Superior (album)
Encyclopedia
Superior is the third studio album by Danish singer-songwriter Tim Christensen
, released on 24 November 2008 on CD
, limited edition CD/DVD box set which includes a 30-minute documentary, and a double vinyl
box set which also includes the CD and DVD, as well as an outsize poster.
as a burden pressing down on his shoulders."
"Wonder of Wonders" is the first song Christensen has written on piano. "India" was written in his sleep; he woke up, recorded a basic version, and was back to sleep in under 20 minutes. The riff of "Follow My Lead" is played on a baritone guitar
, which according to Christensen is "probably the most unsexy guitar there is, but it sounds great." "Song for Shelly" was written for his former girlfriend, Michelle Djarling.
Superior was the first album to be released on Mermaid Records after Sony Music Entertainment
Denmark became the label's main shareholder.
decided to cite all reviews, good and bad. This was even taken further by using some of these phrases on T-shirts, such as ugens flødebolle ("this week's cream puff). It was voted the Melodic.net best album of 2008. It took until 7 December 2009 before it was released in the Netherlands on PIAS Recordings
.
Four songs off the album were released as a single: "Superior" (2008), "Hard To Make You Mine" (2009), "India" (2009), and "Tell Me What You Really Want" (2009). The latter video was made by Paul "Yellow1" Wilson, who also did the cover art for this album.
Additional musicians
Production
Tim Christensen
Tim Christensen is a Danish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, bass guitar, drums, Mellotron, harmonium, keyboard, piano and organ...
, released on 24 November 2008 on 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 ,...
, limited edition CD/DVD box set which includes a 30-minute documentary, and a double vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
box set which also includes the CD and DVD, as well as an outsize poster.
Overview
The title song "Superior" has Christensen opening up about himself. According to the press release, "The song Superior pins Christensen down on a more personal level: what kind of thoughts are running through his mind? What concerns him? In the revealing lyrics, the popular songwriter stands naked. He’s brutally honest and vulnerable. (...) The song is all about refusing to let yourself be controlled by what people expect of you, but rather trusting your own gut feeling and believing that you’re good enough the way you are. Be it in your career or in love." It also refers to having to deal with the expectations people had of him since his previous album: "[D]uring work on Superior, he’s felt the huge success of HoneyburstHoneyburst
Honeyburst is the second studio album by Danish singer-songwriter Tim Christensen, released on 1 September 2003 on CD and vinyl.- Overview :...
as a burden pressing down on his shoulders."
"Wonder of Wonders" is the first song Christensen has written on piano. "India" was written in his sleep; he woke up, recorded a basic version, and was back to sleep in under 20 minutes. The riff of "Follow My Lead" is played on a baritone guitar
Baritone guitar
The baritone guitar is a variation on the standard guitar, with a longer scale length that allows it to be tuned to a lower range. It first appeared in the classical music realm...
, which according to Christensen is "probably the most unsexy guitar there is, but it sounds great." "Song for Shelly" was written for his former girlfriend, Michelle Djarling.
Superior was the first album to be released on Mermaid Records after Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
Denmark became the label's main shareholder.
Reception
It received mixed reviews, but to keep the audience from thinking it largely got bad reviews, Mermaid RecordsMermaid Records
Mermaid Records is a Copenhagen, Denmark based record label. The company was started as an independent record label by Mik Christensen and Nick Foss in 2005. The label publishes distinguished Danish artists.- History :...
decided to cite all reviews, good and bad. This was even taken further by using some of these phrases on T-shirts, such as ugens flødebolle ("this week's cream puff). It was voted the Melodic.net best album of 2008. It took until 7 December 2009 before it was released in the Netherlands on PIAS Recordings
PIAS Recordings
[PIAS] Recordings is the recorded music division of the [PIAS] Entertainment Group, a European independent artist and label services company.The record labels that operate under the [PIAS] Recordings umbrella are: Play It Again Sam, Wall of Sound and Different Recordings.Aside from the three London...
.
Four songs off the album were released as a single: "Superior" (2008), "Hard To Make You Mine" (2009), "India" (2009), and "Tell Me What You Really Want" (2009). The latter video was made by Paul "Yellow1" Wilson, who also did the cover art for this album.
Track listing
All writing and lyrics by Tim Christensen, except where noted.Personnel
- Tim ChristensenTim ChristensenTim Christensen is a Danish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, bass guitar, drums, Mellotron, harmonium, keyboard, piano and organ...
– 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...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, 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 ....
, 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...
Additional instruments: tenor guitarTenor guitar1932 Martin 0-18 T Sunburst Tenor Guitar|thumb|rightThe tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was developed so that players of the four-string tenor banjo could double on the guitar...
, acoustic baritone guitarBaritone guitarThe baritone guitar is a variation on the standard guitar, with a longer scale length that allows it to be tuned to a lower range. It first appeared in the classical music realm...
, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, MellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
, MinimoogMinimoogThe Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. , and production was stopped in 1981. It was re-designed by Robert Moog in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager.The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of...
, Wurlitzer electric pianoWurlitzer electric pianoWurlitzer 200A|250px|thumbThe Wurlitzer electric piano was one of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, U.S. and Tonawanda, New York...
, Fender RhodesRhodes pianoThe Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
, Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, keyboardsMusical keyboardA musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...
, 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...
, vibraphoneVibraphoneThe vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, dulcimerAppalachian dulcimerThe Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...
Additional musicians
- Olaf Olsen – drums (on tracks 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, and 12)
- Laust Sonne – drums (on track 9)
- Christoffer Møller – stringString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
arrangementArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents... - Prague Philharmonic Orchestra – strings
- Jan Chalupecky – conductorConductingConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Production
- Nick Foss – executive producerExecutive producerAn executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
- Rune Nissen-Petersen – producer, engineer, mixerMix engineerA mix engineer, also referred to as "mixing engineer", is a person who, once all instruments, voices, and sounds, etc., have been recorded, creates what is called the final version of a song, hence the term "mix engineer"...
- Nikolaj Vinten – 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...
- Paul Wilson – designerDesignerA designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
, artworkWork of artA work of art, artwork, art piece, or art object is an aesthetic item or artistic creation.The term "a work of art" can apply to:*an example of fine art, such as a painting or sculpture*a fine work of architecture or landscape design...
, 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... - Helene Hasen – photography
- Dan Christensen – front cover photo