The Script | ||||
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Studio album by The Script | ||||
Released | 8 August 2008 (see release history) |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 38:23 | |||
Label |
Phonogenic Epic |
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Producer |
Steve Kipner Danny O'Donoghue Andrew Frampton Mark Sheehan |
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The Script chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Script | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
BBC | (Positive) |
Digital Spy | |
Entertainment.ie | |
The Guardian | |
MTV Asia | (7/10) |
NME | (2/10) |
The Independent | |
The Times |
The Script is the Choice Music Prize-nominated self-titled debut album from Irish band The Script, which was released in the Republic of Ireland on 8 August 2008 and was released in the UK on 11 August 2008 by Phonogenic Records. Following success in the Republic of Ireland, the album was released elsewhere in Europe in September 2008. The album topped the UK charts and peaked at #64 on the US Billboard 200 on 4 March 2010.
The album was met with mixed reviews by music critics. Timothy Powell of the BBC stated that the album "reveals a band that is fresh, vital and ferociously good." He went on to say that the Script are now positioned as "next big thing" and that the album entails "hip-hop, pop melodiousness, state-of-the-art production and anthemic rock." His overall summary was that the album is "Intelligent, beautifully crafted and compelling." Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the album 3/5 stars while saying it was often "devastatingly effective" and that "A lot of people are going to hate the Script, a lot of people are going to love the Script."
The German WOM magazin monthly went as far as writing: "Eigenständing und originell ist anders. The Script bringen die Misere der Musikindustrie auf den Punkt. (Independent and original [music] is different. The Script points out the music industry's demise.)" The album has mixed reviews in MTV Asia, which has praised "O'Donoghue's vocals are a pleasurably unique aural experience" though it also comments that, as a whole, "the album plays across a flat plane, with no big leaps, but no huge letdowns either." Allmusic's Alexey Eremenko said that the album was "not reckless or fuzzy enough [to be] power pop"; instead the closest discernible influence was the rock style of U2.
Following the success of "The Man Who Can't Be Moved", The Script entered the UK Albums Charts at number one with sales of 54,520 copies where it stayed for two weeks. The album spent eight weeks in the top ten and was the twelfth best selling album in the UK of 2008. The album also entered the Irish Album Chart at number one, holding the top spot for five weeks. It had, of January 2009, spent twenty two weeks in the top ten. The Irish office of Sony BMG music presented the group with their first multi-Platinum award disc for over 600,000 sales of The Script. On Sunday, 18 January 2009, the album went back up to #1 in the UK Album Charts, a whole 5 months since it was first released, mainly because of the £3.95 deal on iTunes. Though released in 2008, the album was the 198th best-selling album in 2010 in the USA. It has so far spent over 174 weeks in the UK albums chart.