No Sound Without Silence

No Sound Without Silence is the fourth studio album by Irish pop rock band The Script. The album was released by Columbia Records on 12 September 2014 in Ireland and Friday-release countries and on 15 September 2014 in the United Kingdom. The album is the band's first full-length release under Columbia, after releasing their previous three studio albums under Phonogenic Records in Europe and Epic Records in the United States.

No Sound Without Silence
Studio album by The Script
Released	12 September 2014 (2014-09-12)
Recorded	September 2012 – 2014 at #3 World Tour Bus (various; see tour dates)
Genre	Pop rock[1] R&B folk rock soft rock pop alternative rock Celtic rock[1]
Length	43:57
Label	Phonogenic Columbia
Producer	James Barry Andrew Frampton Steve Kipner Danny O'Donoghue Mark Sheehan
The Script chronology
#3 (2012) No Sound Without Silence (2014) Freedom Child (2017)
Singles from No Sound Without Silence
"Superheroes" Released: 22 July 2014 "No Good in Goodbye" Released: 15 October 2014 "Man on a Wire" Released: 15 March 2015

Largely recorded aboard the band's tour bus during the length of the 3 World Tour through 2012 and 2013, the album has been described as a "prequel" to the band's eponymous debut album, recorded with the ideology of creating an album better than what they had previously recorded. The album is preceded by "Superheroes", released as the lead single promoting the album on 22 July 2014.

Background

In 2012, The Script released their third studio album, #3. Conceived by the band to appeal to a more mainstream audience, The album was initially released alongside mixed to negative reviews from music critics, who described the album as having been rushed and lacking artistic vision, especially in the band's venture into hip hop influences.[2] Despite the negative reaction from critics, the album was commercially successful, achieving a hot-shot debut on the Irish Album Charts[3] and peaking at #2 on the UK Albums Chart.[4]

The band's 2012 single, "Hall of Fame", became one of the band's most commercially successful singles, peaking at number one on the Irish and UK Singles Chart and reaching the top ten on sixteen national singles charts. The single was also certified Platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry,[5] 6x Platinum by ARIA in Australia,[6] and 2x platinum in the United States by the RIAA.[7] "Hall of Fame" also appeared on the Official Charts Company's Top 100 most downloaded tracks of all time in the United Kingdom in April 2014, placing number 89 on the overall list.[8]

In April 2015, a special edition version of the album was released in Japan. This featured a bonus disc, containing 6 live-recorded tracks from their show in Tokyo on the NSWS tour. This included 4 back-catalogue songs (Breakeven, The Man Who Can't Be Moved, For The First Time, and Hall Of Fame) as well as 2 songs from the new album (Superheroes, and The Energy Never Dies).[9]

Recording

Lead singer Danny O'Donoghue (right) had given up his role as a coach on The Voice UK to focus on the recording and production of No Sound Without Silence.

Most of the material used for the band's fourth studio album was recorded on board the band's tour bus, during the US tours of 2013 and 2014.[10] On that bus, 40 potential tracks were written but ultimately only 11 tracks made the final cut.[11] The band had been travelling with a mobile recording studio during the length of the tour, a production strategy that many other artists have used as an efficient way of recording albums, with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio being one of the earliest examples of such. Lead singer Danny O’Donoghue stated about the album's recording process during the tour, "We’d come off stage and start recording straight away in a studio bus. Everything’s massive, everything’s larger than life on stage so when we hit the studio we wanted it to have that same impact". Guitarist Mark Sheehan also explained that "We come off stage and you can imagine the adrenaline is up there. You can smoke or drink it away, but with a studio there’s somewhere to expel that nervous energy".[10] The 3 World Tour began in September 2012 and ended in July 2013.

O'Donoghue, in addition to touring with the band, had served as one of the four coaches for the first and second series of BBC talent show The Voice UK, having coached Andrea Begley to win the second series of the program.[12] O'Donoghue, however, quit the programme shortly after the second series had aired to focus on the recording and production of No Sound Without Silence,[13] stating that he was focused on The Script "moving forward" as they embarked on "the most important part of our career as a band".[14] He later commented on the decision after the album's unveiling stating, "To go back to being a band and doing what we do best was important".[10]

Packaging

The title of the album, No Sound Without Silence, is both a shortening of philosophical idea put forward by the band and a critical comment on the music industry.[15] No Sound Without Silence is a phrase derived from an idea put forward by the band, where meaningful statements cannot be made without thinking about what you want to say first; the "silence" referring to the silence that persists while a person thinks about what they want to say, and the "sound" referring to the sounds made by people when they speak. The phrase is also a comment on the state of the music industry, where, according to the band, most artists and labels do not think critically about what they want to say, therefore, do not say meaningful things. The Script lead vocalist Danny O'Donoghue commented on the album's title, stating "The time we've been away, we've had time to contemplate about what we want to say to the industry. There is no sound without silence. You can't have anything good to say if you don't think about it first".[15]

Promotion

No Sound Without Silence was formally announced by the band and Sony on 18 July 2014. The album, its artwork and release date was unveiled through a Google Hangouts session attended by the band along with selected fans around the world.[16] The session, which lasted a half-hour, involved the band answering questions from fans through Google+ and saw snippets from four tracks, "Superheroes", "The Energy Never Dies", "Man on a Wire" and "No Good in Goodbye", premiered live during the session.[17] "Superheroes" was the first full track to be lifted from the album, premiering simultaneously on Capital FM and on BBC Radio 1's The Radio 1 Breakfast Show on 21 July 2014,[18][19] and was released as a promotional single to United States Contemporary hit radio on 28 July 2014.[20] "Superheroes" was also released in the United Kingdom as the band's twelfth single on 31 August 2014, serving as the first single released in promotion of No Sound Without Silence.[21][22] Hail Rain or Sunshine was used in the opening scene of the 2014 Irish comedy film, Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie based on the sitcom Mrs. Brown's Boys.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[23]
Digital Spy	[24]
Irish Independent	[25]
Melodic	[26]
The Guardian	[27]
Virgin Media	[28]

No Sound Without Silence received mixed reviews from music critics, with many commenting that the album is a big improvement from their previous album #3.

Track listing

No Sound Without Silence

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"No Good in Goodbye"	Danny O'Donoghue, Mark Sheehan, James Barry	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	5:07
2.	"Superheroes"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	4:04
3.	"Man on a Wire"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan		4:05
4.	"It's Not Right for You"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	4:24
5.	"The Energy Never Dies"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry, Andrew Frampton, Steve Kipner	O'Donoghue Sheehan, Frampton, Kipner	4:15
6.	"Flares"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry, Ryan Tedder	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	3:49
7.	"Army of Angels"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Frampton	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Frampton	3:58
8.	"Never Seen Anything (Quite Like You)"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	3:22
9.	"Paint the Town Green"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	3:31
10.	"Without Those Songs"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	3:46
11.	"Hail Rain or Sunshine"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	O'Donoghue, Sheehan, Barry	3:27
Total length:				43:57

No Sound Without Silence (iTunes Pre-order)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Howl at the Moon"	O'Donoghue, Sheehan	5:13
Total length:			49:10

Personnel

Partly adapted from "Superheroes" liner notes.[29]

The Script Danny O'Donoghue – lead vocals, keyboard, guitar Mark Sheehan – lead guitar, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "Superheroes" Glen Power – drums, backing vocals Additional musicians Andrew Frampton – guitar ("Superheroes")

Technical personnel James Barry – producer ("Superheroes") Andrew Frampton – producer, programmer ("Superheroes") Michael Heffernan – recording ("Superheroes") Ted Jensen – mastering ("Superheroes") Mark Stent – mixing engineer ("Superheroes") Geoff Swan – assistant engineer ("Superheroes") Fergal Toohey – recording, assistant producer, assistant engineer ("Superheroes")

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2014-2015) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[30] 5 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[31] 11 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[32] 14 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[33] 37 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[34] 13 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[35] 11 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[36] 3 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[37] 46 French Albums (SNEP)[38] 79 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[39] 12 Irish Albums (IRMA)[40] 1 Italian Albums (FIMI)[41] 15 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[42] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[43] 7 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[44] 10 Scottish Albums (OCC)[45] 1 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[46] 25 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[47] 17 UK Albums (OCC)[48] 1 US Billboard 200[49] 10

Year-end charts Chart (2014) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[50] 82 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[51] 170 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[52] 60 UK Albums (OCC)[53] 21 Chart (2015) Position Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[54] 78 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[55] 11

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[56]	Gold	35,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[57]	Platinum	15,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[58]	Platinum	350,098[59]
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
Germany	12 September 2014	CD Digital download	Columbia Records
Ireland
United Kingdom	15 September 2014
United States	30 September 2014

References

1. "The Guardian - The Script 'No Sound Without Silence'". 8 February 2015.
2. Sources for critical reception of #3:
   • Sullivan, Caroline (7 September 2012). "The Script: #3 – review". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
   • Lai, Alex (10 September 2012). "The Script - #3 Album Review". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
   • Collar, Matt. "The Script #3". Allmusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
3. "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending 13 September 2012". Irish Albums Chart. Chart-Track. Archived from the original on 23 November 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
4. "The Script". UK Albums Chart. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
5. "British single certifications – The Script feat. will.i.am – Hall Of Fame" Archived 25 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine British Phonographic Industry. Enter "Hall Of Fame" in the field "Search". Select "Title" in the field "Search by". Select "single" in the field "By Format". Click "Go"
6. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2014 Singles" Archived 25 June 2014 at WebCite. Australian Recording Industry Association.
7. "American single certifications – The Script feat. will.i.am – Hall Of Fame" Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click "Advanced", then click "Format", then select "Single", then click "SEARCH".
8. Lane, Daniel (21 April 2014). "The UK's Top 100 most downloaded tracks of all time revealed!". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
9. https://www.discogs.com/The-Script-No-Sound-Without-Silence-Japan-Special-Edition/release/6936620
10. Cabooter, James (19 July 2014). "Exclusive: The Script save the world with their new single Superheroes". Daily Star. Northern and Shell Media Publications. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
11. "This Week's Fresh Music Top 20". 1 October 2014. 4Music. Missing or empty |series= (help)
12. Sherwin, Adam (24 June 2013). "The Voice 2013: Partially sighted singer Andrea Begley's victory 'unexplainable', says Will.i.am". The Independent. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
13. Sperling, Daniel (16 July 2013). "Danny O'Donoghue leaves 'The Voice' UK". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
14. KT (16 July 2013). "Danny O'Donoghue confirms he is leaving The Voice UK". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
15. "Script want Adele collaboration". Belfast Telegraph. Independent News & Media. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
16. Rowley, Alison (19 July 2014). "The Script announce new album and single". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
17. Martin, Laura (18 July 2014). "The Script open up about bus crash - thank being "drunk" for saving them". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
18. Moss, Liv (21 July 2014). "Listen to The Script's new single Superheroes". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
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20. "Hot/Modern/AC Future Releases". All Access Music Group. 28 July 2014. Archived from the original on 21 July 2014.
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25. McCormack, Richie (12 September 2014). "Review: The Script - No Sound Without Silence". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
26. Wippsson, Johan. "No Sound Without Silence". Melodic. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
27. Mokoena, Tshepo (11 September 2014). "The Script: No Sound Without Silence review – soft-as-mush pop falls flat". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
28. Horton, Matthew. "The Script: No Sound Without Silence". Virgin Media. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
29. "Superheroes" [Single] (liner notes). The Script. Columbia Records. 2014.CS1 maint: others (link)
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51. "Jaaroverzichten 2014". Ultratop. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
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59. Jones, Alan (8 September 2017). "Official Charts Analysis: The Script debut at No.1 on albums chart". Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved 9 September 2017.