The Mother, the Mechanic, and the Path | ||||
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Studio album by The Early November | ||||
Released | July 11, 2006 | |||
Recorded | February 28, 2005 - March 2006 at Portrait Recording Studio in Lincoln Park, New Jersey | |||
Genre | Emo,indie rock | |||
Length | 2:11:55 | |||
Label | Drive-Thru | |||
Producer |
Arthur Enders Chris Badami |
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The Early November chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AbsolutePunk.net | (83%) link |
Allmusic | link |
The Mother, the Mechanic, and the Path is The Early November's second full-length album. The triple disc concept album was released on July 11, 2006 via Drive-Thru Records.
The recording of the album began on February 28, 2005 and took over a year until its completion due to the nature of a triple disc record, stress, Enders changing the concept of the story several times mid-record, and ultimately the lack of focus which led to a mid-recording nervous breakdown. This forced the album's release to be postponed from its original June 2005 street date to July 2006. The third disc, The Path, was written by Enders and Jeff Kummer, and co-produced by Enders. According to an interview with Enders on Episode 17 of the Voice & Verse Podcast, there were multiple versions of the story that were recorded and considered. Though the first version to be submitted to Drive-Thru Records was not immediately accepted, the label was supportive and asked that some changes and additional work be done. In the end, it was Enders and those artistically involved with writing and presenting the story who ultimately re-worked the story and its presentation multiple times before it became the final product, despite rumors that Drive-Thru Records had turned down the story seven times for quality control issues before finally approving it.
Ace Enders also did the artwork for The Mother, the Mechanic and the Path, drawing up a father in a mechanics uniform named Matt, a mother and a son named Dean, for the cover and booklet.
The album is broken down into three chapters:
Once released, Drive-Thru Records made an effort to boost record sales with various promotion campaigns, bonus offers and price discounts. During the first weeks of sales, purchases of The Mother, the Mechanic, and the Path from Best Buy were accompanied by a bonus DVD (containing the music video to "Hair" and a 35-minute making-of documentary), while Target customers were rewarded with an exclusive bonus track.
As of January 2007[update], the band has sold 78,669 copies of The Mother, the Mechanic, and the Path.