Title of Record is the second studio album by American rock band Filter, released on August 24, 1999, by Reprise Records. The album's earlier sessions were marred with slow progress due to lineup changes and frontman Richard Patrick's decision to construct his own studio for recording. However, progress improved after solidifying the lineup and bringing in further production help. In support of the album's release, Filter performed on the 1999 Family Values Tour.
Title of Record was a critical and commercial success upon its release, peaking at number 30 on the US Billboard 200. It had sold over 800,000 copies by 2001 and was later certified platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over one million copies. Three singles were released from the album: "Welcome to the Fold", "Take a Picture", and "The Best Things". "Take a Picture" became the band's most successful single, peaking within the top-20 of nine international charts, including the Billboard Hot 100.
Background
The album was created over an exhaustive four-year period. After the release of Filter's 1995 debut Short Bus, which was created entirely by frontman Richard Patrick, Brian Liesegang, and a drum machine, the band toured in support of the album throughout 1996. In order to do this, a live band was recruited, consisting of Geno Lenardo on guitar, Frank Cavanaugh on bass, and Matt Walker on drums.
Reports of working on a second album started to arise in early 1997. Initial plans involved Patrick and Liesegang working together on a second album in a similar manner as their first album. Liesegang initially spoke of traveling across North America and recording on a PowerBook whenever inspiration hit them. He referred to a tentative title as Longbutter, a tentative release date of September 1997, and hinted of moving in a more electronic direction now that the band had established themselves as different from Nine Inch Nails, of which they had both been a part prior to Filter. Prior to formal recording sessions for a new album, the two wrote and released a few songs on movie soundtracks, most notably the electronic rock track "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" with the Crystal Method, which proved to be a turning-point for the two. The sessions strengthened Liesegang's conviction to move into more of an electronic, Radiohead-type musical direction, whereas it had the opposite effect on Patrick, inspiring him to keep the music heavy and guitar oriented.
With the two both unable to agree on how to proceed, constant arguing and power struggles ensued. Patrick's collaboration with The Crystal Method had also opened his mind to collaborating with different musicians, leading him to start attempting to push Liesegang out of the band.
Patrick, now on his own, attempted to restart the sessions for the album, but experienced further roadblocks:
<blockquote> "I kind of had to hit rock bottom. I didn't have a band. I didn't have a studio. I had this platinum record that showed up in the mail, and I had nothing except for my own talents. So at some point, I forced myself to play the guitar. I would force myself to write lyrics. I was playing people's demos. I was still into the band. It's just that I didn't have anything. The exception was "It's Gonna Kill Me", where Patrick conceded that Lenardo wrote the entirety of the music of the track. Other collaborators included D'Arcy Wretzky, former bassist of the Smashing Pumpkins, who provided vocals for the chorus of the track "Cancer". Eric Remschneider, who had also contributed to the Smashing Pumpkin's song "Disarm" was also brought in to play cello on the opening track "Sand",
Described as being "firmly within the industrial-metal tradition", while "Welcome to the Fold", "Captain Bligh", "Miss Blue" and "I’m Not the Only One" were written directly after their break-up. While doing press for the original album's release, Patrick refrained from divulging the identity of the love interest in his lyrics because Wretzky was still married to Kerry Brown during the affair, which they had kept secret from the public.
Release and promotion
The album was released on August 24, 1999, and debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at no. 30. In support of it, the band performed on Family Values Tour 1999. By October 2001, the album had amassed over 800,000 sold, On August 9, 2019, the band released a 20th Anniversary reissue of the album via Craft Recordings, which compiled a number of b-sides and remixes that had been released separately around the time of the album's release.
Reception
The album was commercially and critically well received. AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the album for its "subtle differences in tension and dynamics that keep it fresh and engaging throughout", albeit "a little out of place within the modern rock world of 1999" (due to the prominence of nu metal) and ultimately "a strong album".
The album was featured as number 8 on Loudwires list of "15 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1999".
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Year-end Charts
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! Charts (1999)
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!scope="row"|US Billboard 200