guitar), and Tom English (drums). The band have released seven studio albums: '' A Certain Trigge ...
. It was released on 2 April 2007 in the UK (and 8 May 2007 in the US), being preceded by the single "
Our Velocity", released two weeks previously, on 19 March 2007.
Album information
Album details, including track listing, were released on 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 ...
s website on 22 January 2007.
as well as the band's official web site.
The album was leaked in various places across the internet in March 2007.
Vocalist
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
Paul Smith states that the title of the album stems from the idea that we are bonded by our experiences, and that several tracks were written to embody specific human emotions. The title of the album appears in the lyrics of "Russian Literature".
The band did an album launch party at the
Baltic Flour Mill, the contemporary art gallery in
Gateshead on 28 March 2007. Another album launch gig took place at
HMV
Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom.
The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...
Newcastle at midnight on 2 April, to release the album, hometown fans were the first to get hold of ''Our Earthly Pleasures''. A third launch party took place in London, at the
100 Club on
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...
, on the evening of 2 April.
The tracks "
Our Velocity", "
Books from Boxes", "
Girls Who Play Guitars" and "
Karaoke Plays" have been released as singles. Tickets to the April/May ''Our Earthly Pleasures Tour'' went on sale on 2 February 2007. Tickets sold out within one hour to the majority of the venues.
The two US bonus tracks were mislabeled on iTunes Music Store, with track 13 being labeled "Distance Makes" when it was actually the song "Pride Before A Fall", "Distance Makes" was included as the other bonus track. A special edition was also released exclusively in Australia, containing the bonus track "Robert Altman" (Track 13 - 2:24)
The song "The Unshockable" is featured in ''
FIFA 08
''FIFA 08'' (titled ''FIFA Soccer 08'' in North America ) is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released on all popular gaming formats in September 2007 in Eur ...
'' and a ''
Johnny Test
''Johnny Test'' is an animated television series created by Scott Fellows, originally produced in the United States by Warner Bros. Animation and later produced in Canada by Cookie Jar Entertainment. It premiered on Kids' WB on September 17 ...
'' commercial on
Cartoon Network. The song "Our Velocity" is featured on the soundtrack for ''
Project Gotham Racing 4''.
Reception
Released in April 2007, the album was successful, entering the charts at number two behind
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill.
The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and ga ...
's album ''
Because of the Times''. The album reached number two on the UK album charts. Overall critics generally gave positive reviews for the album, the average number of stars given was just over 3.5 out of 5.
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' (p. 62) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "The U.K. indie band's second album has beefed-up sound and increasingly brilliant, not-at-all-pretentious gems like 'Girls Who Play Guitars'."
''Spin'' (p. 86) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Maximo Park bring plenty of recognizable spark and smarts to their second album....The record barely pauses for breath."
''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
'' - 3 stars out of 5 -- "It’s certainly an album that evokes visions of delirious summertime hedonism: its momentum designed for haphazard jumping about in crowds, one sweaty fist in the air whilst the other grapples with a plastic cup of warm lager. Bring It On."