Our Earthly Pleasures

Our Earthly Pleasures
Studio album by Maxïmo Park
Released	2 April 2007 (UK) May 8, 2007 (US)
Recorded	August–December 2006
Genre	Alternative rock Indie rock Post-punk revival
Length	41:47
Label	Warp
Producer	Gil Norton
Maxïmo Park chronology
Missing Songs (2006) Our Earthly Pleasures (2007) Quicken the Heart (2009)
Singles from Our Earthly Pleasures
"Our Velocity" Released: 19 March 2007 "Books from Boxes" Released: 11 June 2007 "Girls Who Play Guitars" Released: 20 August 2007 "Karaoke Plays" Released: 3 December 2007

Our Earthly Pleasures is the second album by Newcastle-based Alternative rock band Maxïmo Park. It was released on 2 April 2007 in the UK (and May 8, 2007 in the US), being preceded by the single "Our Velocity", released two weeks previously, on 19 March 2007.

Album information

Album details, including track listing, were released on the NME's website on 22 January 2007.^[1] as well as the band's official web site.^[2] The album was leaked in various places across the internet in March 2007.

Vocalist Paul Smith states that the title of the album stems from the idea that we are bonded by our experiences, and that several tracks were written to embody specific human emotions.^{[citation needed]} The title of the album appears in the lyrics of "Russian Literature".

"There it is again that lock of hair that won't sit still
Our earthly pleasures distract us against our will."^[3]

The band did an album launch party at the Baltic Flour Mill, the contemporary art gallery in Gateshead on 28 March 2007. Another album launch gig took place at HMV Newcastle at midnight on 2 April, to release the album, hometown fans were the first to get a hold of Our Earthly Pleasures. A third launch party took place in London, at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, on the evening of 2 April.

The tracks "Our Velocity", "Books from Boxes", "Girls Who Play Guitars" and "Karaoke Plays" have been released as singles.

Tickets to the April/May Our Earthly Pleasures Tour went on sale at 9am, 2 February 2007. Tickets sold out within one hour to the majority of the venues.

The two US bonus tracks were mislabeled on iTunes Music Store, with track 13 being labeled "Distance Makes" when it was actually the song "Pride Before A Fall", "Distance Makes" was included as the other bonus track.

A Special Edition was also released exclusively in Australia, containing the bonus track "Robert Altman" (Track 13 - 2:24)

The song "The Unshockable" features in FIFA 08 playlist and a Johnny Test commercial on Cartoon Network.

The song, "Our Velocity" is featured on the soundtrack for 2007 Xbox 360 game, 'Project Gotham Racing 4".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
Drowned in Sound	(7/10) [5]
NME	(6/10) [6]
Pitchfork Media	(6.3/10) [7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
The Guardian	[9]

Released in April 2007, the album was successful, entering the charts at number two behind Kings of Leon's album Because of the Times. The album reached number two on the UK album charts. Sales for the record was a success going double platinum, meaning it sold over two million records world wide. Overall critics generally gave positive reviews for the album, the average number of stars given was just over 3.5 out of 5.

Rolling Stone (p. 62) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "The U.K. indie band's second album has beefed-up sound and increasingly brilliant, not-at-all-pretentious gems like 'Girls Who Play Guitars'."

Spin (p. 86) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Maximo Park bring plenty of recognizable spark and smarts to their second album....The record barely pauses for breath."

Amazon.com - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The second album from Newcastle's Maximo Park, Our Earthly Pleasures confirms its creators to be one of the UK's more idiosyncratic indie outfits--the sort of bookish, educated rockers for whom intelligence means something more than reading a book while you're having your photo taken."

BBC - 3 stars out of 5 -- "It’s certainly an album that evokes visions of delirious summertime hedonism: its momentum designed for haphazard jumping about in crowds, one sweaty fist in the air whilst the other grapples with a plastic cup of warm lager. Bring it on." ^[10]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Girls Who Play Guitars"	3:12
2.	"Our Velocity"	3:20
3.	"Books from Boxes"	3:28
4.	"Russian Literature"	3:07
5.	"Karaoke Plays"	4:08
6.	"Your Urge"	3:57
7.	"The Unshockable"	3:16
8.	"By the Monument"	2:59
9.	"Nosebleed"	3:25
10.	"A Fortnight's Time"	3:01
11.	"Sandblasted and Set Free"	3:58
12.	"Parisian Skies"	3:56

US Bonus Tracks
No.	Title	Length
13.	"Pride Before a Fall"	3:14
14.	"Distance Makes"	2:12

Australian Bonus Tracks
No.	Title	Length
13.	"Robert Altman"	2:23

Personnel

Maxïmo Park:

• Paul Smith – vocals
• Duncan Lloyd – guitars
• Lukas Wooller – keyboards
• Archis Tiku – bass
• Tom English – drums

Contributions:

• Laura Reid - Strings (Cello) on 'Sandblasted and set free'
• Nell Catchpole - Strings (Violin) on 'Sandblasted and set free'

References

1. ^ "Maximo Park Unveil New Album Details". NME. 2007-01-22. http://www.nme.com/news/maximo-park/25951. 
2. ^ "New Single & Album!". Maxïmo Park. 2007-01-22. http://www.maximopark.com/maximopark/news.php. 
3. ^ Maximo Park Russian Literature lyrics on Yahoo! Music
4. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1024268
5. ^ http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/9453
6. ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/maximo-park/8339
7. ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/42063-our-earthly-pleasures
8. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/13990889/review/14010900/our_earthly_pleasures
9. ^ http://music.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,2040271,00.html
10. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/jdcz