Under the Iron Sea


Under the Iron Sea is the second studio album by the English rock band Keane, released on 12 June 2006. During its first week on sale in the UK, the album went to #1, selling 222,297 copies according to figures from the Official Chart Company. In the United States, the album went to #4 on the Billboard 200, selling 75,000 copies in its first week there. Since its release, the album has sold over 3,000,000 copies worldwide.
The band describes Under the Iron Sea as a progression from Hopes and Fears with electronic influences, describing the record as a "sinister fairytale-world-gone-wrong".

Album history and information

After the release of their debut album, Hopes and Fears, Keane embarked upon a world tour that reached virtually all Europe and North America and which culminated in October 2005. As seen on Strangers, the band had been having trouble since the middle of 2004, shortly after the release of the debut. The suggestion "Hamburg Song" is about the bad-turned relationship between singer Tom Chaplin and pianist Tim Rice-Oxley – composed circa August 2004 – develops the focus of the conflict.
During the tour, Rice-Oxley kept composing new songs that would later appear in future releases such as B-sides "Let It Slide" and "Thin Air". According to Chaplin, Rice-Oxley had composed at least 50 new tracks as of April 2006.
The name of the album is based on a lyric appearing on the track, "Crystal Ball" which reads "I've lost my heart, I buried it too deep, under the Iron Sea". It also shares title with the eighth track and Keane's first instrumental, "The Iron Sea".
The "Iron Sea" is the metaphoric name for the group's preoccupations about their uncertain future and the sudden fame they were having.
The album's title was announced by a handwritten note, signed by the entire band, reading:
"Nothing in My Way", "Try Again" and "Hamburg Song" debuted between late 2004 and 2005 during the Hopes and Fears Tour. The two latter songs made their first appearance on Strangers, still on demo version while the first only appeared until the album's release.
The three first singles, "Atlantic", "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Crystal Ball", were premiered at a secret gig in London on 5 April.
Notable changes from the previous releases by Keane during the Hopes and Fears era are the typeface and style of the cover art. Sanna Annukka, an artist from Brighton, designed the cover art for all Keane releases since March 2006, when this album's cover art was developed. The typeface also changed from the "Cochin" typeface used on the 2004 and 2005 releases. The newer font was specially designed for Keane.

Release

The first pre-release before the album was "Atlantic", which was issued as a download-only music video single on 25 April, featuring a specially extended version of the song incorporating the outro from album track "The Iron Sea". Irvine Welsh, author of the novel Trainspotting, directed the video, which was filmed in black and white on a remote Sussex beach, and did not feature the band. "Is It Any Wonder?" followed as the first single proper, out 29 May. Its video was directed by Kevin Godley, best known for his work on music videos for The Police and Duran Duran in the mid-1980s.
The record was released 12 June 2006 internationally. However, the album was accidentally put on sale for a few hours on 2 June 2006 by Apple Computer's Belgian iTunes Music Store. A US edition of the album eventually leaked in its entirety to file-sharing networks on 5 June 2006, and the Mexican edition was released early on 9 June.
There was also a bonus DVD with a book-shaped cover representing a fairy-tale story, with drawings on the inner pages.

Reception

Under the Iron Sea received generally favourable reviews from critics. Review aggregating website Metacritic reports a normalised score of 63/100, based on 24 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
In 2008, Under the Iron Sea was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV.

Track listing

;UK version
;International version

Bonus DVD

Videos

  1. Recording Under the Iron Sea – 23:55
  2. Short film set to an extended version of "Atlantic" – 6:01
  3. "Is It Any Wonder?" – 3:01
  4. Making the Is It Any Wonder? Video – 7:50

    Works in progress

  5. "Atlantic" – 4:15
  6. "Is It Any Wonder?" – 2:58
  7. "Nothing in My Way" – 4:10
  8. "Leaving So Soon?"
  9. "A Bad Dream"
  10. "Hamburg Song"
  11. "Put It Behind You"
  12. "The Iron Sea"
  13. "Crystal Ball"
  14. "Try Again"
  15. "Broken Toy" – 5:39
  16. "The Frog Prince" – 3:44

    Latin American tour edition bonus DVD

  17. "Atlantic"
  18. "Is It Any Wonder?"
  19. "Crystal Ball"
  20. "Nothing in My Way"
  21. "A Bad Dream"
  22. The Making of 'Is It Any Wonder?'

    Taiwanese limited edition bonus DVD

  23. "Is It Any Wonder?"
  24. "Crystal Ball"
  25. "Nothing in My Way"
  26. "Atlantic"
  27. The Making of 'Is It Any Wonder?'

    Hidden content

Inserting the CD whilst on the band's allows you to unlock exclusive content including:
"Atlantic"
"Atlantic" was the first single off the album, only a download video. It charted at number 35. "Atlantic" was featured in the TV series CSI: NY in the eighth episode of the third season "Consequences".
"Is It Any Wonder?"
"Is It Any Wonder" is the only Keane song completely composed using distortion piano effects pedals.
"Nothing in My Way"
The song was released as the fourth single of the album. It was previously called "Nothing in Your Way".
"Leaving So Soon?"
"Leaving So Soon?" was the last song composed for the album, in 2005. The song is considered as a fan favourite and it is the Keane song with the third highest tempo to date, next to "You Haven't Told Me Anything" on the band's next album Perfect Symmetry and "On The Road" from their fourth album, Strangeland. Written by Rice-Oxley, it has been rumoured that the lyrics are aimed at Tom after the band had an argument. It is also possible that they are aimed at the old member Dominic, who left before the band gained significant attention; "never had a chance to bloom".
"A Bad Dream"
This song was released as the last single from the album on early 2007.
"Hamburg Song"
"Hamburg Song" is the only organ-voice Keane song to date. The song is about Rice-Oxley's troubles with Tom Chaplin and how he feels. The song was premiered on 20 October 2004 as a demo. The final version was slowed down and the organ sound was changed a little. It doesn't feature drums but a few ride crashes on the outro.
"Put It Behind You"
Composed in mid-2004 because of Richard's break-up with his girlfriend. The song was first mentioned on Strangers by Rice-Oxley. A demo version of this song is included on the Under the Iron Sea DVD. During live performances of this song, the three members of the band sing on the main chorus, contrary to the album version, in which Hughes doesn't sing.
"The Iron Sea"
It appears as a demo on Strangers, with Tim playing it at the Helioscentric Studios. "The Iron Sea" was composed in 2004 by him. On the UK version, "The Iron Sea" is the eighth track but in the International version is a hidden song after "Put It Behind You". The outro was also used on the single version of "Atlantic". The place where the track title should be on the CD track list is marked as a change in the font colour.
"Crystal Ball"
This song was the third single released, charting at number 20.
"Try Again"
The song was released only in Germany as the fifth single from the album, on a three CDs maxi-single format.
"Broken Toy"
This is the longest song recorded by Keane on any of their releases, at 6:07 minutes in length. The song has split opinion amongst the fanbase, due to the fact it is a marked stylistic departure from previous Keane songs. This song was written by Tim to his bandmate and friend Tom.
"The Frog Prince"
The closing track is a song about Johnny Borrell from the band Razorlight.

Personnel

Keane
Additional personnel

Charts

Certifications