Vehicles & Animals
| Vehicles & Animals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Athlete | ||||
| Released | 7 April 2003 | |||
| Recorded | Late 2001–early 2003 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock, Post-britpop | |||
| Length | 45:38 | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Producer | Victor Van Vugt, Athlete, Bird & Bush | |||
| Athlete chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Vehicles & Animals | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 63/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| Q magazine | |
| Pitchfork Media | (6.4/10) [3] |
| PopMatters | 6/10 [4] |
Vehicles & Animals is the debut studio album by British indie rock band Athlete. It was released on 7 April 2003.
This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.
Critical reception
Critical reaction to Vehicles & Animals was generally positive. Review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalised score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, awarded the album a rating of 63 based on 17 reviews, suggesting "generally favorable reviews".[1] Time Out called the album a "gloriously understated and wonderfully consistent debut".[5] Playlouder gave the record four out of five, hailing the tracks as "impeccably polished radio-friendly gems"[6] – The Times similarly labelled the album a "British pop gem". Ben Gilbert of Dotmusic gave the album seven out of ten, describing the album as a "promising debut".[7]
Awards and accolades
In 2003 the album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, an annual award honouring the year's best albums from the UK and Ireland – the prize was ultimately won by Boy in Da Corner by Dizzee Rascal. In December, British music magazine Q named Vehicles & Animals as the 32nd best album released that year, calling it "the year's best wobbly indie-rock album".[8] In April 2005, the album was awarded platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry for having sold over 300,000 units in the UK.
Track listing
All tracks written by Athlete.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "El Salvador" | 3:25 |
| 2. | "Westside" | 4:00 |
| 3. | "One Million" | 4:17 |
| 4. | "Shake Those Windows" | 5:04 |
| 5. | "Beautiful" | 3:47 |
| 6. | "New Project" | 3:37 |
| 7. | "You Got the Style" | 3:28 |
| 8. | "Vehicles & Animals" | 3:52 |
| 9. | "Out of Nowhere" | 3:11 |
| 10. | "Dungeness" | 4:17 |
| 11. | "You Know" | 4:11 |
| 12. | "Le Casio" | 2:29 |
| Total length: | 45:38 | |
| US edition bonus tracks[9] | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 13. | "A Few Differences" (B-side to the "You Got the Style" single) | 1:58 |
| 14. | "You Got the Style" (Promo video) | 3:32 |
Singles
| UK Singles Chart[10] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Title | Released | Peak position |
| "You Got the Style" | 10 June 2002 | 37 |
| "Beautiful" | 4 November 2002 | 41 |
| "El Salvador" | 24 March 2003 | 31 |
| "Westside" | 23 June 2003 | 42 |
| "You Got the Style" (re-released) | 22 September 2003 | 42 |
Personnel
The following people are credited on the album:
Production
- Victor Van Vugt – producer, mixing
- Pete Collis – engineering (tracks 2, 10)
- Matt Frost – additional programming (track 9)
- Adam 'A Skillz' Mills – additional programming (track 9)
- Bird & Bush – initial production (track 10)
Artwork
- Blue Source – art direction
- Kam Tang – illustration
- Ali Peck – photography
Release history
The album was released in various countries:
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 7 April 2003 | Parlophone | LP | 582 2911 |
| CD | 582 2912 | |||
| CD digipak | 584 2112 | |||
| United States | 18 May 2004 | Astralwerks | CD | ASW 82291 |
| Australia | 14 March 2005 | Capitol Records | CD | 582 3412 |
References
- 1 2 "Vehicles & Animals – Athlete". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
- ↑ Raggett, Ned. "Athlete: Vehicles & Animals > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
- ↑ Loftus, Johnny (10 June 2004). "Athlete: Vehicles & Animals". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
- ↑ "Athlete: Vehicles & Animals". Retrieved 19 September 2016.
- ↑ "Athlete jumps into the chart at No. 21". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle upon Tyne: Trinity Mirror. 25 August 2003. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
- ↑ Williams, Simon (4 April 2003). "Vehicles and Animals". Playlouder. Archived from the original on 16 July 2007. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
- ↑ Gilbert, Ben (10 April 2003). "Athlete – "Vehicles and Animals"". Dotmusic. Archived from the original on 15 January 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
- ↑ Rees, Paul, ed. (January 2004). "The Fifty Best Albums of the Year". Q. London: EMAP (210): 76. ISSN 0955-4955. OCLC 754455553.
- ↑ "Athlete: Vehicles & Animals [US Bonus Tracks] at AllMusic. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
- ↑ "Athlete". ChartStats.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
External links
- Vehicles & Animals at Discogs
- Vehicles & Animals at Last.fm
- Vehicles & Animals at Metacritic
- Vehicles & Animals at MusicBrainz (list of releases)