''The Complex'' is the second full-length

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...

, released in 2003. The album produced two singles, and debuted at #60 on the Billboard charts. As with the previous album, a

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version was released, containing a high-definition (96 kHz/24-bit) 5.1

surround sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener (surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to s ...

mix. The

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 databa ...

review by Robert L. Doerschuk states "Although its inspirations, musical and conceptual, trace as far back as Kraftwerk, ''The Complex'' serves as a reminder that modern devices and glistening production values can be applied to the most primal creative instincts, if utilized by the right — blue — hands".Doerschuk, R. L.

Allmusic Review 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 ...

accessed 29 June 2009.

Track listing

#"Above" (Dyas, Goldman, Heinemann, Pai, Perlmutter, Stanton, Wink) – 2:46 #"Time to Start" (Dyas, Goldman, Stanton, Wink) – 3:43 #"Sing Along" (Dyas, Goldman, Stanton, Wink) – 3:25 #*featuring Dave Matthews #"Up to the Roof" (Dyas, Gleitsman, Goldman, Heinemann, Perlmutter, Stanton, Wink) – 3:51 #*featuring

Tracy Bonham Tracy Bonham (born March 16, 1967) is an American alternative rock musician, best known for her 1996 single "Mother Mother". Raised in Eugene, Oregon, Bonham is a classically trained violinist and pianist, and is also a self-taught guitarist. S ...

#"Your Attention" (Dyas, Goldman, Heinemann, Pai, Perlmutter, Stanton, Wink) – 4:09 #"Persona" (Dyas, Gleitsman, Goldman, Stanton, Wink) – 4:30 #*featuring

Josh Haden Josh Haden (born 1968 in New York City) is an American musician and singer. He is the founder, bassist and singer of the group Spain. Haden is the son of the late Charlie Haden. Career Haden is the founder, bassist and singer of the group Spai ...

#"Piano Smasher" (Dyas, Golden, Goldman, Perlmutter, Stanton, Wink) – 3:00 #"

White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! ...

" (

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, artist, and painter. Slick was a key figure in San Francisco's early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, ...

) – 2:54 #*featuring

Esthero Esthero ( ; born Jenny-Bea Englishman on December 23, 1978 in Stratford, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who lives in Los Angeles, California. The name ''Esthero'' refers both to the singer and formerly to the two-person team of hersel ...

#" The Current" (Dyas, Gleitsman, Goldman, Stanton, Wink) – 3:48 #*featuring

Gavin Rossdale Gavin McGregor Rossdale (born 30 October 1965) is an English guitarist and actor, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush. He helped form Bush in 1992; on the band's separation in 2002, he became the lead singer ...

#"Shadows, Pt. 2" (Dyas, Gleitsman, Goldman, Perlmutter, Stanton, Wink) – 2:56 #*featuring Tracy Bonham and

Rob Swift Rob Swift (born Robert Aguilar; May 14, 1972), is an American hip hop DJ and turntablist. He was an original member of the turntablist group The X-Ecutioners until 2004. He has also released numerous solo albums and collaborated with various ar ...

#"What Is Rock" (Dyas, Gleitsman, Goldman, Stanton, Wink) – 3:11 #*featuring Arone Dyer and Peter Moore #"The Complex" (Dyas, Gleitsman, Goldman, Heinemann, Stanton, Wink) – 6:25 #*featuring Peter Moore #"

I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...

" (Bellotte, Moroder, Summer) – 5:13 #*featuring Annette Strean of

Venus Hum Venus Hum is an electronic pop music group from Nashville, Tennessee, consisting of vocalist Annette Strean and multi-instrumentalists Kip Kubin and Tony Miracle. Miracle has a rare heart condition which results in perpetually hearing his own he ...

#"Exhibit 13" (Banks, Dyas, Goldman, Heinemann, Parrulli, Stanton, Wink) – 8:51 #*Actual length is – 4:01 #*Includes a hidden track - '' Mandelbrot No. 4'', length: – 4:19

Concept

''The Complex'' is a concept album that takes place in two separate worlds: the world of the rock concert, as in the song "Time to Start," and the alienating world of the modern urban workplace, as in the songs "Sing Along," "The Current", and "The Complex." Both worlds are then tied together in the song "What Is Rock," which contrasts the celebratory "loss of identity" within a rock performance with the dehumanizing "loss of identity" within the workplace. These themes were illustrated during performance by animations that told the story of a faceless worker eventually escaping "up to the roof" and discovering their true self.

Personnel

*Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, Chris Wink (CMP) - founders *Chris Dyas - baritone guitar, e-bow, guitar, harpsichord, zither *Larry Heinemann - bass, chapman stick, guitar, pressaphonic, tubulum, zither *Todd Perlmutter - drums, narrator (2,5,11), percussion programming *Blue Man - airpoles, anvil, backpack tubulum, big drum, cimbalom, cuica, dogulum, drumulum, dulcimer, dumpster, mandeldrums, mellotron cello, paddle tubulum, percussion, piano smasher, PVC instrument, tubulum, 1981 casiotone and kazoo. *

- vocals (4,10) *Arone Dyer - vocals (11) *

- vocals (8) *

- vocals (6) * Dave Matthews - vocals (3) *Peter Moore - vocals (11,12), keyboards (15) *

- vocals (9) *Annette Strean and Venus Hum - vocals and effects (13) *

- turntables (10) *

Dave Anania Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

- percussion (11) *Chris Bowen - tubulum (13), voiceover (11) *

Nels Cline Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been the guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has w ...

- guitar (6,8-10,13) *

Dan the Automator Daniel M. Nakamura better known by his stage name Dan the Automator, is an American record producer from San Francisco, California. He is the founder of the publishing company Sharkman Music and the record label 75 Ark. Early life Nakamura was b ...

- programming (3,9) *Jeffrey Doornbos - tubulum (13) *Byron Estep - dobro guitar (5) *Brooke Ferris - start voice (2), "words on the left" (5) *Avram Gleitsman - guitar (9) * Spalding Gray - "words on the right" (5) *

Kid Koala Eric San (born December 5, 1974), aka Kid Koala, is a Canadian scratch DJ, music producer, theatre producer, film composer, multimedia-performer and visual artist. His career began as a scratch DJ in 1994. Kid Koala works with genres as eclectic ...

- samples (11) *Elvis Lederer - zither (5,15) *Ian Pai - percussion (1,2,5,10,15) *Jeff Quay - percussion & double drum kit (5,6,12,15) *Brian Scott - tubulum (13) *Dave Steele - guitar (4,8,9,12), zither (4,12) *Rob Swift - turntable (5,10) * Chris Traynor - guitar (9) *Jeff Turlik - guitar (1,2,5,8,9,12-15), zither (14,15) *Todd Waetzig - percussion (11) *Jordan Cohen, Matthew Kriemelman, Jeff Tortora, Vince Verderame, Todd Waetzig, Nick White - Vegas Drum Army (1,2,5,6,7 & 13) *Dave Anania, Chris Bowen, Wes Day, Jeffrey Doornbos, Randall Jaynes, Josh Matthews, Ian Pai, Crag Rodriguez, Pete Simpson, Pete Starrett, Clem Waldman - NY Drum Army (2,5,15)

Production

*Producers: Todd Perlmutter, Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, Chris Wink *Executive producer: Jeff Skillen *Engineers: Bill Bookheim, Joe Hogan, Joe O'Connell, Todd Perlmutter, Andrew Schneider *Mixing: Rich Costey, Andrew Schneider *Mastering: Bob Ludwig *Production supervisor: Jeff Levison *Production coordination: Jaime Ramírez *Product development: Michael Quinn, Jeni Ardizzone West *Programming: Dan the Automator, Todd Perlmutter *Computer engineering: Larry Heinemann *Vocal producers:

Kip Kubin Kip Kubin (born March 4, 1965) is an American film director, producer, writer, musician, and sound designer. He is best known for being in the band Venus Hum (MCA Records, BMG Records, and Universal Records) but transitioned to directing and writ ...

, Tony Miracle, Venus Hum *Sampling: Kid Koala *Arrangers: Peter Moore, Ian Pai, Dave Steele, Jeff Turlik *Studio assistant: Mike Napolitano *Art consultant: Dan the Automator *Technician: Mike Napolitano *Drum technician: Carl Plaster *Art direction: Marcus Miller, Charles Tyler Ensemble *Design: Jen Graffam Wink *Artwork: David Bell *Cover image: Jen Graffam Wink

Track listing

Concept

Personnel

Production

Charts

Album

Songs

References

External links