Blue-Sky Research is the third studio album by American alternative metal band Taproot. It was released on August 15, 2005 internationally and a day later in the United States. Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan co-wrote three songs on the album. Jonah Matranga from Far and Onelinedrawing co-wrote "Calling". The band wrote over 80 songs for the effort. "Calling" was released as the first single and reached No. 11 on the Mainstream Rock chart, while the second single, "Birthday", reached No. 39. It is Taproot's last album with Atlantic Records, as both parties had decided to part ways. It has a more melodic sound compared to the band's two previous albums, and sold over 150,000 copies in the U.S.
Critical reception
Blue-Sky Research garnered mixed reviews from music critics who admired the genre shift and lush production but found it wasted with angst-filled lyrics. Corey Hoffy of AbsolutePunk praised the album for Wright's stellar production, the band's controlled instrumentation and Richards's lyrics approaching close to political territory, concluding that "this remains their most complex and best album to date." Johnny Loftus of AllMusic found the self-deprecating lyrics formulaic at times but found the contributions of Corgan and Matranga to the record a nice addition to the band's improved musicianship, saying that "even without the hired guns Blue-Sky Research is the most dynamic Taproot album yet (the self-penned "So Eager" proves that), and the album's heightened textures and less predictable turns successfully updates the band's sound."
- "Facepeeler" was supposed to be the band's third single, but because of record politics and poor album sales, it did not make it as a single. However, the band did have a contest for fans to create a music video.
Credits
Credits for Blue-Sky Research adapted from AllMusic.
Taproot
- Mike DeWolf - Art conception, composer, design direction, guitar
- Philip Lipscomb - Bass, composer
- Jarrod Montague - Composer, drums
- Stephen Richards - Composer, guitar, vocals
Production
- Keith Armstrong - Assistant engineer
- Elliott Blakey - Engineer
- Trevor Cole - Guitar technician
- Lanre Gaba - Artist coordination
- Eric Hackett - Drum technician
- Dmitar Krnjaic - Assistant engineer
- Chris Lord-Alge - Mixing
- Vlado Meller - Mastering
- Craig Rosen - Artist coordination
- Mindy Ryu - Layout design
- Mark Santangelo - Assistant
- Tom Storms - A&R
- Nitin Vadukul - Photography
- Mark Wakefield - A&R
- Toby Wright - Engineer, producer
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
{| border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 width="550"
!align="left" valign="top"|Year
!align="left" valign="top"|Chart
!align="left" valign="top"|Position
|-
|align="left" valign="top"|2005
|align="left" valign="top"|The Billboard 200
|align="left" valign="top"|#33
|-
|}
Singles - Billboard (North America)
{| border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 width="550"
!align="left" valign="top"|Year
!align="left" valign="top"|Single
!align="left" valign="top"|Chart
!align="left" valign="top"|Position
|-
|align="left" valign="top"|2005
|align="left" valign="top"|"Calling"
|align="left" valign="top"|Mainstream Rock Tracks