Under the Iron Sea

Infobox Album
Name = Under the Iron Sea
Type = studio
Artist = Keane


Released = June 12, 2006
Recorded = April–August 2005 at Helioscentric Studios, Rye, East Sussex, nowrap|October 2005 – February 2006 at The Magic Shop, NYC
Genre = Piano rock
Alternative rock
Electronic
Length = 50:30
Label = Island
Producer = Andy Green, Keane
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:oc1tk6axukr0 link]
*musicOMH.com Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.musicomh.com/albums5/keane-2_0506.htm link]
*Pitchfork (4.1/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/36958/Keane_Under_the_Iron_Sea link]
*"Q" Rating|4|5 (#240, July 2006, p. 108)
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3.0|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/10539611/review/10542702/under_the_iron_sea?source=album_reviews_rssfeed link]
*"SONIKA*" Rating|4|5
Last album = "Live Recordings 2004"
(2005)
This album = "Under the Iron Sea"
(2006)
Next album = "Keane Live 06"
(2006)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = studio


Lower caption = Cover for release with UK bonus DVD Singles
Name = Under The Iron Sea
Type = Studio
single 1 = Atlantic
single 1 date = April 24, 2006
single 2 = Is It Any Wonder?
single 2 date = May 29, 2006
single 3 = Crystal Ball
single 3 date = August 21, 2006
single 4 = Nothing In My Way
single 4 date = October 30, 2006
single 5 = Try Again
single 5 date = January 12, 2007
single 6 = A Bad Dream
single 6 date = January 22, 2007

"Under the Iron Sea" is the second studio album by English piano rock band Keane, released in 2006. During its first week on sale in the UK, the album went to #1, selling 222,297 copies according to figures from the Official Chart Company. In the United States, the album came in at #4 on the Billboard 200, selling 75,702 units in its first week.As of January 22, the album had sold above 2,500,000 copies worldwide.

The band describes "Under the Iron Sea" as a progression from "Hopes and Fears" with electronic influences, describing the record as a "sinister fairytale-world-gone-wrong". [cite web|url=http://www.myspace.com/keane|title=MySpace: Keane|accessdate=September |accessyear=2006]

Album history and information

After the release of their debut album, "Hopes and Fears", Keane embarked upon a world tour that reached virtually all Europe and North America and which culminated on October 2005. As seen on "Strangers", the band had been having trouble since the middle of 2004, shortly after the release of the debut. The suggestion "Hamburg Song" is about the bad-turned relationship between singer Tom Chaplin and pianist Tim Rice-Oxley - composed circa August 2004 - develops the focus of the conflict.During the tour, Rice-Oxley kept composing new songs that would later appear in future releases such as B-sides "Let It Slide" and "Thin Air". According to Chaplin, Rice-Oxley had composed at least 50 new tracks as of April 2006.

The name of the album is based on a lyric appearing on the track, "Crystal Ball" which reads "I've lost my heart, I buried it too deep, under the Iron Sea". It also shares title with the eighth track and Keane's first instrumental, "The Iron Sea".The "Iron Sea" is the metaphoric name for the group's (especially Rice-Oxley's) preoccupations about their uncertain future and the sudden fame they were having.

The album's title was announced by a handwritten note, signed by the entire band, reading:

"Nothing in My Way" (previously known as "Nothing in Your Way"), "Try Again" and "Hamburg Song" debuted between late 2004 and 2005 during the "Hopes and Fears Tour". The two latter songs made their first appearance on "Strangers", still on demo version while the first only appeared until the album's release.The three first singles, "Is It Any Wonder?", "Atlantic" and "Crystal Ball", were premiered at a secret gig in London on April 5.

Notable changes from the previous releases by Keane during the "Hopes and Fears" era, are the typeface and style of the cover art. Sanna Annukka, an artist from Brighton, designed the cover art for all Keane releases since March 2006, when this album's cover art was developed (on March 14). The typeface also changed from the "Cochin" typeface used on the 2004 and 2005 releases. The newer font was specially designed for Keane (but no specific name was given apart from the "UTIS" fan-name).

Release

The first pre-release before the album was "Atlantic", which was issued as a download-only music video single on April 25, featuring a specially extended version of the song incorporating the outro from album track "The Iron Sea". Irvine Welsh, author of the novel Trainspotting, directed the video, which was filmed in black and white on a remote Sussex beach, and did not feature the band. "Is It Any Wonder?" followed as the first single proper, out May 29. Its video was directed by Kevin Godley, best known for his work on music videos for The Police and Duran Duran in the mid-1980s.

The record was released June 12, 2006 internationally. However, the album was accidentally put on sale for a few hours on June 2, 2006 by Apple Computer's Belgian iTunes Music Store, and while this was widely publicised as a leak of the album, no one on the band's messageboard was able to buy it in this time frame. A US edition of the album eventually leaked in its entirety to file-sharing networks on June 5, 2006.

There was also a bonus DVD with a book-shaped cover representing a fairy-tale story, with drawings on the inner pages.

Musical evolution

This album marked the transition from the purely piano-driven songs that established "Hopes and Fears" to more progressive, sophisticated music, again without using guitars. All songs on the album and b-sides from the singles use these sounds. As seen on "Strangers", Rice-Oxley creates these sounds using the distortion pedals and keyboards connected to the CP70 piano. The sound can be recreated by distorting the piano sound and combining with distorted gothic chorus effect on a digital piano.

Perhaps one of the most notable changes on "Under the Iron Sea" is the effect pedal-created effects on several songs on the album, most notably "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Crystal Ball". The b-sides for single releases such as "Nothing in My Way" and "Is It Any Wonder?" are influenced primarily by electronic music, suggesting that the band keep experimenting with their music and testing new instruments.

Track listing

All tracks written by Tim Rice-Oxley, Tom Chaplin, and Richard Hughes.

# "Atlantic" – 4.13
# "Is It Any Wonder?" – 3.06
# "Nothing in My Way" – 4.00
# "Leaving So Soon?" – 3.59
# "A Bad Dream" – 5.06
# "Hamburg Song" – 4.37
# "Put It Behind You" - 3.36
# "The Iron Sea" – 2.57
# "Crystal Ball" – 3.53
# "Try Again" – 4.27
# "Broken Toy" – 6.07
# "The Frog Prince" – 4.22

The US version combines "Put It Behind You" and "The Iron Sea" into one track, 6.33 in length.

Bonus DVD

Videos

# Recording Under the Iron Sea – 23.55
# Short Film Set to an Extended Version of Atlantic – 6.01
# Is It Any Wonder? (Video) – 3.01
# Making the Is It Any Wonder? Video – 7.50

Works in progress

# "Atlantic" (Demo January 29, 2005) – 4.15
# "Is It Any Wonder?" (Demo March 31, 2005) – 2.58
# "Nothing in Your Way" (Live From Aragon Theater, Chicago May 19, 2005) – 4.10
# "Leaving So Soon?" (Demo October 29, 2005)
# "A Bad Dream" (Demo July 7, 2005)
# "Hamburg Song" (Live From Aragon Theater, Chicago May 19, 2005)
# "Put It Behind You" (Demo January 9, 2005)
# "The Iron Sea" (Helioscentric Recording Session April 9, 2005)
# "Crystal Ball" (Demo July 7, 2005)
# "Try Again" (Live From Aragon Theater, Chicago May 19, 2005)
# "Broken Toy" (Demo August 30, 2005) – 5.39
# "The Frog Prince" (Demo July 7, 2005) – 3.44

Hidden content

Inserting the CD whilst on the band's [http://web.archive.org/web/20060612214136/http://www.keanemusic.com/ website] allows you to unlock exclusive content including:
*Original demo of 'Atlantic' from ‘Under The Iron Sea’.
*A Live recording of 'Is It Any Wonder'.
*Live video footage of 'Atlantic' from the recent show at ULU.
*A free ringtone of 'The Iron Sea' to download to your mobile. (UK consumers only)
*Wallpaper images to use on your computer.
*An exclusive Keane Screensaver.

Track information

;"Atlantic"

;"Is It Any Wonder?":main|Is It Any Wonder? "Is It Any Wonder" is the only Keane song completely composed using distortion piano effects pedals.

;"Nothing In My Way":main|Nothing In My Way The song was be released as the fourth single of the album. It was previously called "Nothing In Your Way".

;"Leaving So Soon?":"Leaving So Soon?" was the last song composed for the album, in 2005. The song is considered as a fan favourite and it remains as the Keane song with the highest tempo ever released (144). Written by Rice-Oxley, it has been rumoured that the lyrics are aimed at Tom after the band had an argument. It is possible too that are referred to the old member Dominic, who left before the band, "never had a chance to bloom".

;"A Bad Dream":main|A Bad Dream This song was released as the last single from the album on early 2007.

;"Hamburg Song":"Hamburg Song" is the only organ-voice Keane song to date. The song talks about Rice-Oxley troubles with Tom Chaplin and how he feels. The song was premiered on October 20 2004 as a demo. The final version was slowed down and the organ sound changed a little. It doesn't feature drums but a few ride crashes on the outro.

;"Put It Behind You":Composed in mid 2004 because of Richard's break-up with his girlfriend. The song was first mentioned on "Strangers" by Rice-Oxley. A demo version of this song is included on the Under the Iron Sea DVD. During live performances of this song, the three members of the band sing on the main chorus, contrary to the album version, in which Hughes doesn't sing.

;"The Iron Sea":It appears as a demo on "Strangers", with Tim playing it at the Helioscentric Studios. "The Iron Sea" was composed in 2004 by him. On the UK version, "The Iron Sea" is the eighth track but in the International version is a hidden song after "Put It Behind You". The outro was also used on the single version of "Atlantic". The place where the track title should be on the CD tracklist is marked as a change in the font colour (from dark blue to royal blue).

;"Crystal Ball":main|Crystal Ball (song) This song was the third single released, charting at number 20.

;"Try Again":main|Try Again (Keane song) The song is currently being released only in Germany as the fifth single from the album, on a 3 CDs maxi-single format.

;"Broken Toy":This is the longest song recorded by Keane on any of their releases, at 6:07 minutes in length (the longest song recorded is the rare track "The Happy Soldier" at 7:43). The song has split opinion amongst the fanbase, due to the fact it is a marked stylistic departure from previous Keane songs. However because of this, it is also viewed as possibly the best indicator yet as to which direction the band may take on their third album. [ [http://www.keane.at/staring/utis-reviews.htm Keane.at - Under The Iron Sea reviews ] ]

;"The Frog Prince":main|The Frog Prince (song) The closing track is a song about Johnny Borrell from the band Razorlight.

Personnel

*Tim Rice-Oxley – bass, piano, keyboards, synthesizers, composition, backing vocals
*Tom Chaplin – organ, vocals, distortion piano, piano (on "Broken Toy")
*Richard Hughes – drumming and percussions
*Andy Green – programming and recording
*Sanna Annukka – cover design

Chart performances

*United Kingdom – 2x Platinum, Sales: 800,000+
*United States – Sales: 371,000
*Worldwide – Sales: 2,510,000

General charts

ee also

*List of songs by Keane

References

External links

* [http://www.keaneshaped.co.uk/disco/utis.htm "Under the Iron Sea"] at Keaneshaped
* [http://www.ukevents.net/matt01.shtml "Under the Iron Sea album review at"] UKEvents.net

succession box
before = "Smile... It Confuses People" by Sandi Thom
title = UK number one album
years = June 18 2006 – July 1 2006
after = "Liberation Transmission" by Lostprophets