Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
Encyclopedia
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is the third studio album
by American
rock band OK Go
. It was released on January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records
in the USA and EMI
in the UK, and re-released on the band's independent label
Paracadute Records on April 1. After the band's split with EMI
and Capitol, Paracadute took over the promotional campaign and all distribution responsibilities. The album's name, lyrics, and concept are based on The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Colour of the Sky, a pseudoscientific
book published in 1876. Its style was noted as a significant departure from the pop rock
of their earlier albums.
Andy Duncan
left the band, citing creative differences and major label
pressures. He was replaced by Andy Ross
, who was involved in the album's promotion, including music video appearances. The music videos for "A Million Ways
" and "Here It Goes Again
" attracted much attention as viral videos on YouTube
, and were significantly influential in the Oh Nos success and rise in OK Go's popularity. Along with releasing the EP
You're Not Alone
with New Orleans brass funk rock band Bonerama
in 2008, the band toured continually for almost three years in support of Oh No.
) in producer Dave Fridmann
's Tarbox Road Studios, a converted Amish
barn in Cassadaga, New York
, through May the following year. Bassist
Tim Nordwind described the process of the studio sessions as a midpoint between the slick production work done on OK Go
and the emphasis on live takes with the recording of Oh No
.
based on an unnamed passage from The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Colour of the Sky by General A.J. Pleasonton
. The title of this book, proposing that blue is the essential life force, was adapted for the album because of the parallels between Pleasonton's faith in the color blue and Kulash's faith in the music that arises from him organically without rational thought. Elements of the booklet compare the lyrics with the passage, with data gathered from the characteristics of the texts presented by different graphical means. The image on the album cover
was constructed with a list of twenty-five themes (for example "Unfounded or Wildly Broad Claims", "Wonderment", and "Light/Optics/Color"), each representing a specific color, assigned to each sentence in both the passage and the lyrics. If more than one theme is assigned to the same sentence, the colors are combined with additive mixing
. With each sentence being represented by a colored line, the lines are arranged radially giving the impression of beams of multicolored light emanating from the center. Other data collected for presentation inside the booklet includes sentence length, parts of speech occurrences, syllable stress
, and words common to both texts. Kulash, as the primary songwriter for the album, developed the concept and collected the data with Stefanie Posavec and Greg McInerny, who were credited with visualization and layout of the booklet.
. Also, access to a digital database is included with its purchase. Music will continually be added to the database even though the album is out. So far, a digital-only album entitled Twelve Remixes of Four Songs is available for instant download along with the two physical disks in Apple Lossless
files or medium-sized MP3
's.
writes that although "OK Go occasionally seems to be trying too hard...the album delivers some of the band's most fully realized compositions to date."
Additional
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 American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock band OK Go
OK Go
OK Go is a rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, USA, now residing in Los Angeles, California, USA. The band is composed of Damian Kulash , Tim Nordwind , Dan Konopka and Andy Ross , who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan...
. It was released on January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
in the USA and EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in the UK, and re-released on the band's independent label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Paracadute Records on April 1. After the band's split with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and Capitol, Paracadute took over the promotional campaign and all distribution responsibilities. The album's name, lyrics, and concept are based on The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Colour of the Sky, a pseudoscientific
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
book published in 1876. Its style was noted as a significant departure from the pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
of their earlier albums.
Background
After the band's previous album Oh No was finished being recorded in 2005, guitaristGuitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Andy Duncan
Andy Duncan (musician)
Andy Scott Duncan Born was a founding member of the Chicago band OK Go, playing lead guitar and keyboards. He appears on their first two albums, the eponymous OK Go and its follow-up album Oh No...
left the band, citing creative differences and major label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
pressures. He was replaced by Andy Ross
Andy Ross
Andy Ross , is an American musician most famous as guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist for the rock band OK Go since 2005. He is also behind a solo project, Secret Dakota Ring, which released albums in 2004 and 2008...
, who was involved in the album's promotion, including music video appearances. The music videos for "A Million Ways
A Million Ways
"A Million Ways" is a song by rock band OK Go from their album Oh No. It was the first song from the album to be released as a single and became the band's breakthrough song thanks to the internet sensation that was the accompanying music video....
" and "Here It Goes Again
Here It Goes Again
"Here It Goes Again" is an alternative rock/power pop song by OK Go, and is the third released single from the album Oh No. It also appears on the compilation album Now 23. It remains the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, where it entered the Top 40 at #38, mostly due to the...
" attracted much attention as viral videos on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, and were significantly influential in the Oh Nos success and rise in OK Go's popularity. Along with releasing the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
You're Not Alone
You're Not Alone (EP)
You're Not Alone is an EP by rock band OK Go and brass funk rock band Bonerama, released on February 5, 2008. It was recorded to raise money for New Orleans musicians displaced in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, with the proceeds being split between Sweet Home New Orleans and a fund for a new house for...
with New Orleans brass funk rock band Bonerama
Bonerama
Bonerama is a brass funk rock band from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.Bonerama was formed in 1998 by trombone players Mark Mullins and Craig Klein, who, from 1990 up until late 2006, were also members of Harry Connick Jr.'s big band...
in 2008, the band toured continually for almost three years in support of Oh No.
Recording and production
OK Go finished writing new material and started working in the studio in October 2008. They worked for two week intervals (opposite The Flaming LipsThe Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
) in producer Dave Fridmann
Dave Fridmann
Dave Fridmann is an American record producer and musician. From 1990 onwards he co-produced all releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips...
's Tarbox Road Studios, a converted Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
barn in Cassadaga, New York
Cassadaga, New York
Cassadaga is an incorporated village located in Chautauqua County, New York, in the United States. The village is located within the northeast corner of the Town of Stockton, east of the village of Stockton, south of and immediately adjacent to Lily Dale in the Town of Pomfret, and north of the...
, through May the following year. Bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Tim Nordwind described the process of the studio sessions as a midpoint between the slick production work done on OK Go
OK Go (album)
OK Go is the debut album by the Chicago rock band OK Go. It was released in September 2002. The cover was created by the well known designer Stefan Sagmeister.-Track listing:-Appearances in other media:...
and the emphasis on live takes with the recording of Oh No
Oh No
-Miscellaneous:* The band's cheaply-produced yet elaborately choreographed videos for "Here It Goes Again" and "A Million Ways" have become YouTube staples - particularly the video for the former song, featuring the band dancing on treadmills - and have done much to propel the songs, the album, and...
.
Concept and art
Of the Blue Colour of the Skys accompanying booklet presents the album as a conceptConcept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
based on an unnamed passage from The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Colour of the Sky by General A.J. Pleasonton
Augustus Pleasonton
Augustus James Pleasonton, often called A. J. Pleasonton , was a General during the American Civil War. He wrote the pseudo-scientific book The Influence Of The Blue Ray Of The Sunlight And Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, which was published in 1876. His book is often attributed to being the birth...
. The title of this book, proposing that blue is the essential life force, was adapted for the album because of the parallels between Pleasonton's faith in the color blue and Kulash's faith in the music that arises from him organically without rational thought. Elements of the booklet compare the lyrics with the passage, with data gathered from the characteristics of the texts presented by different graphical means. The image on the album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
was constructed with a list of twenty-five themes (for example "Unfounded or Wildly Broad Claims", "Wonderment", and "Light/Optics/Color"), each representing a specific color, assigned to each sentence in both the passage and the lyrics. If more than one theme is assigned to the same sentence, the colors are combined with additive mixing
Color mixing
There are two types of color mixing: Additive and Subtractive. In both cases there are three primary colors, three secondary colors , and one tertiary color made from all three primary colors.-Additive Mixing:Additive mixing of colors generally involves mixing colors of light...
. With each sentence being represented by a colored line, the lines are arranged radially giving the impression of beams of multicolored light emanating from the center. Other data collected for presentation inside the booklet includes sentence length, parts of speech occurrences, syllable stress
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
, and words common to both texts. Kulash, as the primary songwriter for the album, developed the concept and collected the data with Stefanie Posavec and Greg McInerny, who were credited with visualization and layout of the booklet.
Re-Releases
Since OK Go split from EMI, their label, Paracadute, re-released the album with two bonus tracks April 1, 2010. On September 19, they announced that an Extra Nice Edition was to be released in the USA on November 2. It features the standard thirteen-track album along with a bonus disk that includes demos, alternate versions, two covers, and an in-depth interview with the band by Ira GlassIra Glass
Ira Glass is an American public radio personality, and host and producer of the radio and television show This American Life.- Early life :...
. Also, access to a digital database is included with its purchase. Music will continually be added to the database even though the album is out. So far, a digital-only album entitled Twelve Remixes of Four Songs is available for instant download along with the two physical disks in Apple Lossless
Apple Lossless
Apple Lossless Apple Lossless Apple Lossless (also known as ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), or ALE (Apple Lossless Encoder) is an audio codec developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music. After initially being proprietary for many years, in late 2011 Apple open sourced...
files or medium-sized 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...
's.
Reception
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic writes that the album "ultimately seems diffuse" and that the "spaciousness expands as the album rolls on, eventually obscuring the hooks of the first half". Adam Conner-Simons of The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
writes that although "OK Go occasionally seems to be trying too hard...the album delivers some of the band's most fully realized compositions to date."
Track listing
- All songs credited to OK GoOK GoOK Go is a rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, USA, now residing in Los Angeles, California, USA. The band is composed of Damian Kulash , Tim Nordwind , Dan Konopka and Andy Ross , who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan...
; actual writers listed below.
Personnel
OK Go- Damian Kulash, Jr.Damian KulashDamian Joseph Kulash Jr. is the lead singer and guitarist for Chicago-based rock band OK Go.-Early life:Born in Washington D.C., USA, Kulash graduated from St. Albans School in 1994, and later Brown University in 1998 with a concentration in Art-Semiotics. The family name was originally "Kulas"...
— lead vocals, guitars, 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...
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Tim Nordwind — bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals, GlockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
on track 9 - Dan Konopka — drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Andy RossAndy RossAndy Ross , is an American musician most famous as guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist for the rock band OK Go since 2005. He is also behind a solo project, Secret Dakota Ring, which released albums in 2004 and 2008...
— guitars, 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...
, vocals
Additional
- Dave FridmannDave FridmannDave Fridmann is an American record producer and musician. From 1990 onwards he co-produced all releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips...
— 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... - Greg Calbi — audio masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Mark Mullins — tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
on track 12 - Brian L. Perkins — clappingClappingA clap is the sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often in a constant drone to express appreciation or approval , but also in rhythm to match sounds in music and dance...
on track 12