Beautiful Midnight

Publicity

The album did not achieve the kind of success in America as it did in Canada due to Good intentionally sabotaging the band's career stateside by refusing to play along with the media and music industry in the country.

In a 2016 interview with The Canadian Press, Good recounted one interview with Seventeen magazine at its Manhattan office where two female writers ("...who looked like the Stepford Wives") asked the singer to recall his first kiss. Annoyed by the question, he recounted a story where as a teenager where he engaged in a drunken session that became sexual. The writers, Good says, were so taken back by his explicit story that they walked out of the interview.

Around the time of Beautiful Midnight's release, Good was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a disease that can lead to lung lesions and eye inflammation. He required throat surgery in early 2000.

The band was also reluctant to commit extensively touring the United States.

Versions

The album was re-released in 2001 in the United States on Atlantic Records with an altered track listing with remixed songs from Underdogs. Good has referred to it as something of a greatest hits.

A number of songs considered for inclusion on Beautiful Midnight were relegated to b-side or unreleased status. "Flashdance II" was eventually released on Loser Anthems, while "Pony Boy", which was recorded for the subsequent album The Audio of Being, remained unreleased until In a Coma in 2005.

The album was re-released in 2016 on LP and climbed to the top of the Canadian vinyl chart in January.

Sales of the LP were enough to convince Good to re-record some of the songs for a five-track EP titled "I Miss New Wave: Beautiful Midnight Revisited." It was released on Dec. 2, 2016 alongside an accompanying tour in February 2017 with 28 dates. Good said he picked songs from "Beautiful Midnight" he thought could be improved or reworked to reflect "greater maturity" and more technical restraint.

Commercial performance

Beautiful Midnight debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling approximately 25,000 copies in its first week. It would go on to become the band's best-selling album, being certified Double Platinum in Canada on September 7, 2000. By March 2003, the album had sold 270,000 units in Canada. Good's new record label, Warner Music Canada, stated in 2016 that the album has sold over 300,000 copies.

Track listing

All tracks written by Matthew Good and Dave Genn, except where noted.

In the fashion of a concept album, the track listing uses the conceit that the album represents one night, with each song corresponding to a one-hour period leading from "05:00 pm" ("Giant") through midnight ("Let's Get It On") and ending with "Sunup" ("Running For Home").

US track listing

(Titles were altered by Atlantic Records)

1. Giant
2. Hello Time Bomb
3. Strange Days
4. Deep 6ix
5. Load Me Up
6. Failing the Rorschach Test
7. Suburbia
8. Apparitions
9. Jenni's Song
10. Boy and His ------- ---
11. The Future Is X-Rated
12. Everything Is Automatic
13. Born to ----
14. Running for Home

("Hello Time Bomb", "Strange Days", "Deep 6ix", "Load Me Up", and "Everything Is Automatic" were remixed by Chris Lord-Alge. "Deep Six", "Apparitions", and "Everything Is Automatic" originally appeared on Underdogs.)

Credits