Beautiful Midnight

Beautiful Midnight
Studio album by Matthew Good Band
Released September 14, 1999 (1999-09-14)
Recorded February - April 1999; Greenhouse Studios, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Genre Alternative rock
Length 65:15
Label Universal (Canada)
Atlantic Records (US)
Producer Warne Livesey
Matthew Good Band chronology
Lo-Fi B-Sides (EP)
(1998)		 Beautiful Midnight
(1999)		 The Audio of Being
(2001)
Singles from Beautiful Midnight
  1. "Hello Time Bomb"
    Released: August 1999
  2. "Load Me Up"
    Released: December 1999
  3. "Strange Days"
    Released: March 2000
  4. "The Future Is X-Rated"
    Released: June 2000
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Sputnikmusic [2]
Punknews.org [3]

Beautiful Midnight is the third album released by the Matthew Good Band. It is the band's most commercially successful album. The album won the award for "Best Rock Album" at the 2000 Juno Awards.[4]

The album produced four successful singles and music videos, "Hello Time Bomb", "Load Me Up", "Strange Days", and "The Future is X-Rated". The success of Beautiful Midnight propelled Good to a celebrity status in Canada he eventually grew to loathe, and his interactions with the media throughout the promotional cycle for the record were often strained and unpleasant.

Publicity

The album did not achieve the kind of success in America as it did in Canada due to Good intentionally sabotaging the band's career stateside by refusing to play along with the media and music industry in the country.

In a 2016 interview with The Canadian Press, Good recounted one interview with Seventeen magazine at its Manhattan office where two female writers ("...who looked like the Stepford Wives") asked the singer to recall his first kiss.[5] Annoyed by the question, he recounted a story where as a teenager where he engaged in a drunken session that became sexual. The writers, Good says, were so taken back by his explicit story that they walked out of the interview.[5]

Around the time of Beautiful Midnight's release, Good was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a disease that can lead to lung lesions and eye inflammation. He required throat surgery in early 2000.[5]

The band was also reluctant to commit extensively touring the United States.

Versions

The album was re-released in 2001 in the United States on Atlantic Records with an altered track listing with remixed songs from Underdogs. Good has referred to it as something of a greatest hits.

A number of songs considered for inclusion on Beautiful Midnight were relegated to b-side or unreleased status. "Flashdance II" was eventually released on Loser Anthems, while "Pony Boy", which was recorded for the subsequent album The Audio of Being, remained unreleased until In a Coma in 2005.

The album was re-released in 2016 on LP and climbed to the top of the Canadian vinyl chart in January.[6]

Sales of the LP were enough to convince Good to re-record some of the songs for a five-track EP titled "I Miss New Wave: Beautiful Midnight Revisited." It will be released Dec. 2, 2016 alongside an accompanying tour in February 2017 with 28 dates.[7] Good said he picked songs from "Beautiful Midnight" he thought could be improved or reworked to reflect "greater maturity" and more technical restraint.[5]

Commercial performance

Beautiful Midnight debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart,[8] selling approximately 25,000 copies in its first week.[9] It would go on to become the band's best-selling album, being certified Double Platinum in Canada on September 7, 2000.[10] By March 2003, the album had sold 270,000 units in Canada.[11] His record label Warner Music Canada says its sales sit above 300,000 copies in 2016.[12]

Track listing

All tracks written by Matthew Good and Dave Genn, except where noted.

In the fashion of a concept album, the track listing uses the conceit that the album represents one night, with each song corresponding to a one-hour period leading from "05:00 pm" ("Giant") through midnight ("Let's Get It On") and ending with "Sunup" ("Running For Home").

  1. "Giant" – 6:10
  2. "Hello Time Bomb" – 3:58
  3. "Strange Days" – 4:25
  4. "I Miss New Wave" – 5:04
  5. "Load Me Up" – 3:40 (Good, Genn, Priske, Browne)
  6. "Failing the Rorschach Test" – 4:45
  7. "Suburbia" – 5:26
  8. "Let’s Get It On" – 4:16
  9. "Jenni's Song" – 4:00
  10. "Going All The Way" – 4:17
  11. "A Boy and His Machine Gun" – 5:02
  12. "The Future Is X-Rated" – 3:47
  13. "Born to Kill" – 5:42
  14. "Running for Home" – 4:38

US track listing

(Titles were altered by Atlantic Records)

  1. Giant
  2. Hello Time Bomb
  3. Strange Days
  4. Deep 6ix
  5. Load Me Up
  6. Failing the Rorschach Test
  7. Suburbia
  8. Apparitions
  9. Jenni's Song
  10. Boy and His ------- ---
  11. The Future Is X-Rated
  12. Everything Is Automatic
  13. Born to ----
  14. Running for Home

("Hello Time Bomb", "Strange Days", "Deep 6ix", "Load Me Up", and "Everything Is Automatic" were remixed by Chris Lord-Alge. "Deep Six", "Apparitions", and "Everything Is Automatic" originally appeared on Underdogs.)

Credits

Note: Todd Kerns performs backing vocals on "Hello Time Bomb" and "Born To Kill" (not part of MGB)

References

  1. ↑ Sammy Younan. "Beautiful Midnight". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  2. ↑ "Matthew Good Band - Beautiful Midnight (album review)". Sputnikmusic. 2006-04-15. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  3. ↑ "Matthew Good Band - Beautiful Midnight". Punknews.org. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  4. ↑ "Awards". junoawards.ca. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Friend, David (Nov. 18, 2016). "Matthew Good revisits 'Beautiful Midnight' with new EP, Canadian tour". The Hamilton Spectator/The Canadian Press. Retrieved Nov. 19, 2016. Check date values in: |access-date=, |date= (help)
  6. ↑ "Beautiful Midnight is #1 on the Canadian Vinyl Chart". MATTHEW GOOD. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  7. ↑ "Shows". MATTHEW GOOD. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  8. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 69, No. 23, September 27, 1999". RPM. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  9. ↑ "CANOE - JAM! Music - Artists - Our Lady Peace : Our Lady Peace skyrocket up the Cdn. charts". Jam.canoe.ca. 1999-09-30. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  10. ↑ "Gold Platinum Database: Beautiful Midnight - Matthew Good Band". Canadian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 2012-05-24. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
  11. ↑ Good Unleashes 'Avalanche In Canada. Billboard. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  12. ↑ "MATTHEW GOOD REVISITS BEAUTIFUL MIDNIGHT; ANNOUNCES CANADIAN TOUR | Warner Music Canada". Warner Music Canada. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
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