Songs of the Unforgiven
Encyclopedia
Songs of the Unforgiven is the seventh album recorded by the Crash Test Dummies
, released in 2004
.
", Brad Roberts
, Ellen Reid
and Dan Roberts
proceeded to prepare recording the follow-up, with Roberts acknowledging he went "through this phase where I was extremely prolific and I wrote like three records worth of material in a space of months."
The band pursued a decisively raw, acoustic, stripped-down sound for "Songs of the Unforgiven", and turned to the Internet in search of a recording studio that featured a pipe organ. By Googling "recording studios" plus “pipe organ”, the first result revealed Sacred Heart Studios in Duluth, Minnesota
: a church originally constructed in 1894 that was later abandoned and eventually restored and turned into a venue for concerts. Having discovered Sacred Heart Recording Studio included a 1493-pipe, Felgemaker pipe-organ, the band drove to Duluth and recorded the album the following January.
The album is decidedly apocalyptic thematically, featuring lyrics replete with Biblical references and imagery. Other unconventional instruments appear on the record, including the harp
and kettle drums.
Suzzy Roche
(of female vocal group "The Roches" fame) provides backing vocals on the album's three sonnets.
. Allmusic writer Rob Theakston gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and states that "with the Dummies stripped of all the electronic experimentation and quirky, Shel Silverstein-esque lyrics that hindered their past few releases, the haunting, sparse acoustic instrumentation makes a welcome return to the forefront of the songwriting process. This only reinforces and complements Roberts' existentially bereft baritone folk tales to their fullest potential. The sonnets used for lyrics are some of the Crash Test Dummies' darkest and most brooding in their entire catalog, talking tales of murder, sinister deeds, punishment, sin, and death. Songs of the Unforgiven is the record die-hard fans have been patiently waiting for, and it's outstanding.". In addition, Darryl Sterdan of the Winnipeg Sun
, who also gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, states that the "over swirling pump organs, slowly strummed guitars and molasses-slow grooves, the baritone Roberts sombrely intones psalms of death, darkness and delivery, coming off like a cross between Leonard Cohen
, Nick Cave
, Tom Waits
and Elmer Gantry
. And the brooding neo-classical folk hymns of Songs of the Unforgiven come off as his most sincere, spiritual thoughts to date.".
Crash Test Dummies
The Crash Test Dummies is a Canadian folk rock/alternative rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, widely known for their 1993 single "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm".The band is most identifiable through Brad Roberts and his distinctive bass-baritone voice...
, released in 2004
2004 in music
See also:* 2004 in music Record labels established in 2004-January:*January 1**The Vienna New Year's Concert is conducted by Riccardo Muti.**Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol....
.
Background
Almost immediately after recording "Puss 'n' BootsPuss 'n' Boots (album)
Puss 'N' Boots is the sixth studio album by Crash Test Dummies, released in 2003. The album began life as a Brad Roberts solo project. While the lyrics were written by Brad Roberts, most of the music was written by Stuart Cameron. Perhaps not coincidentally, this album is, musically-speaking, more...
", Brad Roberts
Brad Roberts
Bradley Kenneth "Brad" Roberts is the lead singer and guitarist for the Canadian folk-rock band Crash Test Dummies. He sings in the bass-baritone range.-Career:...
, Ellen Reid
Ellen Reid
Ellen Reid provides backing vocals, piano, keyboards and accordion for the Canadian rock band Crash Test Dummies....
and Dan Roberts
Dan Roberts
Dan Roberts is the bassist for the Canadian rock band, Crash Test Dummies, and brother of their lead singer, Brad Roberts.-Biography:...
proceeded to prepare recording the follow-up, with Roberts acknowledging he went "through this phase where I was extremely prolific and I wrote like three records worth of material in a space of months."
The band pursued a decisively raw, acoustic, stripped-down sound for "Songs of the Unforgiven", and turned to the Internet in search of a recording studio that featured a pipe organ. By Googling "recording studios" plus “pipe organ”, the first result revealed Sacred Heart Studios in Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
: a church originally constructed in 1894 that was later abandoned and eventually restored and turned into a venue for concerts. Having discovered Sacred Heart Recording Studio included a 1493-pipe, Felgemaker pipe-organ, the band drove to Duluth and recorded the album the following January.
The album is decidedly apocalyptic thematically, featuring lyrics replete with Biblical references and imagery. Other unconventional instruments appear on the record, including the harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
and kettle drums.
Suzzy Roche
Suzzy Roche
Suzzy Roche , originally from Park Ridge, New Jersey, is best known for her work with the female vocal group The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre...
(of female vocal group "The Roches" fame) provides backing vocals on the album's three sonnets.
Track listing
- "Prelude"
- "Sonnet 1 (And When the Sun Goes Down)"
- "And So Will Always Be"
- "The Unforgiven Ones"
- "Interlude 1"
- "Come Down to the Sinkhole"
- "Is the Spell Really Broken?"
- "Everlasting Peace"
- "Sonnet 2 (And Back in Ages Past)"
- "The Beginning of the End"
- "Interlude 2"
- "You've Had Your Run"
- "There Is No Final Winner"
- "You've Done It Once Again"
- "Sonnet 3 (The Cold Is Here)"
- "The Wicked and the Evil"
- "Postlude"
Personnel
- Brad RobertsBrad RobertsBradley Kenneth "Brad" Roberts is the lead singer and guitarist for the Canadian folk-rock band Crash Test Dummies. He sings in the bass-baritone range.-Career:...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, acoustic guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
on "There Is No Final Winner" - Ellen ReidEllen ReidEllen Reid provides backing vocals, piano, keyboards and accordion for the Canadian rock band Crash Test Dummies....
, backing vocals - Suzzy RocheSuzzy RocheSuzzy Roche , originally from Park Ridge, New Jersey, is best known for her work with the female vocal group The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre...
, backing vocals, vocals on "Sonnet 1 (And When the Sun Goes Down)," "There Is No Final Winner," and "Sonnet 3 (The Cold Is Here)" - Chris Brown - Pipe organPipe organThe pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
, Pump organReed organA reed organ, also called a parlor organ, pump organ, cabinet organ, cottage organ, is an organ that generates its sounds using free metal reeds...
, PianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, Wurlitzer pianoWurlitzer electric pianoWurlitzer 200A|250px|thumbThe Wurlitzer electric piano was one of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, U.S. and Tonawanda, New York...
, AccordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, HarmoniumHarmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
on "The Beginning of the End" - Scott Harding, acoustic and electric guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, CymbalCymbalCymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s on "Sonnet 1 (And When the Sun Goes Down)," VibraphoneVibraphoneThe vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
on "Everlasting Peace," backing vocals on "Is the Spell Really Broken?" - Andrew Hall, acoustic bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
- Drew Glackin, acoustic guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, lap steelLap steel guitarThe lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
, electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, resophonic guitarResonator guitarA resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones instead of the wooden sound board . Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion...
on "There Is No Final Winner," Tremolo BassTremolo armA whammy bar, tremolo arm/bar, or vibrato arm/bar is a component of a guitar, used to add vibrato to the sound by changing the tension of the strings, typically at the bridge or tailpiece...
on "Sonnet 3 (The Cold Is Here)" - Jane ScarpantoniJane ScarpantoniJane Scarpantoni is a classically trained cello player who has played on a number of alternative rock albums.She was a member of Hoboken, New Jersey's Tiny Lights in the mid-'80s, then went on to play with other musicians especially those associated with the Hoboken underground rock scene of the...
, CelloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is... - David MansfieldDavid MansfieldDavid Mansfield is an American violinist, mandolin player, guitarist, pedal steel guitar player, and composer....
, BanjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, ViolinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello.... - Mimi Parker, drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s on "The Unforgiven Ones" - Alan SparhawkAlan SparhawkAlan Sparhawk is the guitarist and vocalist for American band Low.-Biography:George Alan Sparhawk was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Utah. He met Mimi Parker when he was 9, after his family moved to Minnesota. Sparhawk began writing his own compositions around the age of 13...
, electric guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
on "Come Down to the Sinkhole" - Todd McMillon, Church bellChurch bellA church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...
on "The Beginning of the End"
Reception
The album resulted in the band receiving their best reviews since God Shuffled His FeetGod Shuffled His Feet
The album was the band's biggest mainstream hit. Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who gave it 4½ out of 5 stars, attributes the album's success to "Jerry Harrison's remarkably clear and focused production" and that "apart from the relatively concise pop smarts of the singles "Mmm Mmm Mmm...
. Allmusic writer Rob Theakston gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and states that "with the Dummies stripped of all the electronic experimentation and quirky, Shel Silverstein-esque lyrics that hindered their past few releases, the haunting, sparse acoustic instrumentation makes a welcome return to the forefront of the songwriting process. This only reinforces and complements Roberts' existentially bereft baritone folk tales to their fullest potential. The sonnets used for lyrics are some of the Crash Test Dummies' darkest and most brooding in their entire catalog, talking tales of murder, sinister deeds, punishment, sin, and death. Songs of the Unforgiven is the record die-hard fans have been patiently waiting for, and it's outstanding.". In addition, Darryl Sterdan of the Winnipeg Sun
Winnipeg Sun
The Winnipeg Sun is a daily tabloid-sized newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.It is owned by Sun Media, a subsidiary of Quebecor Media, and shares many characteristics typical of Sun Media tabloids, including an emphasis on local news stories, extensive sports coverage, a Canadian conservatism...
, who also gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, states that the "over swirling pump organs, slowly strummed guitars and molasses-slow grooves, the baritone Roberts sombrely intones psalms of death, darkness and delivery, coming off like a cross between Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
and Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 and published by Harcourt in March 1927.-Background:Lewis did research for the novel by observing the work of various preachers in Kansas City in his so-called "Sunday School" meetings on Wednesdays. He first worked with William L...
. And the brooding neo-classical folk hymns of Songs of the Unforgiven come off as his most sincere, spiritual thoughts to date.".