Schoolyard Ghosts

Infobox Album
Name = Schoolyard Ghosts
Type = studio
Artist = No-Man


Recorded = August-September 2007, January-March 2008
Released = May 12, 2008
Genre = Post-Rock, Art rock
Length = 53:00
Label = Kscope
Producer = Tim Bowness, Steven Wilson
Reviews = *Allmusic rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gvfuxzyjld0e link]
*Blogcritics (positive) [http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/05/30/200704.php link]
*"Classic rock" (9/10) [http://www.kscopemusic.com/?p=63 link]
*"Rock Sound" (7/10) [http://www.no-man.co.uk/recordings/schoolyardghosts-reviews.html#rocksound link]
Last album = "Together We're Stranger" (2003)
This album = "Schoolyard Ghosts" (2008)
Next album =

"Schoolyard Ghosts" is the name of the sixth studio album by British art rock band No-Man.

Released on May 12th, 2008, the album features contributions from Bruce Kaphan (American Music Club, Red House Painters), drummers Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson) and Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson), saxophonist/flautist Theo Travis, and the London Session Orchestra arranged by Dave Stewart (Hatfield and the North, Egg, Stewart and Gaskin etc). In his online diary Tim Bowness mentions that, despite following a difficult year and being typically melancholy in places, the tone of the album is more optimistic than anything the band have done before. He also says "All Sweet Things" and "Truenorth" are perhaps the pinnacle of the band's achievements. [ [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/timbowness/2008diary.html Tim Bowness diary 2007] ] A promotional "Schoolyard Ghosts" microsite was created by the band's label, K-Scope. It first featured a music video for "Truenorth - Part Two" which was thereafter replaced for a video of the song "Wherever There Is Light". No-Man fan site "A Confession" has also created a dedicated "Schoolyard Ghosts" microsite featuring the video for "Truenorth - Part Two" and album lyrics. The No-Man MySpace page also includes extracts from the album.

Reception

Reviews for the album have generally been very favourable, with positive responses from reviews and interviews in "Classic rock" (UK), "Rock Sound" (UK), BBC Online (UK), "Record Collector" (UK), "Eclipsed" (Germany), "Metal Hammer" (Germany), "Metal Hammer" (Poland), "Free!" (Finland) [ [http://www.freemagazine.fi/content/view/669/152/ FREE! Magazine - no-man - Schoolyard Ghosts] ] , "Rolling Stone" (Mexico), "Jam" (Italy), Allmusic [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gvfuxzyjld0e All Music Guide] ] , amongst many other publications.

As of June 1 2008, the album was #1 in Prog Archives' Member's Albums of the Year chart [ [http://www.progarchives.com/top-prog-albums.asp?ssubgenres=&salbumtypes=&syears=2008&scountries=&sminratings=5&sminavgratings=3.5&smaxresults=100&x=58&y=6 TOP Progressive Rock Music Albums List] ] and #7 in Rate Your Music's reader's albums of 2008. [ [http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2008 Top Albums of 2008 - Rate Your Music] ]

Film music

Along with No-Man songs from other albums, "Truenorth Part 3" from "Schoolyard Ghosts" will be featured in a film by award-winning student film maker Dan Faltz, titled "Weak Species", based on the novel "Closer" and poems by Dennis Cooper. [ [http://weakspecies.com/ Weak Species] ]

Formats

The album is available in a regular CD edition and a CD/DVD-A audiophile edition. The CD/DVD-A comes in digipack format with booklet and also features a 5.1 mix of the album, a photo gallery and videos for 3 songs. The first 2000 copies of the album obtained from the No-Man online store came with an exclusive 6 track, 20 minute, bonus disc of alternates and edits. It sold out within 2 weeks of the pre-release announcement.

Promotion

To promote the album, the band will be playing its first performance for fifteen years at London's Bush Hall on August 29th, 2008. [ [http://www.bushhallmusic.co.uk/ Bush Hall] ] This gig will hopefully be released as part of a prospective No-Man DVD, and there are plans (as yet unconfirmed) for a European mini-tour to follow in December 2008. [ [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/no-man/news.htm no-man a confession... NEWS] ]

Track listing/Line-up

Music by No-Man, except "Beautiful Songs You Should Know" (Bowness/Erra) and "Song of the Surf" (No-Man/Murphy).All lyrics by Bowness.

# All Sweet Things (6:47)
# Beautiful Songs You Should Know (4:26)
# Pigeon Drummer (6:18)
# Truenorth (12:48)
# Wherever There is Light (4:21)
# Song of the Surf (6:12)
# Streaming (3:32)
# Mixtaped (8:36)

Bonus material

The original No-Man Store edition featured an exclusive 6 track, 20 minute, bonus disc of alternates and edits.

# Truenorth part 1 - strings (1.50)
# Truenorth part 2 - alternate (3.51)
# Beautiful songs you should know - alternate (4.06)
# Pigeon beater (3.04)
# Song of the surf - alternate (3.49)
# Truenorth part 2 - video edit (4.19)

Personnel

*Tim Bowness – vocals, musical box, mellotron, piano, chime guitars, vocal loops.
*Steven Wilson – piano, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, keyboards, glockenspiel, harmony vocals, musical box, electric piano, organ, harp, harmonium, percussion, drum programming.
*Theo Travis – flute, soprano sax (tracks 4, 5 and 8).
*Peter Chilvers – samples from ‘surfacing’ (track 1).
*Colin Edwin – fretless acoustic bass (track 2)
*Rick Edwards – percussion (track 2)
*Marianne De Chastelaine – cello (track 2)
*Pat Mastelotto – drums, percussion (tracks 3 and 6)
*Fabrice Lefebvre – yang t’chin (track 4)
*Andy Booker – electronic percussion (track 4), drum loop (track 7)
*Bruce Kaphan – pedal steel guitar (tracks 5 and 7)
*Pete Morgan – bass (track 7)
*Gavin Harrison - drums (track 8)
*Strings arranged by Dave Stewart and performed by the London Session Orchestra.

External links

* [http://www.no-man.co.uk No-Man's Official Website] .
* [http://www.kscopemusic.com/no-man/index1.html "Schoolyard Ghosts" microsite] at Kscope/Snapper Music.
* [http://www.burningshed.com/aconfession/ "A Confession" - No-Man Fan Site] (includes a "Schoolyard Ghosts" microsite).
* [http://www.myspace.com/nomanuk No-Man MySpace Page] (includes audio samples from the album).

References