Sound & Color

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Sound & Color
Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color album cover.jpg
Studio album by Alabama Shakes
Released April 21, 2015 (2015-04-21)[1]
Genre
Length 47:26
Label
Producer Blake Mills, Alabama Shakes [2]
Alabama Shakes chronology
Boys & Girls
(2012)Boys & Girls2012		 Sound & Color
(2015)
Singles from Sound & Color
  1. "Don't Wanna Fight"
    Released: February 10, 2015[3]
  2. "Gimme All Your Love"
    Released: 2015
  3. "Future People"
    Released: March 19, 2015[4]
  4. "Sound & Color"
    Released: September 21, 2015

Sound & Color is the second studio album by American rock band Alabama Shakes. It was released on April 21, 2015 via ATO Records, MapleMusic Recordings and Rough Trade Records.[1]

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., giving the band their first chart-topper; globally, the album hit the top ten in Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Sound & Color was a critical success and received six Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. It ultimately won 4 for Best Alternative Music Album, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, as well as Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "Don't Wanna Fight". It spawned four singles; "Don't Wanna Fight" was the most successful, peaking at number two on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart.

Background

Alabama Shakes began recording their second album in late 2013. The group listened to anything and everything for influence, without regard for its public reception in the end.[5] They spent over a year in the studio, with no clear end-goal, as they had not written any new songs due to their exhaustive touring schedule.[5] Sound & Color is steeped in several different genres, touching on shoegaze to bands such as MC5.[6]

In promotion of Sound & Color, the group appeared on Saturday Night Live on February 28, 2015; they performed the singles "Gimme All Your Love" and "Don't Wanna Fight".[7]

Commercial performance

The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart selling 96,000 copies (91,000 copies of traditional album sales) in its first week, in the week ending April 26, 2015, making it the band's first number one album.[8] The album has sold 306,000 copies in the US as of December 2015.[9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 80/100[10]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars[11]
Chicago Tribune 3/4 stars[12]
The Daily Telegraph 5/5 stars[13]
Entertainment Weekly A–[14]
The Guardian 3/5 stars[15]
NME 8/10[16]
Pitchfork Media 8.1/10[17]
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars[18]
Slant Magazine 4/5 stars[19]
Spin 7/10[20]

Upon its release, Sound & Color received positive reviews. At the review aggregator Metacritic, the album currently holds a score of 80 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10] Writing for Exclaim!, Andrea Warner called the record a "deliberately weird record, but authentically weird; it's chaotic yet cohesive, full of sound, colour and unshakable vision."[21] Barry Nicholson of NME compared it favorably to the band's first album, writing, "whereas their debut was cast in sepia hues and downhome earthiness, its follow-up is a more kaleidoscopic affair."[16]

Accolades

Sound & Color garnered six nominations at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards; it was nominated for the Album of the Year, marking the group's first nomination in the category. The album was also nominated for Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (Blake Mills), and won Best Alternative Music Album, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (Shawn Everett and Bob Ludwig). "Don't Wanna Fight" won for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.[22]

Country Publication List Rank
US Billboard[23] 25 Best Albums of 2015
7
US Complex[24] The Best Albums of 2015
29
US Consequence of Sound[25] Top 50 Albums of 2015
36
US Entertainment Weekly[26] The 40 Best Albums of 2015
13
US Rolling Stone[27] The 50 Best Albums of 2015
37
US The New York Times[28] The Best Albums of 2015 (by Jon Pareles)
7
US Rough Trade[29] Albums of the Year 2015
31

* denotes an unordered list

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Brittany Howard, with help from Blake Mills on "Future People", "Guess Who" and "Gemini"[1]. 

No. Title Length
1. "Sound & Color"   3:02
2. "Don't Wanna Fight"   3:53
3. "Dunes"   4:18
4. "Future People"   3:22
5. "Gimme All Your Love"   4:03
6. "This Feeling"   4:29
7. "Guess Who"   3:16
8. "The Greatest"   3:50
9. "Shoegaze"   2:59
10. "Miss You"   3:47
11. "Gemini"   6:36
12. "Over My Head"   3:51
Total length:
 47:26

Personnel

Credits adapted from Sound & Color liner notes.[30]

Alabama Shakes
  • Brittany Howard − vocals (all), guitar (2-12), vibraphone (1, 7, 11), percussion (4, 6, 12), keyboards (11, 12)
  • Heath Fogg − guitar (all), percussion (6, 12)
  • Zac Cockrell − bass (all), percussion (6, 7, 12)
  • Steve Johnson − drums (all), percussion (2, 3, 4, 6, 12)
Additional musicians
  • Ben Tanner − keyboards (1, 3-12), vibraphone (1), percussion (12)
  • Paul Horton − keyboards (11)
  • Rob Moose − string arrangements (1, 3, 6, 7)
Production

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[31] 6
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[32] 52
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[33] 12
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[34] 40
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[35] 1
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[36] 4
French Albums (SNEP)[37] 41
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[38] 28
Irish Albums (IRMA)[39] 12
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[40] 15
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[41] 27
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[42] 46
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[43] 37
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[44] 10
UK Albums (OCC)[45] 6
US Billboard 200[46] 1

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)[47] Gold 500,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/sound-color-mw0002821842/credits
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Alabama-Shakes-Sound-Color/release/6764040
  31. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  32. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  34. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  35. ↑ "Alabama Shakes – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Alabama Shakes. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  37. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  38. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  39. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 17, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  40. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  41. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  42. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  43. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  44. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  45. ↑ "Alabama Shakes | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  46. ↑ "Alabama Shakes – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Alabama Shakes. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links

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