Taylor Hicks (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Taylor Hicks
Type = Album
Longtype =
Artist = Taylor Hicks


Released = December 12, 2006
Recorded = October–November 2006, EMBLEM/Castle Oaks, Calabasas, California
Genre = Blue-eyed soul, blues, blues rock
Length = 41:14
Label = Arista Records
Producer = Matt Serletic
Certification = Platinum
Reviews = *Allmusic rating|4|5 ^{[http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:lk9as385a3dg~T1 link]}
*"Billboard" ("ambivalent") ^{[http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/album_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003526766 link]}
*"Entertainment Weekly" (C) ^{[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/music/0,6115,1569561_4_0_,00.html link]}
*Los Angeles Times rating|1|4 ^{[http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl-et-idols13dec13,0,3781253.story link]}
*Popmatters rating|6|10 ^{[http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/9159/taylor-hicks-taylor-hicks/ link]}
*USA Today rating|3|5 ^{[http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/2006/12/this_weeks_revi_1.html link]}
Last album = "Under the Radar" (2005)
This album = "Taylor Hicks"
(2006)
Next album = "Early Works"
(2008)

"Taylor Hicks" is the eponymous major label debut album by the "American Idol" fifth-season winner of the same name. The album was released on December 12, 2006 in the United States by Arista Records in association with 19 Recordings Limited, nearly seven months after Hicks won the reality-talent competition in May. Hicks coined the phrase "modern whomp" to describe the album's sound—an amalgam of soul, blues, funk, and Cajun influences with a contemporary twist.cite news | last = Newsome
first = Melba
title = Overnight Star? Well, It's Been a Long Night
publisher = The New York Times
date = 2006-12-06
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/arts/music/10news.1.html?_r=2&ref=arts&pagewanted=all
accessdate = 2006-12-12 ] The first single from the album was the ballad "Just to Feel That Way".

The album debuted at the number two spot on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 298,000 copies in its first week. [Cohen, Jonathan. [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003525483 Taylor Hicks Unveils 2007 Tour Plans] , "Billboard", 2006-12-27. Retrieved 2006-12-28.] Within one month of its release, "Taylor Hicks" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping over one million copies. However, over a year later it had reached sales of only about 700,000 copies, making it the lowest selling debut album by an "American Idol" winner. [Barnes, Ken. [http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/2008/01/daughtry-chief.html#more Daughtry chief chart beneficiary as overall sales slide] , Idol Chatter, USAToday.com, 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-01-16.]

__NOTOC__

Album background

Recording for the album took six weeks, between October to November 2006, right after the culmination of the American Idols LIVE! Tour. [ [http://www.paulandyoungron.com/cc-common/podcast.html Interview on the Paul and Young Ron Show, November 21, 2006] ] The album, Hicks's first full-length endeavor, includes contributions from Bryan Adams, Diane Warren, and Rob Thomas, as well as a few of Hicks's originals which have appeared on his previous self-produced effort "Under the Radar". Producer Matt Serletic had only heard about Taylor Hicks for the first time when he was approached for the "Idol" winner's project. [cite news | last = Colurso
first = Mary
title = Giving It His Heart and Soul
publisher = The Birmingham News
date = 2006-12-08
url = http://www.al.com/entertainment/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1165576473170950.xml&coll=2&thispage=2
accessdate = 2006-12-11 ]

Collaborations with other artists such as Robert Randolph and John Mayer were mentioned by Hicks in interviews, but failed to materialize due to scheduling problems and the goal to release the album before Christmas. Hicks had also been invited by the estate of Ray Charles to record at Charles's own historic 2107 West Washington Boulevard Studio (a.k.a. 2107-RPM) in Los Angeles, but those plans also had to be postponed until a future album.Newsome, Melba. "Overnight Star"] Hicks would have been the first person to record in the studio since Charles himself. [cite news
last = Caramanica
first = Jon
title = You Don't Know Me, But I'm Your Brother
pages = 127-129
publisher = Vibe Magazine
date = 2006-11]

Fan blog Gray Charles, under contract with Hicks and his record company, gradually released first-hand details of the album, with Hicks providing weekly updates via audio blog. "The Runaround" was the first track premiered on Gray Charles on November 21, followed by "Dream Myself Awake" and "The Right Place", even before they were made available on Hicks's official website and MySpace page. The full album was made available for preview on the VH1 website on December 5.

"The Runaround" was originally intended to be the first single released from the album, and Hicks performed the song on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The Martha Stewart Show" in the run-up to the album's release. Instead, "Just to Feel That Way" was announced as the first "official" single after nearly two months. Hicks admitted that fan reaction to the album contributed to the decision. His second single release was "Heaven Knows"cite news
last = Moss
first = Corey
title = Taylor Hicks Excited About Chris Daughtry's Success, 'Obscure Covers'
publisher = MTV
date = 2007-01-24
url = http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1550642/20070123/index.jhtml
accessdate = 2007-01-24 ] The album's singles, "Just to Feel That Way" and "Heaven Knows" peaked at #20 and #19 respectively on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. [cite news | last =
first =
title = Artist Chart History — Taylor Hicks
publisher = Billboard.com
date =
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=756909&model.vnuAlbumId=960996
accessdate = 2007-08-31 ]

Track listing

#"The Runaround" (Loren Gold, James Renald) – 3:13
#"Dream Myself Awake" (Rob Thomas) – 3:38
#"Heaven Knows" (Cory Rooney, Makeba Riddick, Kara DioGuardi, Matt Serletic, Ray Charles, Pete Moore, Smokey Robinson, Bobby Rogers, Marvin Tarplin) – 3:35
#*This song contains samples from "What'd I Say" by Ray Charles and "Ain't That Peculiar" by Marvin Gaye.
#"Gonna Move" (Paul Pena) – 4:22
#*This is a cover of a Paul Pena song.
#"Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" (Marvin Gaye, Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield) – 3:32
#*This is a cover of a Marvin Gaye song.
#"Give Me Tonight" (Kevin Kadish, Brandon Jane, Leah Crutchfield, Taylor Hicks, DioGuardi, Serletic) – 3:34
#"Just to Feel That Way" (Lindy Robbins, Jess Cates, Emanuel Kiriakou) – 3:11
#"The Maze" (Scott Cutler, Anne Preven) – 2:47
#"Places I've Been" (Diane Warren) – 3:29
#"Soul Thing" (Hicks) – 3:20
#*This is a reworking of the original version from Hicks's previous album, 2005's "Under the Radar".
#"The Deal" (Hicks) – 3:17
#*This is a reworking of the original version from "Under the Radar".
#"The Right Place" (Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance) – 3:16

Bonus Tracks

13. "Hell of a Day" (Hicks) – 3:40

:*Available exclusively on selected CDs at Wal-Mart.:*This is a reworking of the original version from "Under the Radar"; it also contains an additional verse.
*"Do I Make You Proud" (Tracy Ackerman, Andy Watkins, Paul Wilson) – 4:10 :*This is available as a digital download.

ingles

*"Do I Make You Proud?" (Bonus Track)
*"Just To Feel That Way"
*"Heaven Knows"

Chart performance

References