Title of Record

Title of Record is the second studio album by American rock band Filter, released on August 24, 1999 by Reprise Records. The album's earlier sessions were marred with slow progress due to lineup changes and frontman Richard Patrick's decision to construct his own studio for recording. However, progress improved after solidifying the lineup and bringing in further production help. In support of the album's release, Filter performed on the 1999 Family Values Tour.

Title of Record
Studio album by
Filter
ReleasedAugust 24, 1999
Recorded1997–99
StudioAbyssinian Sons Studio (Chicago)
Genre
Length70:23
LabelReprise
Producer
Filter chronology
Short Bus
(1995)		 Title of Record
(1999)		 The Amalgamut
(2002)
Singles from Title of Record
  1. "Welcome to the Fold"
    Released: July 1999
  2. "Take a Picture"
    Released: November 16, 1999
  3. "The Best Things"
    Released: November 28, 2000

Title of Record was a critical and commercial success upon its release, peaking at number 30 on the US Billboard 200. It had sold over 800,000 copies by 2001, and was later certified platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over one million copies. Three singles were released from the album: "Welcome to the Fold", "Take a Picture", and "The Best Things". "Take a Picture" became the band's most successful single, peaking within the top-twenty of nine international charts, including the Billboard Hot 100.

Background

The album's creation took part over the course of an exhaustive four-year period. After the creation of Filter's 1995 debut Short Bus, which was created entirely by frontman Richard Patrick, Brian Liesegang, and a drum machine, the band toured in support of the album throughout 1996. In order to do this, a live band was recruited, consisting of Geno Lenardo on guitar, Frank Cavanaugh on bass, and Matt Walker on drums.[4]

Reports of working on a second album started to arise in early 1997. Initial plans involved Patrick and Liesegang working together on a second album in a similar manner as their first album. Liesegang initially spoke of traveling across North America and recording on a PowerBook whenever inspiration hit them.[5] He referred to a tentative title as Longbutter, a tentative release date of September 1997, and hinted of moving in a more electronic direction now that the band had established themselves as different from Nine Inch Nails, of which they had both been a part prior to Filter.[6] Prior to formal recording sessions for a new album, the two wrote and released a few songs on movie soundtracks, most notably the electronic rock track "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" with The Crystal Method, which proved to be a turning-point for the two. The sessions strengthened Liesegang's conviction to move into more of an electronic, Radiohead-type musical direction, whereas it had the opposite effect on Patrick, inspiring him to keep the music heavy and guitar oriented.[7]

With the two both unable to agree on how to proceed, constant arguing and power struggles ensued.[8] Patrick's collaboration with The Crystal Method had also opened his mind to collaborating with different musicians,[9] leading him to start to try to push Liesegang out of the band.[8] The tensions and fighting that resulted led Lenardo, Cavanaugh, and Walker all to leave first.[8] Relations between Patrick and Liesegang continued to deteriorate, and by mid-1997, due to Patrick's "creative dominance", Liesegang quit the band as well, leaving Patrick as the sole member.[10]

Patrick, now all on his own, attempted to restart the sessions for the album, but experienced further roadblocks:

"I kind of had to hit rock bottom. I didn't have a band. I didn't have a studio. I had this platinum record that showed up in the mail, and I had nothing except for my own talents. So at some point, I forced myself to play the guitar. I would force myself to write lyrics. I was playing people's demos. I was still into the band. It's just that I didn't have anything.[8]

Patrick opted to start over by building his own studio, called "Abyssinian Son"; however, this ended up being far more complicated and time-consuming than he expected, with over two years going into dealing with realtors, property leases, and contractors to get the studio in functioning shape.[8] Once preparations were complete, Patrick met up with, and started early sessions with music producer and sound engineer Rae DiLeo.[8] However, after a month of sessions with just himself and DiLeo's guidance, Patrick decided he didn't want to do the entire album himself, and decided to seek out musicians, specifically, the Short Bus touring band.[8]

As several years had passed since members had left, this led to difficulties as well. Walker was unable to return, as he had taken the role as the replacement touring drummer for The Smashing Pumpkins to replace drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.[4] Lenardo initially was unable to return, as he had gotten married and had children and was living a life that was contrary to Patrick's requirements for him in the studio. However, after working through it, Patrick became more accommodating to his lifestyle, and Lenardo returned in a desire to provide for his family.[8] Cavanaugh had been touring with Prong, but was able to return, and the band recruited new drummer Steven Gillis to replace Walker.[8]

Writing and recording

With a working band back together, the album's final sessions began. Some tracks, such as "Take a Picture" and "Welcome to the Fold", would still be written entirely by Patrick, while others would entail Lenardo coming up with a rough idea, and Patrick polishing it into its final form.[11] The exception was "It's Gonna Kill Me", where Patrick conceded that Lenardo wrote the entirety of the music of the track.[11] Cavanaugh did not contribute to the writing process other than creating the bass line to the track "Cancer", otherwise just playing as directed by others.[11] Gillis oftentimes had to re-record his drum tracks multiple times due to Lenardo altering the guitar parts of the songs.[11] The band continued to work with Dileo on the album, but also brought in music producer Ben Grosse to assist with the album's production and mixing.[12] Other collaborators included D'Arcy Wretzky, former bassist of the Smashing Pumpkins, who provided vocals for the chorus of the track "Cancer".[13] Eric Remschneider, who had also contributed to the Smashing Pumpkin's song "Disarm" was also brought in to play cello on the opening track "Sand",[13] lead single "Take a Picture"[13] and closing track "Miss Blue".[14]

Described as being "firmly within the industrial-metal tradition,"[1] the record expands on the grunge-influenced industrial rock sound of Short Bus with electronic textures and elements from folk, worldbeat and psychedelia.[15]

Release and promotion

The album was released on August 24, 1999, and debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at no. 30.[16] In support of it, the band performed on Family Values Tour 1999.[17] By October 2001, the album had amassed over 800,000 sold,[16] and was eventually certified platinum, indicating over one million units shipped.[18]

20th Anniversary Expanded Edition

On August 9th 2019, the band released a 20th Anniversary reissue of the album via Craft Recordings. The album has been remastered and will be available on vinyl for the first time, as well as on CD and digital. All formats are expanded featuring four bonus tracks: "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" (originally recorded for the cult-classic soundtrack "Spawn The Album"), "Jurassitol" (previously released on "The Crow: City Of Angels - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"), plus remixes of the singles "The Best Things (Humble Brothers Remix)" and "Take A Picture (H&H Remix)". Both the two-LP set, and CD will feature new liner notes by author, journalist, and "Side Jams" podcast host Bryan Reesman. The expanded digital album also offers five additional rarities, including a live version of "Take A Picture", "The Best Things (Dub Pistols Club Mix)" and more.[19]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Alternative Press[20]
Entertainment WeeklyB[21]
Q[20]
Robert Christgau[22]
Rolling Stone[15]
Rock Hard (de)(9/10)[23]

The album was commercially and critically well-received. Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the album for its "subtle differences in tension and dynamics that keep it fresh and engaging throughout," albeit "a little out of place within the modern rock world of 1999" and ultimately "a strong album".[1] Entertainment Weekly's Steven Mirkin regarded the record as "derivative," while noting the band's "attention to melody and craft" to be refreshing.[21] Greg Kot of Rolling Stone thought that the album "rehashes the Jekyll and Hyde dynamics that have become alternative rock's creative downfall." Nevertheless, Kot further stated: "With Short Bus, Filter sounded like the latest and lightest in a long line of industrial-rock bands, but Title of Record expands the possibilities."[15]

The album sold more than 1 million copies, and the hit single "Take a Picture" fared well on several charts. In 2005, Title of Record was ranked number 493 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[24]

The album was featured as number 8 on Loudwire's list of "15 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1999."[2]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sand"Richard Patrick0:36
2."Welcome to the Fold"Patrick7:40
3."Captain Bligh"Patrick5:12
4."It's Gonna Kill Me"Patrick, Geno Lenardo5:04
5."The Best Things"Patrick4:26
6."Take a Picture"Patrick6:03
7."Skinny"Patrick, Lenardo5:43
8."I Will Lead You"Patrick, Lenardo3:23
9."Cancer"Patrick, Frank Cavanagh6:39
10."I'm Not the Only One"Patrick5:49
11."Miss Blue" (Track ends at 5:36, after 13 minutes of silence, incoherent screaming and backmasking occurs.)Patrick19:48
Japanese Edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Jurassitol" (from The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack)Patrick, Brian Liesegang5:13
13."(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" (from Spawn soundtrack)Patrick, Liesegang, The Crystal Method12:32
German Edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."One (cover)" (from The X-Files: Fight the Future soundtrack.)Harry Nilsson4:07
13."A Note from the Author"Patrick1:13
20th Anniversary Expanded Edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Jurassitol" (from The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack)Patrick, Brian Liesegang5:13
13."(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" (from Spawn soundtrack)Patrick, Liesegang, The Crystal Method4:28
14."Take A Picture (H&H Remix)" (from Take A Picture Single)Patrick4:17
15."The Best Things (Humble Brothers Remix)" (from The Best Things Single)Patrick6:36

Personnel
Band
Additional musicians
Production
  • Ben Grosse - producer, mixer
  • Rae DiLeo - producer, programming, digital editing
  • Bob Ludwig - mastering

Chart positions

Album

Charts (1999) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[25] 41
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[26] 34
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[27] 40
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[28] 20
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[29] 12
UK Albums (OCC)[30] 75
Billboard Top Internet Albums[31] 13
Billboard 200[31] 30
Billboard 200 (Year End)[31] 189

Singles

Year Song Peak positions
US
[32]		 US
Main.
[32]		 US
Mod.
[32]		 US
Dance
[32]		 US
Adult
[32]		 CAN
[33]
1999 "Welcome to the Fold" — 8 17 — — —
"Take a Picture" 12 4 3 1 7 3
2000 "The Best Things" — 31 18 6 — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
gollark: This is some kind of Pi handheld? Cool.
gollark: <@670756765859708965> It uses something like 1% CPU. I just don't run CPU-intensive tasks often.
gollark: Although its metrics gathering is actually the most CPU-intensive thing running on the system.
gollark: I mostly only need basic monitoring and manage it over SSH directly, so this is nice.
gollark: I have some nice graphs: https://status.osmarks.tk/

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (1999-08-24). "Filter: Title of Record". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  2. Childers, Chad (January 15, 2019). "15 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1999". Loudwire. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  3. Stingley, Mick (9 August 2019). "Filter's 'Take a Picture' Gets a New Remix for 'Title of Record' 20th Anniversary: Exclusive Premiere". Billboard. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  4. John Bush. "Filter | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  5. "Interview" (TXT). Filterpage.tripod.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  6. Gil Kaufman. "Interview" (TXT). Filterpage.tripod.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  7. Man, The (2013-06-04). "An Un-Filtered Interview with Filter « Man Cave Daily". Mancave.cbslocal.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  8. Archived May 18, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Liesegang Unfiltered Interview" (TXT). Filterpage.tripod.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  10. Chris Nelson (September 24, 1997). "Interview" (TXT). Filterpage.tripod.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  11. Buchanan, Brett (2014-08-24). "Interview: Filter's Richard Patrick Looks Back At 'Title of Record' For 15th Anniversary". AlternativeNation.net. Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  12. Ben Grosse. "Ben Grosse | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  13. Archived September 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Title of Record - Filter | Credits". AllMusic. 1999-08-24. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  15. Kot, Greg (1999-09-02). "Filter: Title of Record : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
  16. "Filter's 'Amalgamut' Due Next Year". Billboard. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  17. Archived July 1, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  18. "Filter To Unleash New Album 'The Sun Comes Out Tonight' in June". Loudwire.com. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  19. blabbermouth.net/news/filter-expanded-20th-anniversary-edition-of-title-of-record-due-in-august/
  20. "Filter - Title of Record CD Album". CDUniverse.com. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
  21. Mirkin, Steven (1999-08-20). "Title of Record Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
  22. Christgau, Robert. "CG: Filter". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
  23. Rensen, Michael. "Rock Hard". issue 148. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  24. [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 10. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. "Australiancharts.com – Filter – Title of Record". Hung Medien.
  26. "Austriancharts.at – Filter – Title of Record" (in German). Hung Medien.
  27. "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 69, No. 21, September 13, 1999". RPM. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
  28. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  29. "Charts.nz – Filter – Title of Record". Hung Medien.
  30. "Filter | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
  31. Title of Record > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums. Allmusic. Retrieved on 15 April 2009.
  32. Title of Record > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles. Allmusic. Retrieved on 15 April 2009.
  33. "Fitler Top Singles positions". RPM. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
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