.gif)
Hands (Little Boots album)
Encyclopedia
Hands is the debut studio album
by English recording artist Little Boots
. It was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 by 679 Recordings to generally positive reviews. Many critics complimented its "well-crafted" pop songs and "diverse" production. Hands primarily features songs about love, relationships and heartbreak, and takes influence from a variety of music styles such as disco
, 1980s synthpop
and Eurodance
. The album reached the top five in Boots' native United Kingdom, and its first two singles, "New in Town
" and "Remedy
", charted inside the top fifteen and top ten, respectively.
with Greg Kurstin
and Hot Chip
's Joe Goddard in early 2008. While in Los Angeles, she spent two days recording with RedOne
. She initially found working with RedOne intimidating because their collaboration was expected to produce a hit song. Following the BBC Sound of 2009
poll, which Boots won, her record label, management and A&R team scheduled recording sessions with Dr. Luke
. These sessions, however, never took place. In January 2009, Boots began to compile the album's track listing, a difficult process for the singer, who compared it to "cutting a limb off."
The album's title comes from the song "Hands". Included on the album as a hidden track
, its lyrics
tell the story of a person with a broken heart who tries desperately to mend it. The album cover for Hands was "inspired by old Italo
covers like Patrick Cowley
and Amanda Lear
that have lots of space and fantasy themes." According to Boots, the artwork is a mixture of the past and the present, a reflection of the musical styles featured on the album.
"New in Town
", the album's opening track, was inspired by the "seedy side of life" in Los Angeles and the strange individuals Boots met while recording Hands. It was chosen as the album's lead single
because "it's very bold and colourful and doesn't really sound like anything else out there." Released on 25 May 2009, "New in Town" peaked at number thirteen on the UK Singles Chart
. The album's second track, "Earthquake
", received positive reviews from critics, with one reviewer stating that it was a "strikingly affecting, emotionally naked galactic banger." "Stuck on Repeat
" was composed with Australian singer Kylie Minogue
in mind. Inspired by the disco era
, it was compared to Donna Summer
's 1977 song "I Feel Love
" by music critics. The fifth track on the album, "Remedy", was released on 17 August 2009 as the second single from Hands and managed to outpeak its predecessor, landing at number six on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks.
"Meddle
", the album's sixth track, was released as a limited edition single in August 2008. Described by The Times
as a "barnstormer" and a "disco, drum and bass hybrid", it reached number ninety-seven on the UK chart. "Ghost", a song about being ignored by a loved one, received mixed reviews from critics. In a review for The Guardian
, Alexis Petridis
described it as a "clunky attempt to blend electronics with Brecht
-and-Weill
oompah." It was heavily sampled by Idle Warship
for their track "Momma May I". The song "Mathematics" was inspired by Sylvia Plath
's poem Love Is a Parallax. In the song, Boots uses mathematics
as a metaphor
for love. The ninth track, "Symmetry", a duet with The Human League
singer Philip Oakey
, was a "dream" for Boots. A fan of the band, she was surprised when Oakey agreed to provide vocals for the track. The synth
ballads "Tune Into My Heart" and "Hearts Collide" were compared to Minogue, with one reviewer writing that "Hearts Collide" was the "greatest Kylie track never recorded by the Australian." The closing track from Hands, "No Brakes", features a spoken interlude which was compared to the Pet Shop Boys
and Mike Yarwood
.
, which assigns a normalised
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 68, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". In a review for musicOMH
, Michael Cragg called it "a well-crafted, glorious pop record." Clash
reviewer Joe Zadeh disagreed, stating that the album "falls victim to attempts to reach beyond more boundaries than necessary, and thus ironically loses the concentration of the more earnest listener." David Renshaw of Gigwise
described Hands as "a big pop album" that "rival[s] Lady GaGa
, Girls Aloud
or Lily Allen
." Ben Thompson of The Observer
complimented the album's "diverse" production and called the song "Symmetry", a duet with Philip Oakey
, a "joyous cross-generational head-to-head." The Guardian
s Alexis Petridis
referred to Hands as "a surprisingly modern-sounding record from an artist who has been depicted as in thrall to a kitsch
vision of 80s pop." Ian Wade from BBC Music
praised the album as "a solid pop debut, the sort of album which unites lovers of pop, young and old", and compared it to albums by Goldfrapp
, Kylie Minogue
and Annie. NME
critic Emily Mackay wrote that "Little Boots gives us an inspiring story of self-realisation" and called the album "brilliant."
Peter Paphides
of The Times
named "Stuck on Repeat" the album's "best moment" due to its "exquisite vulnerability." Andrzej Lukowski of Drowned in Sound
remarked that "Hesketh can write a damn good pop song, and whether that's what caused the initial buzz, it's something hard to deny when presented with the cold, hard proof of Hands." The Independent
s Andy Gill felt that the album has "safe, conformist electropop grooves following lines as straight and satisfying as supermarket aisles", concluding that "the result is a form of attention-deficit pop: for while 'New in Town' and 'Earthquake' have an instant appeal, it's striking how quickly one's palate is sated by their pop-rock fizz: the listener who can play Hands all the way through is either dedicated, or dead." Paul Schrodt from Slant Magazine
argued that while the album "smacks of trying too hard", most of the songs "are imminently playable on their own terms, whether it's a Robyn
-style, slow-burning heartache ('No Brakes') or enjoyably Eurotrash camp
('Hearts Collide')." Marc Hogan, writing for Pitchfork Media
, labelled Hands as "a mainstream pop effort with an indie-friendly narrative", while noting that the album's "most distinguishing characteristic is an unusual level of meta-pop self-awareness." K. Ross Hoffman of Allmusic viewed the album as "a solid batch with several standouts [...] but no space-filling duds or truly weak links." Melissa Maerz from Entertainment Weekly
commented that "musically [Boots is] great at taking superstar glamour to the streets: It's megaclub gold for the broke-ass rest of us."
on the issue dated 14 June 2009, but during its second week, it dropped to number forty, and quickly slipped out of the top forty. Nevertheless, following the release of "Remedy", the album returned to the top thirty on 23 August 2009 for four weeks. So far it has spent eighteen weeks in the top one hundred. On 4 September 2009, the album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry
(BPI) for shipments in excess of 100,000 copies within the UK. Hands debuted at number twenty on the Irish Albums Chart
for the week ending 11 June 2009, falling to number forty-four the following week and eventually dropping off the chart. During the week of 27 June 2009, the album debuted on the European Top 100 Albums
at number nineteen, and remained on the chart for four weeks.
Elsewhere, Hands peaked at number four on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums
chart in Australia and at number thirty-six in Japan. In the United States, where the album was released on 2 March 2010, it reached number seven on Billboard
s Heatseekers Albums
chart on 20 March.
. On 4 March 2009, Boots appeared on the late night television show Last Call with Carson Daly
in the United States. She was interviewed by Daly and several clips from a Los Angeles nightclub
performance were shown. Boots performed "Stuck on Repeat" using the Tenori-on
on the 11 May 2009 edition of BBC Breakfast
. Boots returned to Later... with Jools Holland on 15 May 2009, becoming the only artist to perform on the show twice prior to having an album released. This was followed by an appearance on the BBC Radio 4
programme Woman's Hour
on 27 May 2009. She also appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
aired on 3 July 2009. On 26 May 2008, Boots performed four songs from Hands at the Apple Store in London
, England. These songs were included on the digital extended play
iTunes Live from London
, which was released exclusively through iTunes
on 1 June 2009.
"Meddle" was featured on the ninth episode of the third series of the British teen drama Skins
, titled "Katie and Emily" and originally broadcast 19 March 2009. Also in 2009, "Meddle" was featured in an advertisement
for Victoria's Secret
. "New in Town" is included on the official soundtrack to the 2009 American comedy horror Jennifer's Body
, and was also used on the American television series 90210
(which used the Fred Falke
remix), Friday Night Lights
, Ugly Betty
and Mercy
. "Remedy" was used on the 9 October 2009 episode of the American science fiction series Dollhouse
, titled "Belle Chose", as well as on the fourth episode of the third series of the BBC
comedy series Gavin & Stacey
, broadcast 17 December 2009. The track "Click" was featured on the sixteenth episode of Melrose Place
, "Santa Fe", aired 30 March 2010, and later on the twentieth episode of the first season of The Vampire Diaries
, "Blood Brothers", aired 29 April 2010.
The album was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 as a CD
and digital download
. Boots' official website offered an exclusive bundle for pre-order
which included the CD, a limited edition galactic speckled 12-inch vinyl
copy of the album and a thirty-three-minute 'Hands On' mix MP3
featuring album material, non-album tracks and remixes. The 12-inch vinyl was limited to 1,000 copies. Due to overwhelming demand, the limited edition 12-inch vinyl was released on 10 June 2009, two days later than had previously been announced.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by English recording artist Little Boots
Little Boots
Victoria Christina Hesketh, also known by her stage name/pseudonym Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter. Her stage name comes from a nickname given to her by a friend, a reference to her unusually small feet...
. It was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 by 679 Recordings to generally positive reviews. Many critics complimented its "well-crafted" pop songs and "diverse" production. Hands primarily features songs about love, relationships and heartbreak, and takes influence from a variety of music styles such as disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, 1980s synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
and Eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
. The album reached the top five in Boots' native United Kingdom, and its first two singles, "New in Town
New in Town (song)
"New in Town" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and Greg Kurstin and produced by Kurstin, the track was released as the album's lead single on 25 May 2009 in the United Kingdom. The song was inspired by the nights Boots spent in Los...
" and "Remedy
Remedy (Little Boots song)
"Remedy" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and RedOne, the song was released as the album's second single on 17 August 2009 in the United Kingdom, becoming her most successful single on the UK Singles Chart to date. A remix EP of the...
", charted inside the top fifteen and top ten, respectively.
Recording and production
Boots began recording her debut album in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with Greg Kurstin
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen "Greg" Kurstin is an award-winning American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009 Kurstin received a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year. That same year he won three Ivor Novello awards for his work with Lily Allen, including Songwriters of the Year for "The Fear"...
and Hot Chip
Hot Chip
Hot Chip are an English electronic indie band. They have released four studio albums—Coming on Strong, The Warning, Made in the Dark and One Life Stand.-Formation:...
's Joe Goddard in early 2008. While in Los Angeles, she spent two days recording with RedOne
RedOne
Nadir Khayat , known by the stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan producer and songwriter. Renowned for co-producing hit singles such as "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "Judas", he is attributed by some as the key to Lady Gaga's success...
. She initially found working with RedOne intimidating because their collaboration was expected to produce a hit song. Following the BBC Sound of 2009
Sound of... (BBC poll)
Sound of... is an annual poll of music critics and industry figures to find the most promising new music talent. It was first conducted by the BBC News website in 2003. A top 10 list is published each January.-Winners:-Sound of 2009:...
poll, which Boots won, her record label, management and A&R team scheduled recording sessions with Dr. Luke
Dr. Luke
Lukasz Gottwald , better known as Dr. Luke, is an American songwriter, record producer, and remixer. Luke performed with the Saturday Night Live Band for ten seasons until 2007. He has co-written and co-produced a string of commercially successful songs...
. These sessions, however, never took place. In January 2009, Boots began to compile the album's track listing, a difficult process for the singer, who compared it to "cutting a limb off."
The album's title comes from the song "Hands". Included on the album as a hidden track
Hidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...
, its lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
tell the story of a person with a broken heart who tries desperately to mend it. The album cover for Hands was "inspired by old Italo
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
covers like Patrick Cowley
Patrick Cowley
Patrick Joseph Cowley was an American disco and Hi-NRG dance music composer and recording artist. He recorded in a style that has drawn comparisons to that of Giorgio Moroder and is often credited with pioneering electronic dance music.-Early life:Patrick Cowley was born in Buffalo, New York to...
and Amanda Lear
Amanda Lear
Amanda Lear is a French singer, lyricist, composer, painter, TV presenter, actress and novelist....
that have lots of space and fantasy themes." According to Boots, the artwork is a mixture of the past and the present, a reflection of the musical styles featured on the album.
Songs
New in Town (song)
"New in Town" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and Greg Kurstin and produced by Kurstin, the track was released as the album's lead single on 25 May 2009 in the United Kingdom. The song was inspired by the nights Boots spent in Los...
", the album's opening track, was inspired by the "seedy side of life" in Los Angeles and the strange individuals Boots met while recording Hands. It was chosen as the album's lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
because "it's very bold and colourful and doesn't really sound like anything else out there." Released on 25 May 2009, "New in Town" peaked at number thirteen on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The album's second track, "Earthquake
Earthquake (Little Boots song)
"Earthquake" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and Greg Kurstin and produced by Kurstin, the song was released in the United Kingdom on 16 November 2009 as the album's third and final single...
", received positive reviews from critics, with one reviewer stating that it was a "strikingly affecting, emotionally naked galactic banger." "Stuck on Repeat
Stuck on Repeat
"Stuck on Repeat" is an electropop song by English singer-songwriter Little Boots from her debut EP, Arecibo . Written by Little Boots, Greg Kurstin and Joe Goddard, the song was released as a promotional single in the United Kingdom in February 2008.-Background and writing:"Stuck on Repeat" was...
" was composed with Australian singer Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
in mind. Inspired by the disco era
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, it was compared to Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
's 1977 song "I Feel Love
I Feel Love
"I Feel Love" is a song by Donna Summer, taken from her 1977 concept album I Remember Yesterday.The song constituted the "future" segment of the album, which represented a stylistic progress through time...
" by music critics. The fifth track on the album, "Remedy", was released on 17 August 2009 as the second single from Hands and managed to outpeak its predecessor, landing at number six on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks.
"Meddle
Meddle (song)
"Meddle" is an electropop song performed by English singer Little Boots. The song was written by Victoria Hesketh and Joe Goddard for Little Boots' debut extended play Arecibo , and later appearing on her debut album, Hands...
", the album's sixth track, was released as a limited edition single in August 2008. Described by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
as a "barnstormer" and a "disco, drum and bass hybrid", it reached number ninety-seven on the UK chart. "Ghost", a song about being ignored by a loved one, received mixed reviews from critics. In a review for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
described it as a "clunky attempt to blend electronics with Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
-and-Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
oompah." It was heavily sampled by Idle Warship
Idle Warship
Idle Warship is a musical duo composed of Brooklyn emcee Talib Kweli and Philadelphia singer Res, Res has appeared on each Talib Kweli album since 2000's Train of Thought. They have also toured together, including on the summer 2005 MGD Flavor 2 Savor mini-tour. They released their debut mixtape,...
for their track "Momma May I". The song "Mathematics" was inspired by Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer...
's poem Love Is a Parallax. In the song, Boots uses mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
as a metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
for love. The ninth track, "Symmetry", a duet with The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
singer Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey is an English composer, singer, songwriter and producer.He is best known as the lead singer, frontman and co-founder of the famous English synthpop band The Human League. He has also had an extensive solo music career and collaborated with numerous other artists and producers...
, was a "dream" for Boots. A fan of the band, she was surprised when Oakey agreed to provide vocals for the track. The synth
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
ballads "Tune Into My Heart" and "Hearts Collide" were compared to Minogue, with one reviewer writing that "Hearts Collide" was the "greatest Kylie track never recorded by the Australian." The closing track from Hands, "No Brakes", features a spoken interlude which was compared to the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
and Mike Yarwood
Mike Yarwood
Mike Yarwood, OBE is an English impressionist and comedian. He was one of Britain's top-rated entertainers, regularly appearing on television from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. He left Bredbury Secondary Modern School in 1956 and worked as a messenger and then salesman at a garment warehouse...
.
Critical reception
Hands received positive reviews from most music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalised
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 68, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". In a review for musicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...
, Michael Cragg called it "a well-crafted, glorious pop record." Clash
Clash (magazine)
Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
reviewer Joe Zadeh disagreed, stating that the album "falls victim to attempts to reach beyond more boundaries than necessary, and thus ironically loses the concentration of the more earnest listener." David Renshaw of Gigwise
Gigwise.com
Gigwise.com is an online music magazine that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets, and a community forum. Founded in 2001, the magazine is based in the United Kingdom....
described Hands as "a big pop album" that "rival[s] Lady GaGa
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London. They were created through the ITV1 talent show Popstars The Rivals in 2002. The group consists of Cheryl Cole , Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. They are signed to Fascination Records, a Polydor...
or Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
." Ben Thompson of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
complimented the album's "diverse" production and called the song "Symmetry", a duet with Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey is an English composer, singer, songwriter and producer.He is best known as the lead singer, frontman and co-founder of the famous English synthpop band The Human League. He has also had an extensive solo music career and collaborated with numerous other artists and producers...
, a "joyous cross-generational head-to-head." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
referred to Hands as "a surprisingly modern-sounding record from an artist who has been depicted as in thrall to a kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
vision of 80s pop." Ian Wade from BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
praised the album as "a solid pop debut, the sort of album which unites lovers of pop, young and old", and compared it to albums by Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
and Annie. NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
critic Emily Mackay wrote that "Little Boots gives us an inspiring story of self-realisation" and called the album "brilliant."
Peter Paphides
Peter Paphides
Peter Paphides is a British journalist and broadcaster.Between 2005 and 2010 he was employed as the chief rock critic of The Times and presented The Times weekly music podcast for Sounds Music supplement...
of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
named "Stuck on Repeat" the album's "best moment" due to its "exquisite vulnerability." Andrzej Lukowski of Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
remarked that "Hesketh can write a damn good pop song, and whether that's what caused the initial buzz, it's something hard to deny when presented with the cold, hard proof of Hands." The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
s Andy Gill felt that the album has "safe, conformist electropop grooves following lines as straight and satisfying as supermarket aisles", concluding that "the result is a form of attention-deficit pop: for while 'New in Town' and 'Earthquake' have an instant appeal, it's striking how quickly one's palate is sated by their pop-rock fizz: the listener who can play Hands all the way through is either dedicated, or dead." Paul Schrodt from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
argued that while the album "smacks of trying too hard", most of the songs "are imminently playable on their own terms, whether it's a Robyn
Robyn
Robin Miriam Carlsson , better known by her stage name Robyn, is a Swedish recording artist, singer, and songwriter. Robyn became known in the late nineties for her worldwide dance-pop hit "Do You Know " from her debut album Robyn Is Here . She co-wrote the song "Du gör mig hel igen" for...
-style, slow-burning heartache ('No Brakes') or enjoyably Eurotrash camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
('Hearts Collide')." Marc Hogan, writing for Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, labelled Hands as "a mainstream pop effort with an indie-friendly narrative", while noting that the album's "most distinguishing characteristic is an unusual level of meta-pop self-awareness." K. Ross Hoffman of Allmusic viewed the album as "a solid batch with several standouts [...] but no space-filling duds or truly weak links." Melissa Maerz from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
commented that "musically [Boots is] great at taking superstar glamour to the streets: It's megaclub gold for the broke-ass rest of us."
Commercial performance
Hands debuted at number five on the UK Albums ChartUK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
on the issue dated 14 June 2009, but during its second week, it dropped to number forty, and quickly slipped out of the top forty. Nevertheless, following the release of "Remedy", the album returned to the top thirty on 23 August 2009 for four weeks. So far it has spent eighteen weeks in the top one hundred. On 4 September 2009, the album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
(BPI) for shipments in excess of 100,000 copies within the UK. Hands debuted at number twenty on the Irish Albums Chart
Irish Albums Chart
The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...
for the week ending 11 June 2009, falling to number forty-four the following week and eventually dropping off the chart. During the week of 27 June 2009, the album debuted on the European Top 100 Albums
European Top 100 Albums
The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...
at number nineteen, and remained on the chart for four weeks.
Elsewhere, Hands peaked at number four on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
chart in Australia and at number thirty-six in Japan. In the United States, where the album was released on 2 March 2010, it reached number seven on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s Heatseekers Albums
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
chart on 20 March.
Promotion
To promote the album, Boots did several performances worldwide. Her first televised appearance was on Later... with Jools Holland on 7 November 2008. She was invited to perform on the show after posting songs on the social networking website MyspaceMyspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
. On 4 March 2009, Boots appeared on the late night television show Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly is an American late night talk show that is broadcast on NBC. The show is hosted by Carson Daly, the half-hour show featuring celebrity interviews, documentary-style coverage of a topic, and musical performances. Last Call airs weeknights at 1:35 a.m. Eastern / 12:35 a.m....
in the United States. She was interviewed by Daly and several clips from a Los Angeles nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
performance were shown. Boots performed "Stuck on Repeat" using the Tenori-on
Tenori-on
Tenori-on is an electronic musical instrument, designed and created by Japanese artist Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori of the Music and Human Interface Group, Yamaha Center for Advanced Sound Technology. It consists of a screen, held in the hands, of a sixteen by sixteen grid of LED switches, any of...
on the 11 May 2009 edition of BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
. Boots returned to Later... with Jools Holland on 15 May 2009, becoming the only artist to perform on the show twice prior to having an album released. This was followed by an appearance on the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
programme Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour is a radio magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.-History:Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey the programme was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC's Light Programme . It was transferred to its current home in 1973...
on 27 May 2009. She also appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
aired on 3 July 2009. On 26 May 2008, Boots performed four songs from Hands at the Apple Store in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England. These songs were included on the digital extended play
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
iTunes Live from London
ITunes Live from London (Little Boots EP)
iTunes Live from London is a live extended play by English electropop singer Little Boots. It was released exclusively through iTunes as a digital download by Sixsevenine on 1 June 2009. The album was recorded live at the Apple Store in London, England on 26 May 2009.-Track listing:#"New in Town" –...
, which was released exclusively through iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
on 1 June 2009.
"Meddle" was featured on the ninth episode of the third series of the British teen drama Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
, titled "Katie and Emily" and originally broadcast 19 March 2009. Also in 2009, "Meddle" was featured in an advertisement
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
for Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
. "New in Town" is included on the official soundtrack to the 2009 American comedy horror Jennifer's Body
Jennifer's Body
Jennifer's Body is a 2009 black comedy horror film written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama. The film stars Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, and Adam Brody. Fox portrays a newly-possessed teenage serial killer specializing in killing her male classmates as her best friend...
, and was also used on the American television series 90210
90210 (season 2)
The second season of 90210, an American television series, premiered in the U.S. on September 8, 2009 and ended on May 18, 2010. The season picks up at the end of summer after the events of last season's dramatic prom party...
(which used the Fred Falke
Fred Falke
Frédérick "Fred" Falke is a French based house producer and DJ of German origin.Falke started out as a bass player around 1995 before turning his hand to production work in the late 1990s...
remix), Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights (TV series)
Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team...
, Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
and Mercy
Mercy (TV series)
Mercy is a medical drama which aired on NBC from September 23, 2009 to May 12, 2010. The series initially aired on Wednesday nights at 8/7c, as part of the 2009 fall season, but was pushed back to 9/8c in April....
. "Remedy" was used on the 9 October 2009 episode of the American science fiction series Dollhouse
Dollhouse (TV series)
Dollhouse is an American science fiction television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon under Mutant Enemy Productions. It premiered on February 13, 2009, on the Fox network and was officially cancelled on November 11, 2009. The final episode aired on January 29, 2010...
, titled "Belle Chose", as well as on the fourth episode of the third series of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
comedy series Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey is a British comedy television series. A romantic comedy-drama, the show follows the long-distance relationship of Gavin from Billericay in Essex, England, and Stacey from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The writers of the show, actors James Corden and Ruth Jones, also...
, broadcast 17 December 2009. The track "Click" was featured on the sixteenth episode of Melrose Place
Melrose Place (2009 TV series)
Melrose Place is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network from September 8, 2009 to April 13, 2010. The fifth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise, it is an updated version of the 1990s Fox prime time drama of the same name, featuring a group of young adults...
, "Santa Fe", aired 30 March 2010, and later on the twentieth episode of the first season of The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries (season 1)
The Vampire Diaries is an American supernatural–fantasy horror television series created by Kevin Williamson based on the novels of the same name by author L. J. Smith. It was officially picked up for the 2009-10 season on May 19, 2009...
, "Blood Brothers", aired 29 April 2010.
The album was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 as a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
. Boots' official website offered an exclusive bundle for pre-order
Pre-order
A pre-order is an order placed for an item which has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came when people found it hard to get popular items in stores due to their popularity. Companies were then given the idea to allow people to reserve their own personal copy, before the release, ...
which included the CD, a limited edition galactic speckled 12-inch vinyl
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
copy of the album and a thirty-three-minute 'Hands On' mix MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
featuring album material, non-album tracks and remixes. The 12-inch vinyl was limited to 1,000 copies. Due to overwhelming demand, the limited edition 12-inch vinyl was released on 10 June 2009, two days later than had previously been announced.
Track listing
(*) denotes co-producerPersonnel
The following contributed to the production of Hands:- Little Boots – vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, Tenori-onTenori-onTenori-on is an electronic musical instrument, designed and created by Japanese artist Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori of the Music and Human Interface Group, Yamaha Center for Advanced Sound Technology. It consists of a screen, held in the hands, of a sixteen by sixteen grid of LED switches, any of...
, keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
s, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones... - Chrissie Abbott – designGraphic designGraphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
- Fred Ball – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
(track 4); additional producer, vocal producer (track 7) - Jonas Bresnan – photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
- Tom ElmhirstTom ElmhirstTom Elmhirst is a British specialist music producer and mix engineer. He began his career at SARM studios in the early 90s at a time when digital audio was already becoming mainstream. Elmhirst’s experiences at SARM and with Trevor Horn have clearly influenced his current working methods...
– mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
(tracks 3, 6, 8–10) - Pascal GabrielPascal GabrielPascal Richard Marcel Gabriel is a Belgian-born musician based in London. His musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors...
– vocal producer (track 10) - Serban GheneaSerban GheneaSerban Ghenea is a four-time Grammy Award and three-time Latin Grammy Award-winning mixer. He has mixed songs for such artists as Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Jewel, Santana, Ozomatli, Shakira, Jill Scott, R. Kelly, Rod Stewart, and Dave Matthews Band...
– mixing (track 1) - Joe GoddardHot ChipHot Chip are an English electronic indie band. They have released four studio albums—Coming on Strong, The Warning, Made in the Dark and One Life Stand.-Formation:...
– producer (tracks 3, 6, 8) - John Hanes – engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
(track 1) - Jaimie Hodgson – special thanks (track 5)
- Ash Howes – mixing (tracks 11, 12a)
- Oli Isaacs – managementTalent managerA talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
- Semothy JonesSemothy JonesAndrew Hughes, better known as Semothy Jones or Sem for short, is an English songwriter and record producer from Islington, London. Semothy first gained attention in 2007 after working closely with old friend Plan B on a bootleg Mixtape called Paint It Blacker...
– producer (track 10) - Roy Kerr – programmingProgramming (music)Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
(track 9) - Kid Gloves – producer (track 9)
- Greg KurstinGreg KurstinGregory Allen "Greg" Kurstin is an award-winning American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009 Kurstin received a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year. That same year he won three Ivor Novello awards for his work with Lily Allen, including Songwriters of the Year for "The Fear"...
– producer (tracks 1, 2, 8); mixing (track 2); additional producer (track 6) - Lexxx – mixing (tracks 4, 7)
- Philip OakeyPhilip OakeyPhilip Oakey is an English composer, singer, songwriter and producer.He is best known as the lead singer, frontman and co-founder of the famous English synthpop band The Human League. He has also had an extensive solo music career and collaborated with numerous other artists and producers...
– vocals (track 9) - Al O'Connell – engineer (track 12b)
- Robert OrtonRobert Orton (mix engineer)Robert Orton is a Grammy award-winning mixer. He has worked with many prominent artists including; Darren Hayes, Lady Gaga, Sean Kingston, Kelis, Livvi Franc, Sean Paul, Robbie Williams, Pixie Lott, Lil Jon, Enrique Iglesias, Usher, Mary J...
– mixing (track 5) - Dan Parry – mixing assistant (tracks 3, 6, 8–10)
- Julian Peake – producer (tracks 11, 12a)
- Anu PillaiFreeform FiveFreeform Five is London based DJ, producer, songwriter Anu Pillai. It was his remix of Isolee’s “Beau Mot Plage” in 1999 that alerted many to this production outfit....
– engineer, synthesizer, programming (track 9) - RedOneRedOneNadir Khayat , known by the stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan producer and songwriter. Renowned for co-producing hit singles such as "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "Judas", he is attributed by some as the key to Lady Gaga's success...
– producer, engineer, vocal arrangements, vocal editing (track 5) - Tim Roberts – assistant engineer (track 1)
- Johnny Severin – engineer, vocal editing (track 5)
- Jas ShawSimian Mobile DiscoSimian Mobile Disco are a United Kingdom-based production and remix team formed in 2005 by James Ford and Jas Shaw of the band Simian. Musically, they are known for their analogue production...
– producer, mixing (tracks 4, 7, 12b); engineer (track 12b) - Jamie Smithson – assistant engineer (track 9)
- Richard "Biff" Stannard – producer (tracks 11, 12a)
- Karen Tillotson – management
Weekly charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Hitseekers Albums ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
4 |
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
19 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
20 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
36 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
5 |
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
| US Heatseekers Albums Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
7 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Gold |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2009) | Position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart | 137 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 5 June 2009 | 679 Recordings, Atlantic Records Atlantic Records Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz... |
CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
| United Kingdom | 8 June 2009 | ||
| 10 June 2009 | LP LP record The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
||
| Australia | 12 June 2009 | Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies... |
CD, digital download |
| Japan | 8 July 2009 | ||
| Canada | 2 March 2010 | ||
| United States | Elektra Records Elektra Records Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009.... |
CD, LP, digital download |