''Oxygen'' is

Avalon Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...

's fifth studio album, released on May 22, 2001, and produced by

Brown Bannister Elliott Brown Bannister III (born August 15, 1951) is an contemporary Christian music (CCM) producer and songwriter. Bannister released one album of his own, ''Talk to One Another'', in 1981 on NewPax Records. It was reissued on the Reunion Recor ...

. The album included six singles that reached #1 on

Christian adult contemporary Christian adult contemporary, also known as Christian AC or CAC, is a radio format. In the United States, Christian adult contemporary radio stations cater to a mostly adult audience and are similar to mainstream adult contemporary stations in that ...

Christian contemporary hit radio Christian contemporary hit radio (sometimes abbreviated as Christian CHR) is a radio format that is common in the United States and Australia focusing on playing current and recent music as determined by the contemporary Christian music Top 40 I ...

, the most of any Avalon album to date. A

collector's edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

of the album was released, including one bonus track, "Beyond the Clouds."

Track listing

Personnel

* Avalon - vocals ** Janna Long **

Jody McBrayer Jody McBrayer (born June 25, 1970) is an American singer/songwriter and a member of Christian pop groups Cana's Voice and Avalon. Career McBrayer attended college at Liberty University. He got his start in contemporary Christian music right ou ...

** Cherie Adams **

Michael Passons Michael Passons is an American singer-songwriter and the founding member of the Christian band Avalon. Biography Michael Passons was born and raised in Yazoo City, Mississippi, and as a toddler, began to sing and play piano. As a young musicia ...

* Dan Needham – programming (1), synthesizers (4) *

Dan Muckala Daniel John Muckala Work ID No. 881409494 ISWC No. T9052468594 is an American songwriter and producer. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, Muckala was a musical composition student at Belmont University in Tennessee. Awards (select ...

– programming (2, 3, 6, 7, 10) * Blair Masters – synthesizers (2, 5), acoustic piano (5), keyboards (6, 9), additional keyboards (10) * Jeff Savage – programming (4, 7) *

Bernie Herms Bernhard "Bernie" Herms (born March 26, 1972) is a Canadian composer, songwriter, and music producer in Nashville, Tennessee. He has received and been nominated for Grammy Awards, GMA Dove Awards, and GMA Canada Covenant Awards, due to his songw ...

– programming (5, 11) *

Alan Pasqua Alan Pasqua (born June 28, 1952) is an American rock and jazz pianist. He studied at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music. His album ''Standards'' with drummer Peter Erskine was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008. As a ...

– keyboards (6, 8, 9) *

Phil Madeira Philip Kamm Madeira (born 1952) is an American songwriter, producer, musician and singer. He was raised in Barrington, Rhode Island, and attended Taylor University, graduating in 1975. His songs have been recorded by The Civil Wars, Buddy Mill ...

–

Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

(11) * Chris Rodriguez – electric guitar (1, 3, 4), BGV arrangements (1), acoustic guitar (4, 10) * Jerry McPherson – electric guitar (2, 6, 11), guitars (5, 10) * Michael Thompson – electric guitar (3, 6-9), acoustic guitar (9) *

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1959 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and the C ...

– electric guitar (6-9),

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

(8) *

Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...

– bass (6, 8, 9) * Steve Brewster – drums (5) * Neal Wilkinson – drums (6, 8, 9) *

Chris McHugh Chris McHugh (born 1964) is an American musician. He began his career as the drummer of Christian rock band White Heart from 1986 to 1989. He also worked in the recording of several of their later albums. Chris McHugh is on the Nashville "A" li ...

– drums (11) *

Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...

– percussion (1, 2, 5) *

Luis Conte Luis Conte (born 16 November 1954) is a Cuban percussionist best-known for his performances in the bands of artists including James Taylor, Madonna, Pat Metheny Group, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and Shakira. He began ...

– percussion (6, 9) * Patrick Kiernan – violin (7) * Michael Mellett – BGV arrangements (1, 2, 4, 10) * Carl Marsh – string arrangements (5, 11) *

Gavyn Wright Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He is best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions (including Elton John, Simply Red, Bush, Mecano, Oasis, ...

– concertmaster (5, 11), violin (7) *

The London Session Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

– strings (5, 11)

Production

– producer * Grant Cunningham – executive producer * Michael Mellett – vocal production (1, 2) * Steve Bishir – recording, mixing * Bill Deaton – additional engineer * Patrick Kelly – additional engineer * Russ Long – additional engineer * Hank Nirider – mix assistant * Jonathan Allen – strings recording (5, 11) * Andrew Dudman – strings recording assistant (5, 11) * Fred Paragano – digital editing * Steve Hall – mastering * Traci Bishir – production coordinator * Michelle Bentrem – production coordinating assistant * Christiév Carothers – creative direction * Jan Cook – art direction * Dan Harding – art direction, design * Matthew Barnes – photography * Gino Tanabe – stylist * Sheila Davis – grooming, make-up * Marybeth Felts – grooming, make-up * Brady Wardlaw – grooming, make-up * Proper Management – management

Studios

* Recorded at The Sound Kitchen (

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

) * Strings recorded at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

(

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) * Tracks 1 & 2 mixed at Seventeen Grand Studio (

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, Tennessee) * Tracks 3-11 mixed at The Sound Kitchen * Mastered at Future Disc (

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

)

Release and promotion

Radio

''Oxygen'' was successful on

Christian radio Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk progra ...

, with all of its singles reaching #1. "The Glory," the album's first

single, was added by all 41 reporting stations its debut week. "Make It Last Forever," released simultaneously to

(CHR), received an initial 14 adds out of 19 reporting stations.

Sales

''Oxygen'' sold more than 33,400 copies its first week of release, debuting at #37 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and reached #1 on Billboard's Christian albums chart. Both chart positions represent the highest performances on their respective charts in the group's career.

Limited edition single

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

containing four tracks was released at Christian retail as a free bonus to customers who pre-ordered the album. The single included the album's first two singles, "The Glory" (in its radio version) and "Make It Last Forever"; "Fly to You," from the 1999 film ''

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

'', also presented in its radio version; and a live version of "Testify to Love" from the group's second album, ''

A Maze of Grace ''A Maze of Grace'' is Avalon's second album, released in December 1997. It contains the hit single "Testify to Love", which has become the group's trademark song, the longest-running Adult Contemporary song in the history of the CCM Update AC ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxygen (Avalon Album) 2001 albums Avalon (band) albums