Title of Record

Departure of Liesegang

The album's creation took part over the course of an exhaustive four-year period. After the creation of Filter's 1995 debut album, 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 to try to push Liesegang out of the band. The tensions and fighting that resulted led Lenardo, Cavanaugh, and Walker all to leave first. Relations between Patrick and Liesegang continued to deteriorate, and by mid-1997, due to Patrick's "creative dominance", Liesegang quit the band as well, leaving Patrick as the sole member.

Further delays

Patrick, now all on his own, attempted to restart the sessions for the album, but experienced further roadblocks:

"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.

Patrick opted to start over by building his own studio, called "Abyssinian Son"; however, this ended up being far more complicated and time-consuming than he expected, with over two years going into dealing with realtors, property leases, and contractors to get the studio in functioning shape. Once preparations were complete, Patrick met up with, and started early sessions with music producer and sound engineer Rae DiLeo. However, after a month of sessions with just himself and DiLeo's guidance, Patrick decided he didn't want to do the entire album himself, and decided to seek out musicians, specifically, the Short Bus touring band.

As several years had passed since members had left, this led to difficulties as well. Walker was unable to return, as he had taken the role as the replacement touring drummer for The Smashing Pumpkins to replace drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Lenardo initially was unable to return, as he had gotten married and had children and was living a life that was contrary to Patrick's requirements for him in the studio. However, after working through it, Patrick became more accommodating to his lifestyle, and Lenardo returned in a desire to provide for his family. Cavanaugh had been touring with Prong, but was able to return, and the band recruited new drummer Steven Gillis to replace Walker.

Writing and recording

With a working band back together, the album's final sessions began. Some tracks, such as "Take a Picture" and "Welcome to the Fold", would still be written entirely by Patrick, while others would entail Lenardo coming up with a rough idea, and Patrick polishing it into its final form. The exception was "It's Gonna Kill Me", where Patrick conceded that Lenardo wrote the entirety of the music of the track. Cavanaugh did not contribute to the writing process other than creating the bass line to the track "Cancer", otherwise just playing as directed by others. Gillis oftentimes had to re-record his drum tracks multiple times due to Lenardo altering the guitar parts of the songs. The band continued to work with Dileo on the album, but also brought in music producer Ben Grosse to assist with the album's production and mixing. 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", lead single "Take a Picture" and closing track "Miss Blue".

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, and was eventually certified platinum, indicating over one million units shipped.

Reception

The album was commercially and critically well received. Allmusic 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" and ultimately "a strong album".

The album sold more than 1 million copies, and the hit single "Take a Picture" fared well on many charts.

In 2005, Title of Record was ranked number 493 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.

Personnel

Band

Additional musicians

Production

Chart positions

Album

Singles