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Your Majesty (album)

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Your Majesty
Studio album by
The Anniversary
ReleasedJanuary 22, 2002
RecordedJune 2001
StudioSonora
GenrePop rock, space rock
Length46:46
LabelVagrant
ProducerRob Schnapf
The Anniversary chronology
Designing a Nervous Breakdown
(2000) 		Your Majesty
(2002) 		Devil on Our Side: B-Sides & Rarities
(2008)

Your Majesty is the second full-length studio album released by indie rock band The Anniversary. The album was recorded in June 2001 and released on January 22, 2002. The album sold rather well, reaching #17 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #15 on the Indie chart.[1][2]

Background and production

The Anniversary released their debut album Designing a Nervous Breakdown in January 2000[3] through Heroes & Villains, an imprint of independent label Vagrant Records that was owned by the Get Up Kids.[4] By August, the band were working on new material, which vocalist/guitarist Josh Berwanger said was more acoustic based and featured electric piano from vocalist/keyboardist Adrienne Pope.[5] The group went on the Heroes & Villains Fall Tour in September and October,[6] took a two-week break, before touring again until Christmas.[5] They spent the period writing further material for their next album.[7] The band supported Hey Mercedes on their headlining US tour[8] in February and March 2001.[9]

A week prior to recording, the band did pre-production with Rob Schnapf at a practice space. They played him every track, and after each performance, they would go over parts and song structures.[10] The band recorded Your Majesty at Sonora Recorders, located in Los Feliz, California in June 2001[11] across two and a half weeks.[10] They reframed from recording in their hometown of Lawrence, Kansas as they felt it would be a big distraction with their family and friends being there.[12] Schnapf acted as producer with recording being handled by Doug Boehm; they were assisted by Andrew Boston.[11] The band spent some downtime at Malibu Beach, where they wrote addition parts and a portion of lyrics.[12] Schnapf and Boehm mixed the recordings with assistance from Pete Magdaleno at King Sound Studios in Los Angeles, California. Don C. Tyler then mastered the recordings at Precision Mastering.[11]

Composition

All of the music was credited to the Anniversary. Berwanger and Roelofs wrote all of the lyrics; six of Your Majesty's tracks were credited to Berwanger–Roelofs, while the remainder were Roelofs–Berwanger.[11] Musically, the sound of Your Majesty has been described as pop rock[13] and space rock,[14] incorporating influence from progressive rock.[15] Though the album has also been tagged as emo,[13][16] some reviewers noted that the band moved away from this style.[14][17][18] It was slower than their debut with more of a straightforward rock sound and off-kilter vocal performances.[14] Parts of it drew comparison to a full-band iteration of Elliott Smith and Rufus Wainwright,[17] the New Pornographers,[19] as well as English acts the Kinks and Mott the Hoople.[20] Berwanger and Roleofs sung with a breathy stride that was reminiscent of the Rentals frontman Matt Sharp on his band's album Seven More Minutes (1999).[21]

Your Majesty begins with two rock tracks, "Sweet Marie" and "Crooked Crown", the intro of the latter being in the vein of Weezer.[14] "Husam Husam" was compared to Pink Floyd with its intro, spacious keyboard parts and throaty backing vocals.[16] Its borderline-orchestral arrangement recalled the Verve, complete with Pop singing choral vocals in its intro.[21] The indie rock track "The Sirens Sings"[15] features guitar riffs in the vein of Neil Young.[18] "Never Die Young" is an up-tempo pop song with the biggest resemblance to the sound of their debut album. "Tu-Whitt Tu-Whoo" is love song[14] that is followed by the folk-esque "The Ghost of the River".[16] "Death of the King" is an near-six minute song, with its instrumental ending segueing into "Follow the Sun",[14] which consists of two lines.[18] Both tracks are progressive rock-indebted numbers,[16] with "Death of the King" evoked the sound of to Pink Floyd.[14]

Release

In July, the band appeared on the Vagrant Across America tour.[22] On September 3, the album's track listing was revealed.[23] On September 24, it was revealed that Vagrant pushed the album's release back from October to January next year at the band's insistence.[24] In October and November, the band went on a US tour with Superdrag and the Mars Volta.[25] Your Majesty was delayed several times, and with each delay, tension was mounting within the group.[10] It was eventually released on January 22, 2002;[16] its artwork channeled the Beatles' Revolver (1966).[20] The band played three shows with Guided by Voices in February, before supporting Dashboard Confessional on an eight-week tour in March and April.[26] In October and November, they went on a headlining tour with Burning Brides and the Gadjits.[27] On November 19, Vagrant released a video compilation Another Year on the Screen, which included the music video for "Sweet Marie".[28]

On March 7, 2003, the band said they had left Vagrant Records.[29] In response, Vagrant's owner Rich Egan made a highly negative post on the label's message board, which was subsequently deleted. Egan followed this up, saying the "relationship [with the band] had run its course"; Berwanger said the label and the band had "complete opposite ideas of what music should be."[30] He revealed the label had "no idea" how to market Your Majesty, though Egan retorted that Vagrant had no difficulty promoting it, and that it out-sold the band's debut.[30] In March and April, the group supported Cheap Trick on their US headlining tour.[29] In October and November, the went on tour; the Natural History and the Vexers supported the first half, while Carrier and Apollo Sunshine supported the second.[31] Towards the end of the stint, the band broke up in late November 2003.[32]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic73/100[33]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
Chart AttackFavorable[17]
CMJ New Music ReportFavorable[15]
E! OnlineB[34]
InlanderUnfavorable[18]
The Michigan DailyC-[21]
Ox-FanzineUnfavorable[35]
Pitchfork2/10[13]
PopMattersFavorable[14]
Rolling Stone[36]

Your Majesty received generally favorable reviews from music critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[33]

Track listing

All music by the Anniversary, lyric credits noted in brackets below.[11]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sweet Marie"Roelofs, Berwanger3:35
2."Crooked Crown"Roelofs, Berwanger3:48
3."Peace, Pain & Regret"Berwanger, Roelofs3:34
4."Husam Husam"Roelofs, Berwanger6:45
5."The Siren Sings"Berwanger, Roelofs4:36
6."Never Die Young"Roelofs, Berwanger4:01
7."Tu-Whitt Tu-Whoo"Berwanger, Roelofs2:29
8."The Ghost of the River"Roelofs, Berwanger6:28
9."Devil on My Side"Berwanger, Roelofs3:19
10."The Death of the King"Roelofs, Berwanger5:56
11."Follow the Sun"Berwanger, Roelofs2:28
Total length:46:56

Personnel

Personnel per sleeve.[11]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Billboard - Heatseekers
  2. ^ "Independent Albums - Billboard". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  3. ^ Phares, Heather. "Designing a Nervous Breakdown - The Anniversary | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  4. ^ DePasquale, Ron. "The Anniversary | Biography & History". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Bishop, Robert (August 31, 2000). "Happy Anniversary". The Pitch. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  6. ^ "Show Dates". The Anniversary. Archived from the original on October 1, 2000. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  7. ^ "News (December 2000)". The Anniversary. Archived from the original on March 9, 2001. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  8. ^ "Hey Mercedes News". Hey Mercedes. Archived from the original on March 31, 2001. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  9. ^ "Show Dates". The Anniversary. Archived from the original on April 5, 2001. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c Niccum 2002, p. 2D
  11. ^ a b c d e f Your Majesty (sleeve). The Anniversary. Vagrant/Heroes & Villians Records. 2002. VR359/HV0011.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ a b Niccum 2002, p. 1D
  13. ^ a b c Haywood, Brad (September 12, 2002). "The Anniversary: Your Majesty Album Review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on March 19, 2009. Retrieved August 2, 2002.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Rauch, Stephen (January 21, 2002). "The Anniversary: Your Majesty". PopMatters. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  15. ^ a b c Sciarretto 2002, p. 4
  16. ^ a b c d e f Phares, Heather. "Your Majesty - The Anniversary | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  17. ^ a b c Servos, Steve (February 12, 2002). "CD Reviews: The Anniversary, Megadeth, Misstress Barbara and many more". Chart Attack. Archived from the original on December 6, 2005. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  18. ^ a b c d Corrigan, Mike (April 25, 2002). "CD Review - The Anniversary". Inlander. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  19. ^ "Lost Classics: The Anniversary "Your Majesty"". Magnet. February 11, 2009. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  20. ^ a b Kundrath 2002, p. 49
  21. ^ a b c Smith 2002, p. 7
  22. ^ "across america.. or parts of it". The Anniversary. Archived from the original on June 19, 2001. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  23. ^ Heisel, Scott (September 3, 2001). "The Anniversary's New CD's Track list released, tour announced". Punknews.org. Archived from the original on December 22, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  24. ^ Heisel, Scott (September 24, 2001). "Vagrant Pushes back The Anniversary's new release". Punknews.org. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  25. ^ "Anniversary Fall U.S. Tour". The Anniversary. Archived from the original on January 29, 2001. Retrieved August 9, 2020. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; January 29, 2002 suggested (help)
  26. ^ Heisel, Scott (January 19, 2002). "Wouldn't it be funny if *your* anniversary was one of these dates? C'mon!". Punknews.org. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  27. ^ Heisel, Scott (October 11, 2002). "The Anniversary, Burning Brides, Gadjits to tour". Punknews.org. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  28. ^ White, Adam (October 25, 2002). "Another Year On The Screen". Punknews.org. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  29. ^ a b White, Adam (March 7, 2003). "The Anniversary Tour With Cheap Trick". Punknews.org. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  30. ^ a b Harkness, Geoff (April 10, 2003). "Vagrant Foul". The Pitch. Archived from the original on January 18, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  31. ^ Heisel, Scott (October 18, 2003). "The Anniversary back on the road". Punknews.org. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  32. ^ Spacek, Nick (September 13, 2016). "The reunited Anniversary heads back to the Bottleneck". The Pitch. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  33. ^ a b "Your Majesty by The Anniversary". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  34. ^ "Music - The Anniversary "Your Majesty"". E! Online. Archived from the original on December 27, 2002. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  35. ^ Hiller, Joachim (March–May 2002). "Reviews: Anniversary, The / Your Majesty CD". Ox-Fanzine (in German). Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  36. ^ Eliscu, Jenny (March 28, 2002). "Recordings: The Anniversary, Your Majesty, 3 Stars". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 20, 2003. Retrieved August 3, 2020.

Sources

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