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2008 studio album by Amanda Palmer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Who Killed Amanda Palmer is the first solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer. The album was largely recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, with collaborator Ben Folds[1] and was released on Roadrunner Records (also home to The Dresden Dolls) on 16 September 2008.[2] The name of the album is a reference to the series Twin Peaks,[citation needed] which revolves around events surrounding the death of Laura Palmer.
| Who Killed Amanda Palmer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 16, 2008 | |||
| Recorded |
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| Genre | Dark cabaret, alternative rock | |||
| Length | 53:12 | |||
| Label | Roadrunner | |||
| Producer | Ben Folds and Amanda Palmer | |||
| Amanda Palmer chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Who Killed Amanda Palmer | ||||
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Certain tracks also featured Folds on percussion and keyboards and former Rasputina member Zoë Keating on cello.[3]
In 2007, Palmer self-released the song "I Will Follow You into the Dark", a cover of the Death Cab for Cutie song, on her Myspace. The ID3 tags listed the source album as Nashville. Fans discussed the possibility of the solo album having this name, but Palmer dispelled rumors on the Dresden Dolls' forum, The Shadowbox, stating:
that was titled 'nashville' because that is the location that i am recording the solo album....in nashville, at ben folds' studio, with ben, who is producing the record and playing on it. [...] it will not be the album title unless i decide to confuse everybody and come up with an album title that will throw EVERYBODY
....ie 'nashville blues'
in which case shoot me[4]
Palmer also revealed that the song would not be on the album, instead releasing it on Peace (for Mom), a compilation released by Brainwashed Recordings.
Palmer confirmed to the Boston Phoenix in April 2007 that the album was indeed titled Who Killed Amanda Palmer, although another working title was That's Amanda Fucking Palmer to You. She joked that the latter was unlikely to encourage being stocked at supermarket chain Wal-Mart.[5]
On the overall feel of the record, Palmer said:
A lot of the songs are piano ballads that never found a home on a Dolls record, because I hadn't wanted to overload the record with slow material. But there's a really intense, exciting energy to the tracks at the same time. It definitely won't drag.[5]
Additionally, she has said: "We've been adding everything from organs and Leslie cabinets [keyboard speaker] to strings, horns, and tympani. The final result should be biblical."[3]
In November 2007, members of Estradasphere started touring with Palmer,[6] as well as helping to produce this album.[7]
Palmer part funded the production with $80,000 of her own money.[8] She later regretted that decision, as Roadrunner's royalty rates (of $1 per album sale) meant she would likely never recoup the money.[citation needed]
The magazine Alternative Press named this album one of the "Most Anticipated Albums of 2008".[9]
In an interview on April 20, 2008, Palmer told Hayley Rosenblum on her WHRW (Binghamton University's radio station) show, Penguins in the Desert, that the release date would be September 16, 2008. She also mentioned that the album would be remastered on April 25 because Ben was not happy with the original mastering job. A later blog post by Amanda indicated that the album has been remastered at least three times.[10] A companion book created in conjunction with Neil Gaiman was also mentioned.[11] Roadrunner Records later confirmed that the book would be a book of photography.[12] Photographer Kyle Cassidy confirmed on June 30 that the book would be written by Neil, with Kyle laying out, designing, and supplying photography for the book.[13]
In an interview with Songfacts, Palmer explained that "Leeds United" was inspired by losing a Leeds United football shirt that was given to her by Ricky Wilson of the English band Kaiser Chiefs.[14]
On September 5, 2008, Palmer revealed pre-orders for the album would begin on Monday September 8, 2008, via her new web site, whokilledamandapalmer.com.
Music videos for seven of the tracks from Who Killed Amanda Palmer ("Astronaut", "Ampersand", "Runs in the Family", "The Point of It All", "Strength Through Music", "Guitar Hero", and "Another Year") all formed part of the Who Killed Amanda Palmer video series, directed by Michael Pope. These videos are all connected, and spoken word material can be heard at the end of several of the tracks. "Another Year" serves as the credits song and a video exclusive instrumental version during the intro. A cover of "Everybody's Gotta Live" by Love is featured in the epilogue.
Separate videos for "Oasis" (directed by Pope), "Leeds United" (directed by Alex de Campi), "What's the Use of Wond'rin'?" (directed by Pope), and "Blake Says" (directed by Steven Mitchell Wright) were released on February 3, February 26, March 11, and December 20, 2009 respectively.
In November 2008, Palmer refused her record label's demand that she remove shots of her "uncommercially fat" stomach from the "Leeds United" video. There was much controversy over these demands, eventually resulting in a fan protest that became known as "The reBELLYon". Fans posted photos of their stomachs on Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer fan site "Shadowbox", and eventually sent the photos to Palmer's label, Roadrunner Records, to prove their point. Palmer was successful in being dropped from the label, and released a free song, entitled "Do You Swear to Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth, So Help Your Black Ass", in celebration.
As a promotional game for the release of Who Killed Amanda Palmer, a fake radio site, WKAP-FM,[15] was set up with clues to her alleged disappearance. The alternate reality game was designed and curated by musician Olga Nunes.[16]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 78/100[17] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Alternative Press |   [18] |
| Allmusic |  [19] |
| Drowned in Sound |   [20] |
| musicOMH | [21] |
| Pitchfork Media | (7.4/10)[22] |
| Spin | [23] |
| The Guardian | [24] |
| PopMatters | [25] |
| The A.V. Club | (B)[26] |
The album has received a score of 78/100 from media aggregate site Metacritic indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17] Joshua Klein of Pitchfork Media gave positive reviews of all tracks (with the exception of "Oasis"), and stated that "The Point of it All" "emphasizes [her] strengths as a lyricist".[27] MusicOMH reviewer Natasha Tripney described the album as "...exhilarating... It is a rather delicious confection; a cake iced with the darkest, bitterest chocolate", and ultimately gave the album 4 and half stars out of 5.[28] However, Allmusic only gave the album 2 and half stars out of 5, stating that "[The album is] a disc full of songs that originally didn't make the cut on the band's main albums. Most of these best alternate song ideas were already used up when compiling the track listing for the fantastic Dresden Dolls B-sides compilation, No, Virginia... released earlier the same year. So, what we're looking at here are C-sides, which despite any amount of studio polish and however great the contributions by Folds, don't quite stack up."[29]
On June 6, 2008, in a preview for an interview with e-zine TheMagazine, Palmer gave the track list for the album,[32] stating that advance copies of the album had been sent out to reviewers in Europe.
A live version of the song "I Google You" (co-written with Neil Gaiman) was available with the pre-order of the album.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Astronaut: A Short History of Nearly Nothing" (ft. Zoë Keating and Ben Folds) | 4:37 |
| 2. | "Runs in the Family" (ft. Ben Folds) | 2:59 |
| 3. | "Ampersand" (strings arranged by Paul Buckmaster) | 5:59 |
| 4. | "Leeds United" (ft. the Born Again Horny Men of Edinburgh) | 4:55 |
| 5. | "Blake Says" (ft. Zoë Keating and Ben Folds) | 4:43 |
| 6. | "Strength Through Music" (ft. Strindberg and Ben Folds) | 3:29 |
| 7. | "Guitar Hero" (ft. East Bay Ray and Ben Folds) | 4:48 |
| 8. | "Have to Drive" (ft. the Via Interficere Choir of Nashville and Jack Palmer, strings arranged by Paul Buckmaster) | 5:50 |
| 9. | "What's the Use of Wond'rin?" (ft. St. Vincent; from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel) | 2:50 |
| 10. | "Oasis" (ft. Ben Folds and Jared Reynolds) | 2:57 |
| 11. | "The Point of It All" (strings arranged by Paul Buckmaster) | 5:35 |
| 12. | "Another Year: A Short History of Almost Something" (strings arranged by Paul Buckmaster) | 6:03 |
| 13. | "Straight" (Amazon MP3/iTunes Exclusive) | 5:13 |
| 14. | "Leeds United" (Lounge Version; Amazon MP3/iTunes Exclusive) | 4:33 |
| 15. | "Guitar Hero" (alternate version; Amazon MP3/iTunes exclusive) | 5:22 |
Three months after the album release in December 2008, an alternative version was released as an online only album. This version included single-take alternate recordings of songs from the album along with some tracks not on the original album.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "1.1.94" | 4:37 |
| 2. | "The Point of It All" | 5:33 |
| 3. | "Night Reconnaissance" | 4:19 |
| 4. | "Runs in the Family" | 4:06 |
| 5. | "Blake Says" | 4:55 |
| 6. | "Strength Through Music" | 2:37 |
| 7. | "Guitar Hero" | 5:21 |
| 8. | "Boyfriend In a Coma" | 2:56 |
| 9. | "Oasis" | 2:14 |
| 10. | "You May Kiss the Bride" | 4:00 |
| 11. | "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" | 4:58 |
| 12. | "Ampersand" | 5:59 |
| 13. | "Straight" (with Strings) | 5:15 |
| 14. | "Astronaut" | 4:40 |
| 15. | "Have to Drive" | 5:16 |
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200[33] | 77 |
| U.S. Top Album Sales[34] | 77 |
| U.S. Alternative Albums[35] | 3 |
As of 2012, Who Killed Amanda Palmer has sold 38,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.[36]
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online pre-order | September 8, 2008 | Digital download | ||
 Australia |
September 13, 2008 | Roadrunner Records | CD | RR 7925-5 |
| United Kingdom | September 15, 2008 | Roadrunner Records | CD | RR79255 |
| USA | September 16, 2008 | Roadrunner Records | CD | 179252 |
 Canada |
September 16, 2008 | Roadrunner Records | CD | |
 Germany |
September 26, 2008 | Roadrunner Records | CD | |
| USA | October 7, 2008 | Vinyl | 179251 |
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