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Blackbird (Alter Bridge album)

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Blackbird
Studio album by
Alter Bridge
ReleasedOctober 5, 2007 (2007-10-05)
RecordedFebruary 2007 – May 2007
StudioStudio Barbarosa (Bavon, VA)
Genre
Length59:17
LabelUniversal Republic
ProducerMichael Baskette
Alter Bridge chronology
One Day Remains
(2004) 		Blackbird
(2007) 		Live from Amsterdam
(2009)
Myles Kennedy chronology
One Day Remains
(2004) 		Blackbird
(2007) 		Live from Amsterdam
(2009)
Singles from Blackbird
  1. "Rise Today"
    Released: July 30, 2007
  2. "Watch Over You"
    Released: January 14, 2008
  3. "Ties That Bind"
    Released: January 21, 2008 (UK)
  4. "Before Tomorrow Comes"
    Released: April 22, 2008

Blackbird is the second studio album by American rock band Alter Bridge, released on October 5, 2007. The first single, "Rise Today", was released on July 30, 2007. The album peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200, selling 47,000 copies in its first week on the charts.[1] As of December 2008, Blackbird has sold 227,000 copies.[2] Despite receiving poor marketing and generally low mainstream success, initial critical reception towards the album was mostly positive, with music critics praising the songwriting and musicianship.[citation needed] The album was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry.

Background

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The band stated in early 2006 that the song writing process was two thirds complete.[3] On February 8, 2007, the band announced that all of the album's songwriting was finished and that they would be entering the studio to begin the recording process for the new record. It was then announced on May 11, 2007 (by guitarist Mark Tremonti on www.thealterbridgenation.com), that the recording of the album was complete, the mixing had been finished, and only a few small minor things were still to be done.

On July 23, 2007, there was another official press release containing the official release date for the first single from the album, the track listing for the album, and news that tour dates would be released at a later time. Three days later, Alter Bridge uploaded two new songs to their official MySpace page for fans to listen to as a taste of the new album. The songs were "Ties That Bind" and the album's single "Rise Today".

A UK version of the album was released on October 8 with a special UK bonus track titled "We Don't Care at All", a track also found on the iTunes version of the album. There is also a version of the album sold exclusively through Best Buy that contains the two bonus tracks "The Damage Done" and "New Way to Live", and a Walmart version with a bonus DVD containing exclusive interviews and an in-depth look at the making of the album.

Also, prior to the album's official release, Universal Republic Records put up a page of e-cards on their main home page on August 24, 2007, which contained the then-unreleased "Before Tomorrow Comes", "Watch Over You", "Buried Alive", and "Come to Life". They were then removed on Saturday, August 25, as their discovery resulted in many fans accessing them in a short period of time. Their online availability appears to have been a mistake on Universal's part, but it could also have been a unique marketing strategy.

On March 19, 2009, the band released a tablature book for the album, containing the tablature sheet music for every song on the album.

While a large majority of the songs on One Day Remains were written before Myles Kennedy came on board, this time around it was a collaborative effort with Tremonti and Kennedy sharing the songwriting duties, while all four band members worked on the arrangements. All four members have songwriting credits on the album.

In "Wayward One", the melody of the verse is based on the theme of the Bourrée in E minor (Suite BWV996) of J. S. Bach.

Label changes

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Alter Bridge left Wind-Up Records in 2006 due to Wind-Up pressing for a Creed reunion, which, in fact, actually later happened (all of Alter Bridge's members excluding Kennedy are also members of Creed), and subsequently signed to Universal Republic Records. The band's second label change occurred in 2010; Blackbird's follow-up, AB III, was released on Roadrunner Records worldwide, with the exception of North America where it was self-released via Capitol Records. The band dropped their contract with Universal Republic likely due to the way the label handled the release of Alter Bridge's 2009 live album/DVD Live from Amsterdam.

Singles

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"Rise Today" was the first single from the album. It was officially released on July 30, 2007. The music video of "Rise Today" was released on Yahoo! on October 4, 2007. It was also made available for download on iTunes on July 31, 2007.

The single received a release date in the UK set for October 15, on both CD and 7" Picturedisc.[4]

At their concert on October 30, 2007 in Dallas, Texas, the group recorded a live music video for a future single, "Ties That Bind". It was later announced that "Ties That Bind" would be released as a single in the UK and Europe and that the video would be used to promote that single. On January 2, 2008, it was announced that "Watch Over You" would be the second single from Blackbird. There is also currently a duet version of "Watch Over You" featuring Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil found on the band's MySpace. "Watch Over You" was featured in promos and during the season finale of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. The second version of the music video aired on VH1 containing clips from the show. "Before Tomorrow Comes" was released as the fourth and final single off the album in April 2008, and the third to be released in the United States.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
411Mania9.0/10[5][unreliable source?]
AllMusic[6]
Bullz-Eye[7][unreliable source?]
Hard Rock Hideout[8]
The Metal Forge[9][unreliable source?]
TuneLab9.5/10[10][unreliable source?]

Blackbird was met with critical acclaim upon its release. It debuted at number 37 on the UK Albums Chart, and at number 2 on the UK Rock Album Chart. In the US, it debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart and number 4 on the Billboard Rock Albums chart, selling about 47,000 copies in its first week[11] and 227,000 copies by 2008.[2]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Alter Bridge

No.TitleLength
1."Ties That Bind"3:19
2."Come to Life"3:51
3."Brand New Start"4:54
4."Buried Alive"4:35
5."Coming Home"4:19
6."Before Tomorrow Comes"4:06
7."Rise Today"4:21
8."Blackbird"7:58
9."One by One"4:20
10."Watch Over You"4:19
11."Break Me Down"3:56
12."White Knuckles"4:24
13."Wayward One"4:47
Total length:59:17
iTunes/UK version[12]
No.TitleLength
14."We Don't Care at All"3:42
Total length:62:59
Best Buy version
No.TitleLength
14."The Damage Done"3:45
15."New Way to Live"5:40
Total length:68:42

Personnel

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Charts

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Album

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Chart (2007) Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart[13] 64
Dutch Albums Chart[14] 55
German Albums Chart[15] 55
Scottish Album Chart[16] 38
Swiss Albums Chart[17] 83
Swedish Albums Chart[18] 56
US Billboard 200[19] 13
US Top Rock Albums[20] 4
UK Album Chart[21] 37
UK Rock Album Chart[22] 2

Singles

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Year Title US
Main		 US
Alt
[23]		 UK
Rock
2007 "Rise Today" 3 32 3
2008 "Ties That Bind"[a] — — 3
"Watch Over You" 19 — —
"Before Tomorrow Comes" 29 — —
"—" denotes the single failed to chart, was not released, or was not certified.

^ a "Ties That Bind" was only released as a single in the United Kingdom.

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[24] Gold 100,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

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Region Release date Label
Ireland October 5, 2007 Universal Republic
United Kingdom October 8, 2007
United States October 9, 2007
Australia October 20, 2007
Japan December 4, 2007

Appearances

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References

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  1. ^ Cohen, Jonathan. "Kid Rock Rolls To No. 1 Album Chart Debut". billboard.com. October 17, 2007.
  2. ^ a b Cohen, Jonathan. "Creed Hammering Out Reunion Details". billboard.com. December 1, 2008.
  3. ^ "Video Interview with Alter Bridge". Archived from the original on Feb 20, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  4. ^ "Rise Today: UK Release Information". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
  5. ^ "411MANIA". 411mania.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  6. ^ AllMusic review, AllMusic
  7. ^ "Bullz-eye.com". Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  8. ^ Rockitt, Rob (October 9, 2007). "Alter Bridge – Blackbird (Release Year – 2007)". Hardrockhideout.wordpress.com. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  9. ^ "策驰影院-策驰影视大全-影视大全免费追剧-免费在线影视网站". Themetalforge.com. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  10. ^ "TubeLab review". Archived from the original on Jul 17, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  11. ^ Jonathan Cohen, "Kid Rock Rolls To No. 1 Album Chart Debut", Billboard.com, October 17, 2007.
  12. ^ "Blackbird". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved Oct 8, 2024.
  13. ^ "Alter Bridge - Blackbird". Austriancharts.at. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  14. ^ "Alter Bridge - Blackbird". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  15. ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche". Musicline.de. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  16. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart". Official Charts. 13 October 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Alter Bridge - Blackbird - hitparade.ch". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  18. ^ "Alter Bridge - Blackbird". Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  19. ^ "Artist Chart History – Alter Bridge". Billboard.com. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  20. ^ "Artist Chart History – Alter Bridge". Billboard.com. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  21. ^ "Official Albums Chart". Official Charts. 13 October 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  22. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart". Official Charts. 13 October 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  23. ^ "Artist Chart History – Alter Bridge". Billboard.com. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  24. ^ "British album certifications – Alter Bridge – Blackbird". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
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