''Positive Songs for Negative People'' is the sixth studio album by English
singer/songwriter
A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition, although this role has transmuted thr ...
Frank Turner
Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981), is an English Punk rock, punk and Folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primar ...
. It was released on 7 August 2015 by
Xtra Mile Recordings
Xtra Mile Recordings are a British independent record label based in London, England. The label was founded in 2003 by Charlie Caplowe and they release an eclectic mix of genres with a focus on rock and folk.
History
The label first signed the ...
. The album garnered a positive reception but critics said it was derivative of Turner's previous works. ''Positive Songs for Negative People'' debuted at number 2 in the UK and number 69 on the
''Billboard'' 200 and spawned only one
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
: "The Next Storm". To promote the record, Turner toured across North America, Europe and Australia.
Promotion
On 15 June 2015, Turner announced a few UK tour dates on November to promote the upcoming album, beginning with
Llandudno
Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...
's
Venue Cymru
Venue Cymru is a theatre, conference centre and arena in Llandudno, Conwy County Borough, North Wales. Formerly known as the Aberconwy Centre and the North Wales Theatre and Conference Centre, it is now a large arts, conference and events ven ...
arena and finishing at
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 ...
's
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...
. On 19 August, he added some in-store performances during his US tour on September and October, starting in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
's
Newbury Comics
Newbury Comics is an American comic book and music retailer based in New England. Newbury Comics began as a comic book vendor on Newbury Street in Boston. The company was founded in 1978 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students John B ...
and ending at
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
's Cactus Music. On 10 November, Turner went on an extensive worldwide tour to promote the record along with his first box set ''The First Ten Years'', beginning with
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census).
Etymology
The name Falmouth is of English or ...
's Princess Pavilion and ending on
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
's Salty Dog Cruise.
Critical reception
''Positive Songs for Negative People'' received favourable reviews but
music critic
''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...
s were divided over Turner's vocal delivery and lyricism. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 69, based on 20 reviews.
Mark Beaumont of ''
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 ...
'' praised the sentiments spread throughout the record and the variety of emotions the songs bring out.
Eric Swedlund of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' found the album better than ''
Tape Deck Heart
''Tape Deck Heart'' is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on 22 April 2013 on Xtra Mile in the UK, and on Polydor / Interscope worldwide. Produced by Rich Costey, the album was preceded by the single, ...
'', praising the upbeat demeanor that goes along with Turner's songwriting, saying that "
e result pushes Turner and his band back into more energetic territory after the careful, pristine sound of his previous effort."
Thom Jurek 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 ...
praised the record's eclectic musicianship combined with uplifting and introspective lyrics, calling it "an invigorating, infectious set that reaffirms Turner's faith in music's power to motivate and heal."
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...
of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' found some of the material weary with its earnestness and rousing bombast, but said that they were outweighed with more melancholic tracks like "Silent Key" and "Song for Josh", concluding that, "For all its flaws, ''Positive Songs for Negative People'' feels like the work of someone who knows exactly what he’s doing."
Ryan Reed of ''
Paste'' noted that the songs throughout were marred by a mixture of embarrassing lyrics with soaring choruses, concluding that "Turner leaves behind considerable wreckage with ''Positive Songs''—in ways both cathartic and clumsy. And as usual, he goes down swinging."
Stuart Knapman of
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...
found the album's various themes lacking in terms of insight and character that worked well in previous efforts, saying that "''Positive Songs…'' simply fails to live up to the high standards Turner has previously set."
Benjamin Bland of
Drowned in Sound
''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums.
History
''D ...
criticised the record for being a re-hash of previous material that replaces the charm and witty lyricism with off-putting delivery and generic lyrics that are "almost self-parody level at times." Bland said that, "This is Turner’s most staid and uninvolving work to date, suggesting that some of the filler that clogged up 2013's decent enough ''Tape Deck Heart'' was a sign of things to come."
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 2 in the UK behind
Dr. Dre
Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...
's ''
Compton
Compton may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Compton (electoral district), a former Quebec federal electoral district
* Compton (provincial electoral district), a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton
* Compton, Que ...
'' during the week of 14 August 2015. On the ''Billboard 200'', it debuted and peaked at number 69 the week of 29 August 2015, before leaving the chart completely. It additionally charted within the top 40 of several additional territories, surpassing what ''
Tape Deck Heart
''Tape Deck Heart'' is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on 22 April 2013 on Xtra Mile in the UK, and on Polydor / Interscope worldwide. Produced by Rich Costey, the album was preceded by the single, ...
'' achieved previously. The record debuted at number 7 in Germany before dropping to number 34 the next week and leaving the chart.
It debuted at numbers 11 and 21 in Switzerland and Austria respectively (whereas his previous album charted at numbers 79 and 34 respectively).
Track listing
Personnel
Adapted credits from the liner notes of ''Positive Songs for Negative People''.
Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls
*
Frank Turner
Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981), is an English Punk rock, punk and Folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primar ...
– lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
*
Ben Lloyd
Ben Lloyd is an English musician, record producer and recording engineer based in Oxford, England. He currently plays electric guitar in Frank Turner's band, The Sleeping Souls, and is a member of the British rock band, Dive Dive. He also record ...
– electric guitar, backing vocals
*
Tarrant Anderson
Tarrant Anderson is an English musician, currently serving as the bass player for Frank Turner's live and studio band, The Sleeping Souls and is a member of the British rock band Dive Dive. He was previously a member of the British punk band '' ...
– bass guitar, backing vocals
*
Matt Nasir
Matt Nasir is an English multi-instrumental musician, based in London, England. He currently plays keyboards in Frank Turner's band The Sleeping Souls and is a member of the London-based rock band, The Pressure Room. He has also previously played ...
– piano, organ, synthesizer, mandolin, mandola, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
*
Nigel Powell
Nigel Powell (born 1 October 1971) is an English multi-instrumental musician from Abingdon.
Powell was born in Bromley, London, and educated at Abingdon School. While at school he was in a band called Illiterate Hands, which also featured futu ...
– drums and percussion, backing vocals
Additional musicians
*Jeff Kievit – trumpet
*David Peel – horn
*Mike Davis – trombone
*Andy Snitzer – tenor sax
*Cahir O'Doherty – scream
*
Esmé Patterson – vocals
*Todd Stopera – backing vocals
*
Butch Walker
Bradley Glenn "Butch" Walker (born November 14, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band SouthGang from the late 1980s to early 1990s as well as the lead vocalist ...
– backing vocals
*
Lindi Ortega
Lindi Ortega (born May 28, 1980) is a Canadian country singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario, who had lived in Nashville, Tennessee then moved to Western Canada in 2017. She spent nearly a decade as an independent artist in the Toronto music ...
– backing vocals
*Jaclyn Monroe – backing vocals
*Kat Jones – backing vocals
*Billy the Kid – backing vocals
Recording personnel
*Butch Walker – producer
*Todd Stopera – engineer
*Chris Clark – additional engineering
*Graham Kay – additional engineering
*Ben Lloyd – additional engineering
*Claudius Mittendorfer – mixing
*Frank Arkwright – mastering
Artwork
*Go de Jong – art direction and design
*Nicole Kibert – live photo
*
Jamie-James Medina
Jamie-James Medina is a British photographer, filmmaker and record label founder. He grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where his father worked as an expert in tropical medicine. Medina edits The Tourist, a limited edition newsprint publication foc ...
– studio photography
Charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2015 albums
Frank Turner albums
Xtra Mile Recordings albums