The Magnificent Tree

The Magnificent Tree is the third studio album by the Belgian band Hooverphonic, released on 26 September 2000. The cover features the band in front of a tree in the town of Kieldrecht, Belgium.[1]

The Magnificent Tree
Studio album by
Hooverphonic
Released26 September 2000 (2000-09-26)
Genre
Length42:04
LabelEpic
Producer
Hooverphonic chronology
Blue Wonder Power Milk
(1998)		 The Magnificent Tree
(2000)		 Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane
(2002)
Singles from The Magnificent Tree
  1. "Mad About You"
    Released: 2000
  2. "Vinegar & Salt"
    Released: 2000
  3. "Out of Sight"
    Released: 2000 (remix)
  4. "Jackie Cane"
    Released: 2000

Four singles were released from the album: "Mad About You", "Vinegar & Salt", "Out of Sight" and "Jackie Cane". The "Vinegar & Salt" and "Out of Sight" singles contain "Green" and "Sunday Morning", respectively, tracks composed for The Magnificent Tree that did not make it onto the final release. By November 2002, the album had sold 265,000 copies worldwide,[2] including 85,000 copies in Belgium alone.[3]

The U.S. release includes the track "Renaissance Affair" as a bonus track, which also originates from their previous album Blue Wonder Power Milk.

Background

The album cost 8,000,000 Bef (170,000$) to record, one of the most expensive Belgian albums ever, partly because the first three weeks of recording were thrown away, as the group were apparently heading in the wrong direction. The record company hoped to sell 500,000 copies, much more than the 150,000 of the previous two albums (the band just received a gold album for 25,000 copies of "Blue Wonder Power Milk" in Belgium).[4]

Composition

"The Magnificent Tree" contains a sample of "Guinnevere" by Crosby, Stills and Nash. "Waves" is remarkably similar to "Changes", a 1966 psychedelic pop song by The Association.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic57/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
NME6/10[7]
Q[8]

The Magnificent Tree holds a score of 57 out of 100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic based on reviews from four critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5] MTV.com felt that, with the album, "Hooverphonic's sound has become increasingly hip and cosmopolitan, slowly processing out everything that made it so alluring in the first place", noting that "the nagging sense of something menacing behind these songs has practically disappeared."[9] Conversely, according to AllMusic, "Classic embryonic vocalic beauty from Geike Arnaert still carries the translucence of the band's signature ethereality" and "songs such as 'Out of Sight' and 'Mad About You' are thoroughly dramatic and make for an illustrious listen".[6]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Autoharp"Alex Callier4:21
2."Mad About You"Callier3:43
3."Waves"Callier4:01
4."Jackie Cane"
4:20
5."The Magnificent Tree"
3:55
6."Vinegar & Salt"Callier3:20
7."Frosted Flake Wood"Callier3:17
8."Everytime We Live Together We Die a Bit More"Callier3:35
9."Out of Sight"Callier3:55
10."Pink Fluffy Dinosaurs"
  • Arnaert
  • Callier
3:50
11."L'Odeur animale"Callier3:47
French edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Out of Sight" (Al Stone mix)Callier3:51
13."Mad About You" (FK vocal mix)Callier8:48
US edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Renaissance Affair"Callier3:25
Belgian limited edition bonus disc
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Visions" 11:04
2."Mad About You" (Llorca's Radio Shot)Callier4:24
3."Mad About You" (video)Callier3:53

Personnel
Hooverphonic

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Belgium (BEA)[10] 2× Platinum 100,000*

^shipments figures based on certification alone

gollark: How dare you??!?
gollark: ***BURN THE UNBELIEVER***
gollark: I'm going to donate all my money to the GHC developers!
gollark: ***ALL HAIL HASKELL***
gollark: Yet another reason I dislike discord.

References
  1. The Magnificent Tree on Google Maps
  2. Maes, Marc (16 November 2002). "Global Music Pulse: Belgium". Billboard. p. 86. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  3. http://broadcast-history.com/Archive-Music-and-Media/00s/2002/MM-2002-11-23.pdf
  4. "Hooverphonic". Houbi. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  5. "Reviews for The Magnificent Tree by Hooverphonic". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  6. Wilson, MacKenzie. "The Magnificent Tree – Hooverphonic". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  7. "Hooverphonic : The Magnificent Tree". NME. 12 May 2001. Archived from the original on 17 May 2001. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  8. "Hooverphonic: The Magnificent Tree". Q (171): 124. December 2000.
  9. John, Kevin. "Hooverphonic: The Magnificent Tree (Epic)". MTV. Archived from the original on 10 December 2000. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  10. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 2004". Ultratop. Hung Medien.
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