The Awakening (James Morrison album)
| The Awakening | ||||
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| Studio album by James Morrison | ||||
| Released | 23 September 2011 | |||
| Recorded | 2010–11 | |||
| Genre | Soul, adult contemporary, pop | |||
| Length | 46:24 (without bonus track/s) | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer | Bernard Butler | |||
| James Morrison chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Awakening | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| BBC Music | (favorable) |
| Entertainment Focus | |
| Daily Express | (favorable) |
| The Observer | |
| The Independent | |
| The Scotsman | |
The Awakening is the third album by English singer, songwriter and guitarist James Morrison, it was released on 26 September 2011. "I Won't Let You Go" was the first single released from the album in the United Kingdom. The album was certified Gold in the United Kingdom just two weeks after release. The album has been certified platinum in the UK for sales over 500,000 copies and has sold 1,000,000 copies worldwide.
"It feels like the first album to me, like the other two were my practice shots and this is the real thing."
The Awakening is the first album by Morrison to be released with Island Records after he recently parted ways with Polydor, his label of six years. Three years in the making, the album is influenced by the death of his father, as well as Morrison’s own steps into parenthood. It also sees him form a new creative relationship with producer Bernard Butler, who has further advanced Morrison's foray into a classic but contemporary soul sound. "I don’t want to put across that, yeah, the album is about my dad, losing my dad; some of it is but the other half is this sense of being woken up to what I wanted to achieve," he said in the interview by Music Week. Meanwhile, speaking of the title itself, he told Blues & Soul: "I basically just wanted it to feel like a first album, in the sense of me having woken up as an artist and person – you know, I wanted to forget that Broken Strings kind of pop side of me a little bit. And so, with me having actually written a SONG called 'The Awakening', that title also just kind of neatly fitted the album TOO."
"To me the album is positive. Even the songs about my dad are positive. I didn't want to write songs that were downer songs but I wanted to capture that fucking deep ache that I had from losing my dad because that was the most powerful emotion I've ever felt – apart from having a kid, which is harder to write about because it's happiness..."
Bernard Butler has produced 10 tracks on the album, with Mark Taylor helming the remaining two. Taylor was behind Morrison's "Broken Strings" (his biggest hit single to date). Taylor's tracks were the first two singles from the new album: "I Won't Let You Go" and "Slave to the Music". Co-writers include long-term collaborators Martin Brammer and Steve Robson, who have worked with Morrison since his debut, as well as Dan Wilson and Toby Gad. English singer-songwriter Jessie J is featured on the track "Up".
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