''Slomotion'' is the fifth and final studio album by The Watchmen. The album was released as 2-CD set where the second CD was a

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

package.

Background

After four albums,

Sammy Kohn Sammy is a nickname, frequently for people named Samuel, and also an English spelling of the Arabic name Sami. People Music *Sammy Adams (born 1987), American rapper and songwriter *Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), American songwriter *Sammy Davis Jr. (1 ...

split from the group to work as Canadian promo rep for the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

offices of

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-based roots label,

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

. Musically, he hooked up with John Hornak and Michael Owen from reaulaudiowavetransfer. The new partnership took off instantly and resulted in a new band, the experimental trio Avenue One. The loss of their drummer and original member would alter the band's songwriting and sound. With Kohn gone, the various Watchmen hooked up their

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computers with

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software and began experimenting with samples, backbeats and

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to create a collection of electronic tracks shot through with the band's trademark melodies. This change in direction divided fans and critics. At this time,

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Music Canada wanted to release a

package with one or two new songs. The band fought to include all 8 of the new songs they had completed. As a compromise, the new album became a 2-CD set but was priced as a single CD. Disc One, dubbed ''Fast Forward'', is a set of 8 new songs produced by

Rhys Fulber Nowell Rhys Fulber is a Canadian electronic musician and producer. He is a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium, along with Bill Leeb. He also records under his own name and under the name Conjure One. Biography Rhys Fulber was born in ...

(

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Delerium Delerium is a Canadian new-age ambient electronic musical duo that formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act Front Line Assembly. Throughout the band’s history, their musical style has encompassed a ...

) and DJ Iain, and also includes a remix of their song "Stereo" from ''

Silent Radar ''Silent Radar'' is the fourth studio album by The Watchmen. The album contained numerous hits including "Stereo", " Any Day Now", and "Say Something". Videos for "Stereo" and "Any Day Now" saw heavy play on MuchMusic in 1998, but by the time t ...

''. The songs feature programmed beats, and

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sounds, a first for the band. Disc Two, dubbed ''Rewind'', includes 9 of the band's best songs, culled from their previous four studio records. In keeping with the band's embrace of

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and the

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which began with ''

'', both discs contained multimedia components, including photos, video clips, and technology allowing fans to remix the song “Slomotion”. Both CDs also provided a link to a private website which could only be accessible to those who bought the CD.

Reception

The album's lead single, "Absolutely Anytime", was released on August 20, 2001 and was moderately successful. The album was released in the first week of October 2001 and the bargain-priced double-CD set sold 7,908 copies in its first week of release. This placed it at No. 6 on the

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s. This was an improvement over the first week sales of the band's previous album ''

'' in April 1998 which sold 4,985 copies in its first week. The album was certified Gold in Canada by the

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on October 16, 2001. The band made videos for "Slomotion" and "Holiday (Slow It Down)" in 2002, both of which saw good rotation on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

Tour

The band went on an extensive tour to support the new album. Band members

Joey Serlin Joey Serlin (born 1970) is a Canadian rock guitarist and songwriter. He was a member of The Watchmen, a Canadian alternative rock band active in the 1990s. Following that band's breakup, he worked with ''Canadian Idol'' winners Ryan Malcolm an ...

(Guitar, Vocals), Daniel Greaves (Vocals, Harmonica, Piano), and

Ken Tizzard The Watchmen are a Canadian rock band. They were one of the most commercially successful bands in Canada in the mid to late 1990s. During their peak years, the band had one platinum record ('' In the Trees'') and three more gold records (''McLaren ...

(Bass) were joined by Winnipegger

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on Drums. In addition to playing bass, Tizzard also acted as the group's DJ by working a turntable and other “digital doodads”. He took up the name OBScene to commemorate his new DJ skills. Throughout the tour, the band continued to use the internet to promote their efforts. For example, the December 20, 2001 concert at the Congress Centre in

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was webcast over the internet. Following the promotion and tour for ''Slomotion'', the band members went off to separate projects. However, as 2002 became 2003, the band members decided the band had run its course. The decision to fold the band came about not because of musical differences or nasty infighting, but because of a bad case of creative stagnation. Following the tour in support of ''Slomotion'', the band members felt that their enthusiasm was more on the other projects and it was forced for The Watchmen, and it wasn't fair for the band or the fans.

Track listing

CD 1 – ''Fast Forward'' #Holiday (Slow It Down) ( Daniel Greaves) #Absolutely Anytime (

) #No Longer Mine (Serlin) #Together (Music: The Watchmen, Lyrics: Greaves) #Slomotion (Serlin) #I Like It (Music: The Watchmen, Lyrics: Greaves) #Phone Call (Music: Greaves/

, Lyrics: Greaves) #Soft Parade (Music: Serlin, Lyrics: Greaves) #Stereo (Remix) (Music: The Watchmen, Lyrics: Greaves) CD2 – ''Rewind'' #Cracked (From: ''

McLaren Furnace Room ''McLaren Furnace Room'' is the first major label album by Canadian band, The Watchmen. Originally released by SUMO Productions in Canada in 1992 (with the help of MCA Records), the release impressed MCA Records Canada who signed the band and r ...

'', 1992) #Run & Hide (From: ''

'', 1992) #Boneyard Tree (From: '' In The Trees'', 1994) #All Uncovered (From: '' In The Trees'', 1994) #Incarnate (From: '' Brand New Day'', 1996) #Zoom (From: '' Brand New Day'', 1996) #Shut Up (From: '' Brand New Day'', 1996) # Any Day Now (From: ''

'', 1998) #Brighter Hell (From: ''

'', 1998) Note: For songwriting and production credits for CD 2, see respective albums.

Album credits

Personnel

* Daniel Greaves – Vocals, Piano *

– Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards *

– Bass, Programming

Additional personnel

- Drums on CD 2 * Pete Loewen - Bass on Tracks 1 & 2 on CD 2

Production (CD 1 – ''Fast Forward'')

*''Fast Forward'' mastered by Nick Rawson at the Post Shop *All Songs Co-Produced by The Watchmen "Holiday (Slow It Down)", "Together", "I Like It", "Phone Call", and "Soft Parade" *Produced by DJ Iain and Snoog *Recorded at Sound and Vision (

, ON) *Mixed by DJ Iain at Sound and Vision (Toronto, ON) *“Holiday (Slow It Down)” and “Phone Call": Additional Recording at Music High & Wide, Audio Playground *“Together”: Additional Recording at Music High & Wide, Signal to Noise *“Soft Parade”: Additional Recording at Music High & Wide, Signal to Noise, Audio Playground *“Holiday”: Additional Programming by Snoog and DJ Iain *“Together”, “I Like It”, “Phone Call”, and “Soft Parade”: Additional Programming by Snoog, DJ Iain, and

OBScene An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...

“Absolutely Anytime”, “No Longer Mine”, and “Slomotion” *Produced by

*Mixed & Engineered by Mike Plotnikoff *Digital Editing by Paul Silveira *Recorded at Hipposonic (Vancouver, BC) *Additional Recording at Signal to Noise *Programming by Rhys Fulber *Mixed at Hipposonic and The Mix Room ( Burbank, CA) *Mixing Assistants Chris Guy (Hipposonic) and Chuck Bailey (The Mix Room) *“Absolutely Anytime”: Additional Programming by

and

*“No Longer Mine”: Additional Programming by Chris Peterson, Jason Filipchuk,

and

*“Slomotion”: Additional Programming by Chris Peterson,

and

“Stereo (Remix)” *Remixed by

*Mixed by Mike Plotnikoff *Programming by Rhys Fulber *Digital Editing by Greg Collins *Mixed at The Mix Room (Burbank, CA) *Recorded by Adam Kasper *Original version from ''

References

External links

* Liner notes from The Watchmen: ''Slomotion''.
The Watchmen Bio
*
The Watchmen - VideosRock concert raises cash for Israeli bobsled teamNickelback picks up three Prairie Music Awards
*
CRIA Searchable Database
{{Authority control 2001 albums The Watchmen (band) albums EMI Records albums Albums recorded at Hipposonic Studios