The Richest Man in Babylon (album)

The Richest Man in Babylon
Studio album by
Thievery Corporation
ReleasedSeptember 30, 2002
RecordedDecember 2000 – August 2002
Genre
Length56:58
LabelESL
Producer
  • Rob Garza
  • Eric Hilton
Thievery Corporation chronology
The Mirror Conspiracy
(2000) 		The Richest Man in Babylon
(2002) 		The Cosmic Game
(2005)

The Richest Man in Babylon is the third studio album by American electronic music duo Thievery Corporation. It was first released on September 30, 2002 in Belgium and on October 1, 2002 in the United States by ESL Music. The album features contributions from Emiliana Torrini, LouLou, Pam Bricker, and Notch, and features both electronic and live instrumentation.[1] The album combines influences such as dub, jazz, dance music, rap, reggae, and Indian music, and incorporates protest music into the group's sound. A remix/dub version of the album was released in 2004 titled Babylon Rewound featuring the previously unreleased track "Truth And Rights".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Pitchfork3.8/10[3]
Rolling Stone[4]
Vibe[5]

The critical reception was mixed. BBC's Collective magazine said that "This, their third 'proper' album, is certainly their most complete work to date, and arguably the first to be presented as one complete, cohesive whole. [... T]his ranks as Thievery Corporation's finest yet."[6] AllMusic's John Bush felt that the album "doesn't have the hooks or the production finesse to compete with The Mirror Conspiracy" but that "a few tracks on the backside do plow new ground, thanks in part to new guests".[2] Aidin Vaziri of Vibe wrote about the duo's penchant for reviving sounds from long ago: "Even when they dip into lightweight reggae territory on the title track, the results hang together surprisingly well."[5] Among fans the album is popular, peaking at number nine on Billboard's Independent Albums list on October 19, 2002[7] and number 2 on the Dance/Electronic Albums list on October 26, 2002.[7] A month after the album was released, The Richest Man in Babylon had 25,000 sales in the United States.[8]

Track listing

No.TitleFeaturingLength
1."Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes"Emilíana Torrini (vocals)4:10
2."Facing East"Pam Bricker (vocals) Max Sadeghi (Santur)3:43
3."The Outernationalist"Ras Pidow (vocals)3:30
4."Interlude" 1:21
5."Omid (Hope)"LouLou Ghelichkhani (vocals)3:48
6."All That We Perceive"Pam Bricker (vocals)3:46
7."Un Simple Histoire (A Simple Story)"LouLou Ghelichkhani (vocals)3:45
8."Meu Destino (My Destiny)"Patrick dos Santos (vocals)3:29
9."Exilio (Exile)"Verny Varela (vocals & flute)3:03
10."From Creation" 4:19
11."The Richest Man in Babylon"Notch3:50
12."Liberation Front" 5:04
13."The State of the Union"Sleepy Wonder and Shinehead (vocals)4:28
14."Until the Morning"Emilíana Torrini (vocals)3:56
15."Resolution" 4:46

Charts

Chart performance for The Richest Man in Babylon
Chart (2002) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[9] 40
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10] 45
French Albums (SNEP)[11] 43
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[12] 42
Italian Albums (FIMI)[13] 22
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[14] 9
UK Albums (OCC)[15] 139
US Billboard 200[16] 150
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[17] 9
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[18] 2

Release history

Release history for The Richest Man in Babylon
Region Release date
Belgium September 30, 2002
United States October 1, 2002
Australia 2002
France 2002
Russia 2002

References

  1. ^ The Richest Man In Babylon. Amazon.com. 2002. Last accessed 14 Dec 2011.
  2. ^ a b Bush, John. "The Richest Man in Babylon - Thievery Corporation". AllMusic. Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
  3. ^ Cooper, Paul (October 10, 2002). "Thievery Corporation: The Richest Man in Babylon". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  4. ^ Lechner, Ernesto (September 19, 2002). "The Richest Man in Babylon (Music release)". Rolling Stone. No. 905. p. 98.
  5. ^ a b Vaziri, Aidin (October 2002). "Thievery Corporation 'The Richest Man in Babylon' 'Free'". Vibe. 10 (10). Vibe Media: 180. ISSN 1070-4701. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  6. ^ thievery corporation - the richest man in babylon. Collective (BBC). April 10, 2003. Last accessed December 14, 2011.
  7. ^ a b The Richest Man in Babylon - Thievery...: 2002. Billboard. 2002. Last accessed December 14, 2011.
  8. ^ K., M. (December 12, 2002). "Thievery Corporation". Rolling Stone. No. 911. p. 32.
  9. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Thievery Corporation – The Richest Man in Babylon". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  10. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Thievery Corporation – The Richest Man in Babylon" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  11. ^ "Lescharts.com – Thievery Corporation – The Richest Man in Babylon". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  12. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Thievery Corporation – The Richest Man in Babylon" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  13. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Thievery Corporation – The Richest Man in Babylon". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  14. ^ "Charts.nz – Thievery Corporation – The Richest Man in Babylon". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  15. ^ "Chart Log UK 1994–2010: DJ T – Tzant". zobbel.de. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  16. ^ "Thievery Corporation Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  17. ^ "Thievery Corporation Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  18. ^ "Thievery Corporation Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
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