Leave a Whisper

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Leave a Whisper is the debut studio album by American rock band Shinedown. The album was released on May 27, 2003, by Atlantic Records, faring well due to the success of the singles "Fly from the Inside" and "45". Recording took place at Henson Recording Studios and The Blue Room, both in Los Angeles. Leave a Whisper paved the way for Shinedown's successful second album, Us and Them, and was re-released on June 15, 2004, to incorporate a cover version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man". The album's singles also fared well, with "Fly from the Inside" reaching No. 5, "45" reaching No. 3, "Simple Man" reaching No. 5, and "Burning Bright" reaching No. 2 on the US Mainstream Rock list. Music videos were made for the songs "45" and "Simple Man".

Leave a Whisper is Shinedown's second best-selling album in both the United States and Canada. On August 17, 2004, it was certified gold for 500,000 copies sold, and by October 21, 2005, the album had sold one million copies in the US, and was certified platinum by the RIAA.[1] The album was certified gold in Canada by Music Canada on February 8, 2023.[2]

Background

Prior to the album's release, frontman Brent Smith had been working with his prior band, Dreve, which had signed a record deal with Atlantic Records in 2000.[3] The record label, unhappy with Dreve as a whole, dropped the band prior to releasing an album, but retained Smith, who they felt was worth developing separately as an artist.[4] Atlantic signed Smith to a development deal where record representatives helped him with his song-writing ability, and helped him recruit members for a new band, which would become Shinedown.[4][5] Smith moved to Jacksonville, Florida and began work on the project in 2001.[6] The first member he recruited was bassist Brad Stewart, through local Jacksonville music producer Pete Thornton.[6] Smith and Stewart began recording demos together in a small local studio, whose owner recommended they meet with her fiancé, guitarist Jasin Todd, who Smith brought in as the third member.[6] The original lineup was rounded out by drummer Barry Kerch, who was the seventh drummer the band had auditioned for the spot.[6] The four worked together on creating demos, and submitted their work-in-progress material to Atlantic, who approved of the material and greenlit a full-length album.[6]

During an interview in February 2023, Brent Smith described the album as having "character" due to sounding "rich" and "full".[7] Smith said producer Bob Marlette's use of Logic Pro and analog two-inch tape, as well as Andy Wallace's mixing of the songs Marlette helped the band work on, contributed to the album's sound.[7] In April 2003, Smith stated the following about the making of Leave a Whisper:

We approached it in as cool and calm a manner as we could, but there's no denying that a lot of the time we were like kids in a candy store. That's how excited we were. I think a lot of that energy found its way into the music, which was our intent from the very beginning. We want each song to carry the listener on a journey, and we want to make sure the ride is as interesting as possible. The best way I can describe it is to say that this band is a celebration of being alive. We all have our problems, but if you're honest with yourself, you can draw from that darkness and turn it into something great.[8]

Release and promotion

The album was released May 27, 2003.[9] While not an immediate success, through the extensive touring and successful singles, eventually went platinum in the United States, indicating sales of over 1 million.[10] Four singles were released from the album "Fly from the Inside", "45", "Burning Bright", and a cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, "Simple Man". All four singles charted in the top five of the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts, peaking at fifth, third, fifth, and second, respectively.[11][12] The band toured extensively in support of the album, playing over 400 live shows over the course of 2003 and 2004.[13] The band ended up touring for 24 months straight, doing various tours with Van Halen, Seether, and Three Doors Down.[14] The band later released a live DVD titled Live from the Inside that documented the live shows of the touring cycle.[15]

The album was re-released twice. The final three tracks only appear on the enhanced edition, released June 15, 2004. This re-release was prompted due to the popularity of their "Simple Man" cover, which was not present on the original album's release.[16] On July 7, 2009 Shinedown digitally released a deluxe edition of Leave a Whisper, featuring demo material and unused tracks from the recording sessions.[17]

Reception

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Leave a Whisper received positive to negative reviews from critics. A review by Johnny Loftus on AllMusic compared the album to that of post-grunge acts like Creed, Puddle of Mudd, and a modern-day Alice in Chains. He gave the album two out of five stars, saying "Coupled with a plodding, two-dimensional sound varying little from song to song, let alone from the sound of its peers, Shinedown's debut offers scant hope that heavy music will right itself from the nasty stumble of its last few years."[18]

Brian Davis of KNAC gave Leave a Whisper four out of five stars, comparing the vocals to that of Travis Meeks from Days of the New and Chris Cornell from Soundgarden, saying "Smart lyrics and a seriously impressive singer in the form of one Brent Smith put this band a step or two above the rest of the redundant headcases."[19] According to Melodic, the album will satisfy fans of bands like Depswa and Saliva, with reviewer Johan Wippsson giving it four out of five stars and saying "this is a clear winner and a hot candidate for my toplist when the year 2003 is closing in."[20]

Track listing

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Personnel

Band

  • Brent Smith – lead vocals
  • Jasin Todd – guitars, lap steel, theremin, sitar
  • Brad Stewart – bass
  • Barry Kerch – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

  • Bob Marlette – producer, engineer (tracks 1, 2, 4–6, 10, 11)
  • Tony Battaglia – engineer, mixing, producer (tracks 12–15)
  • Rick Beato – engineer, producer (tracks 3, 7–9)
  • Andy Wallace – mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4–6, 10, 11)
  • Randy Staub – mixing (tracks 3, 7–9)
  • Steven Marshall – additional guitar on "45"

Charts

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Singles

Year Single Peak positions
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 US Main. Rock US Modern Rock
2003 "Fly From the Inside" - 5 34
"45" - 3 12
2004 "Simple Man" - 5 40
"Burning Bright" 5 2 22

Certifications

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Appearances

  • "Fly from the Inside" was featured on both the soundtrack to the movie Grind in 2003 and the video game MX vs. ATV Unleashed in 2005.[22][23]
  • "45" was released as downloadable content for the video game Rocksmith 2014 in 2014;[24] the acoustic version of "Simple Man" was later released as downloadable content for the game in 2016.[25]

References

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Template:Shinedown

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