Vancouver is the fourth studio album by Matthew Good

Matthew Good

Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...

, released on October 6, 2009.

The album is a concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

, critically reflecting on Good's hometown city of Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. In particular, the album is influenced by the social issues surrounding the city's poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside

Downtown Eastside

The Downtown Eastside is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is known as "Canada's poorest postal code"....

As Good had fulfilled his recording contract with Universal Music Canada with his previous 2007 release, Hospital Music

Hospital Music

Hospital Music is the third solo album by Canadian musician Matthew Good. It was released on July 31, 2007 Good performed nearly all the instruments himself, with the exception of drums and a few guitar and bass parts...

, he re-signed with the record label in early 2009 upon beginning studio recording.

Vancouver won the award for "Rock Album of the Year

Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year

The Juno Award for "Rock Album of the Year" has been awarded since 1991, as recognition each year for the best rock album in Canada. The award was previously called a number of other names, including the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Album" and "Best Rock Album"....

" at the 2011 Juno Awards

Juno Awards of 2011

The Juno Awards of 2011, honours Canadian music industry achievements in the latter part of 2009 and in most of 2010. The awards presented in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the weekend of 26 and 27 March 2011. A week of related events on 21 March 2011...

, making it the second time Good's won the award, the first being in 2000 for Beautiful Midnight

Beautiful Midnight

Beautiful Midnight is the third album released by the Matthew Good Band and the follow-up to the band's 1997 album, Underdogs.The album produced four successful singles and music videos, "Hello Time Bomb", "Load Me Up", "Strange Days", and "The Future is X-Rated"...

.

Promotion and Commercial Performance

The release of Vancouver was announced by Good on his website in July 2008. Months prior to the announcement, the album's eventual second track "The Boy That Could Explode" was previewed for fans on Good's website on Christmas Day in 2007. Good began streaming the album's first single "Last Parade

Last Parade

"Last Parade" is the first single by Matthew Good from his fourth solo album, Vancouver. The single was first streamed on August 14, 2009. The song was featured during a segment on NBC's The Today Show....

" on August 14, 2009. Good began streaming Vancouver on his website on September 5, 2009, a little over a month before its release.

Vancouver debuted at #2 on the Canadian Albums Chart

Canadian Albums Chart

The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...

, selling 11,000 copies in its first week.

The album was certified Gold in Canada on November 18, 2011.

Track listing

All tracks written by Matthew Good.

1. "Last Parade
   Last Parade
   "Last Parade" is the first single by Matthew Good from his fourth solo album, Vancouver. The single was first streamed on August 14, 2009. The song was featured during a segment on NBC's The Today Show....
   
   " - 5:55
2. "The Boy Who Could Explode" - 6:57
3. "Great Whales Of The Sea" - 3:29
4. "Us Remains Impossible" - 4:45
5. "On Nights Like Tonight" - 4:22
6. "Volcanoes" - 5:03
7. "A Silent Army In The Trees" - 5:37
8. "Fought To Fight It" - 4:23
9. "The Vancouver National Anthem" - 6:51
10. "Empty’s Theme Park" - 9:29
11. "A Silent Army In The Trees (Live Acoustic)" iTunes Bonus Track - 3:05
12. "Black Helicopter (Live Acoustic)" iTunes Bonus Track - 5:22

Trivia

"Great Whales of the Sea", Vancouvers third track, came about while Good was experimenting with sound bytes of whale songs. He has likened its creation to that of "Hello Time Bomb" because in both instances "an attempt to produce something funny" yielded unexpected results. Another track entitled "Life In Spite Of Itself", though it was not eventually included in the album, was one of the last songs to be written for the Vancouver. The idea for the song came to Good late one night while he was attempting to sleep and was initially demoed on his iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

.

Contributing artists on Vancouver include Peter Yorn, who sings backup vocals on the ninth track "The Vancouver National Anthem".

External links

• Vancouver Album Timeline