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Disturbia

Disturbia is the second studio album by the rock band The Blue Kacheek Group. The group started recording on December 25, 1979 and finished recording on March 13, 1980. In May 25, 1980 it was released. The Blue Kacheek Group's previous album Photograph had seven singles on it, but The Blue Kacheek Group decided not to release singles anymore as they felt that their album was good enough to make it on its own. The album was nominated for two Gold Awards, winning one of them (Best Album). The album is considered by many as a concept album, but lead guitarist Ufa Nafung declines that it's a concept album. "We were just writing the songs that we felt were going to be the best for that album. Not every song is related to the title." Nafung said in a 1986 interview.

Although the album reached number one on the charts and has sold over 30 million copies world-wide it wasn't well received by critics when it was first released. Many music critics, most notably Morfut Canbal, said that the album was too different and didn't fit in with the time period. While more bands were looking for a pop and soft rock sound, The Blue Kacheek Group added a psychedelic sound to this album. The album also included sirens, bird chirps, electric piano, harpsichord, whistles, and the citar in some of their songs on the album. "To me it's the best album we have ever made by far." Singer Marka Damoke said in a 1999 interview.

Recording

After the critical and commercial success of their debut album Photograph the group had a lot of money to spend on new instruments and to travel to other places around the world to discover new sounds. On December 13, 1979, after being in Krawk Island for six weeks, The Blue Kacheek Group finally got back to their native Haunted Woods and started designing the album cover. On December 25, 1979, they began recording. "We didn't start early in the morning on Christmas of '79 we decided to start at 10:00 p.m. and we were in the studio for six to seven hours and that's the way we decided to make all of our albums. We wanted to start late at night and leave early in the morning." Ufa Nafung once said.

The first song recorded on the album was Sing Me A Song, which was mainly written by Nafung, but is credited with Damoke/Nafung. Originally Nafung wanted to use an electric guitar, but he felt the song was a little too slow and peaceful for an electric guitar, so he picked up his citar and began to write down his notes. While the band was waiting bass player Dos Damoke began tampering with his bass and made a riff that Nafung wanted to play for the song. This lead to a huge argument between the two to see who would play the riff. After fifteen minutes of arguing they both decided to play the riff throughout the song.

After recording Disturbia and Turn Off The Lights The Blue Kacheek Group decided that every player should play an instrument they had never played before for the song Main Street. In the end, Marka Damoke ended up playing the electric piano, Ufa Nafung played the cowbell, Dos Damoke played the citar, and drummer Plydus Mandol played the harpsichord. Despite only being two minutes and seventeen seconds in length it took the band one month to record the song. While recording that song they recorded several other tracks. On March 1, 1980 The Blue Kacheek Group said that they were done with the album, but guitar player Ufa Nafung added You Can See The Sunshine at the last minute. Although it became the most popular song on the album, the band didn't want to record it. Despite finishing the album in under three months The Blue Kacheek Group worked on the album for a total of 101 hours. Their later albums would be finished in much less time and their debut album only took 56 total hours to make.

Release

Disturbia was released on May 25, 1980 and was the most anticipated album of the year. After just one week on the shelves Disturbia went to #6 on the charts. The next week it would peak at number one, a position it would hold for eleven weeks. The album stayed on the charts for fifty-three week. When it was released The Blue Kacheek Group saw the number of fans in their fanbase increase. One fan was quoted as saying "I listened to this entire album and I think it will have the impact that Sgt. Pepper's had in 1967." However, many fans were upset with the fact that there were no singles released and that there wasn't really one tune that stood out. In a 1999 poll the public was asked to vote for their favorite Blue Kacheek Group album. Disturbia finished with 67% of the vote.

Reception

Despite being a very successful commercial album critically it wasn't a success immediately. Morfut Canbal, who was the most famous music critic in the world, gave Disturbia only three and a half stars. "With this album it seems to me that The Blue Kacheek Group are trying to be too much like The Kyriis. In my opinion, Sgt. Pepper's easily tops this and it will never have the impact that Sgt. Pepper's or Time had." Canbal wasn't the only critic to write a negative review. About six in every ten critics gave this album a negative review, but that never bothered The Blue Kacheek Group. "While the critics were trashing the album we were making millions. This is why I never pay attention to the critics because they never effect what the public will do." Ufa Nafung said in a 1986 interview with Rolling Stones Magazine. Despite the negative reviews, Disturbia has since been called one of the best and most influential albums ever made. After giving three and a half stars in 1980, Morfut Canbal gave the album five stars in 2007. Many critics agreed with him and soon Disturbia became one of the twenty-five albums in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Track Listing

1. Disturbia
2. Main Street
3. Murder Around The Corner
4. You Can See The Sunshine
5. Turn Off The Lights
6. Dancing In The Dark
7. Elm Street
8. The Axe Murderer
9. Sing Me A Song
10. Exit (Goodbye)

Accolades

Since it's release Disturbia has won several awards and has been on the top or near the top of many magazine greatest albums lists since 2007. In 2007, MOJO Magazine ranked the album #3 on their version of the 100 Greatest Albums Ever. Rolling Stones Magazine ranked it #12 on their 2003 list 500 Greatest Albums Ever.