''Flight of the Conchords'' is the debut full-length studio recorded album by
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
folk parody duo
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's c ...
, released 21 April 2008 by Sub Pop. Two songs, "Business Time" and "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)", have been released as downloadable content for the video game ''
Rock Band
''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...
''.
Track listing
Personnel
*All songs written and performed by
Jemaine Clement
Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement (born 10 January 1974) is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. He has released several albums with Bret McKenzie as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, and created a comedy TV series t ...
and
Bret McKenzie
Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie (born 29 June 1976) is a New Zealand musician, comedian, music supervisor, and actor. He is best known as one half of musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. In the 2000s, the duo's com ...
*Sara Johnston - vocals on "Foux du Fafa"
*Robin Lynn - keys on "Foux du Fafa," "Think About It" and "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)"
*Gus Seyffert - bass on "Think About It" and "Business Time"
*Danny Frankel - percussion on "Think About It," "The Prince of Parties" and "Business Time"
*
Mickey Petralia
Mickey Petralia is an American producer, engineer, and mixer. He has worked with Rage Against the Machine, Peaches, Beck, and Flight of the Conchords.
Awards
In 2001, Petralia was nominated for the album of the year with his work on ''Midnite Vul ...
- drums on "Ladies of the World" and "Leggy Blonde;" percussion on "The Prince of Parties" and "A Kiss is Not a Contract"
*Mark Lewis - drums on "Ladies of the World" and "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)"
*Kyle O'Callaghan - co-writer and guitar on "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)"
*
Rhys Darby
Rhys Montague Darby (born 21 March 1974) is a New Zealand actor and comedian. He is known for his energetic physical comedy routines, telling stories accompanied with mime, and sound effects of things such as machinery and animals. He was nomin ...
- vocals on "Leggy Blonde"
*Scott Seiver - drums on "Business Time" and "Bowie"
*David Ralicke - horns on "Bowie"
Sales and chart performance
The album debuted at number three on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling about 52,000 copies in its first week. In their home country of New Zealand, the album debuted at number two, beaten to the top spot by
Shihad
Shihad were a Rock music, rock band formed in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1988. The band consisted of founders Tom Larkin (musician), Tom Larkin (drums, backing vocals, samplers), Phil Knight (lead guitar, synthesiser, backing vocals) and Jon To ...
's ''
Beautiful Machine
''Beautiful Machine'' is the seventh studio album by Shihad and was released on 21 April 2008 in New Zealand and 17 May 2008 in Australia.
The album is much softer than previous Shihad releases, including many electronica elements and '80s backin ...
''. The following week it jumped to the number one spot. The album was certified 2× Platinum in New Zealand on 23 August 2009, shipping over 30,000 copies.
Appearances on the TV show
All of the tracks on the album, with the exception of track 15, were featured in an episode of the TV series ''
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's c ...
''.
*Tracks 9 and 12 were featured in the episode Sally.
*Tracks 2 and 10 were featured in the episode
Bret Gives Up the Dream
"Bret Gives Up the Dream" is the second episode of the HBO comedy series ''Flight of the Conchords''. The episode first aired in the United States on Sunday, June 24, 2007.
A song in this episode, "Inner City Pressure", received an Emmy Award n ...
.
*Tracks 3 and 4 were featured in the episode
Mugged
Mugging (sometimes called personal robbery or street robbery) is a form of robbery and street crime that occurs in public places, often urban areas at night. It involves a confrontation with a threat of violence. Muggers steal money or persona ...
.
*Track 13 was featured in the episode
Sally Returns
"Sally Returns" is the fifth episode of the HBO comedy series ''Flight of the Conchords''. It first aired in the United States on Sunday, July 15, 2007.
This episode received an Emmy Award nomination in 2008 for "Outstanding Directing For A Com ...
.
*Tracks 14 and 16 were featured in the episode Bowie.
*Tracks 6 and 8 were featured in the episode Drive By.
*Tracks 1 and 11 were featured in the episode Girlfriends.
*Tracks 5 and 7 were featured in the episode New Fans.
Many tracks are rerecorded or slightly remixed versions of those featured in the television program.
"Business Time" previously appeared on ''
The Distant Future
''The Distant Future'' is an EP by New Zealand folk-parody duo Flight of the Conchords, released on August 7, 2007. It was certified Gold in New Zealand on May 11, 2008, selling over 7,500 copies.
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for the song "Ladies of the World" has been released by
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...
records. It is available on the Sub Pop
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel.
In the video, Bret and Jemaine skate around a beach (mostly in slow motion) in a parody of "cheesy" 70's music videos. When they reach the hermaphrodite lyrics, the camera zooms in on a bulge in a woman's swimsuit. When the music fades back in at the end of the song, Bret and Jemaine "fly" into space; Bret flaps his arms and Jemaine uses his vest as wings.