Songs for Polarbears

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Songs for Polarbears
Studio album by
Snow Patrol
Released31 August 1998
Recorded1996–1997
StudioChamber Studios, Edinburgh
Genre
Length49:49
Label
ProducerJamie Watson
Snow Patrol chronology
Songs for Polarbears
(1998) 		When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up
(2001)
Singles from Songs for Polarbears
  1. "Little Hide"
    Released: 16 February 1998
  2. "One Hundred Things You Should Have Done in Bed"
    Released: 11 May 1998
  3. "Velocity Girl / Absolute Gravity"
    Released: 9 November 1998
  4. "Starfighter Pilot"
    Released: 28 June 1999
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
NME8/10[3]
PopMatters[4]
Pitchfork Media(8.1/10)[5]
Rolling Stone[6]

Songs for Polarbears is the debut studio album by the Scottish-Northern Irish indie rock group Snow Patrol, released on 31 August 1998 in the UK and 12 October in the US.[7]

The album charted at #143 in the UK and did not sell well upon its initial release. However, its re-release eventually went Gold in the UK.

Background[edit]

The band was listening to a diverse range of music at the time, with majority of it being American rock like Pixies, Soundgarden and Dinosaur Jr. Other acts included My Bloody Valentine and Super Furry Animals' first album Fuzzy Logic.[8] All these influences resulted in a musically diverse album that incorporated styles like hip hop, drone and Pavement-style indie rock.[9] The album title is a reference to the band's previous name Polarbear.[10]

Track listing[edit]

All lyrics are written by Gary Lightbody; all music is composed by Gary Lightbody and Mark McClelland

UK version
No.TitleLength
1."Downhill from Here"3:23
2."Starfighter Pilot"3:19
3."The Last Shot Ringing in My Ears"4:26
4."Absolute Gravity"2:45
5."Get Balsamic Vinegar...Quick You Fool"3:27
6."Mahogany"2:46
7."NYC"4:27
8."Little Hide"2:41
9."Make Up"2:12
10."Velocity Girl"4:37
11."Days Without Paracetamol"3:32
12."Fifteen Minutes Old"3:08
13."Favourite Friend"2:46
14."One Hundred Things You Should Have Done in Bed"2:11
US version (Additional tracks)
No.TitleLength
15."I Could Stay Away Forever"4:28
16."Sticky Teenage Twin"2:08
17."Holy Cow"1:54
18."When You're Right, You're Right" (Darth Vader Bringing in His Washing Mix)3:31
  • "Marketplace" (3:48) is included as a hidden track after "One Hundred Things You Should Have Done in Bed" on both versions.
2006 re-release (Bonus tracks)
No.TitleLength
15."Sticky Teenage Twin"2:08
16."Limited Edition"2:33
17."Jj"1:47
18."My Last Girlfriend"2:59
19."T.M.T."2:51
20."I Could Stay Away Forever"4:28
21."When You're Right, You're Right" (Darth Vader Bringing in His Washing Mix)3:31
22."Raze the City"4:20
23."Riot, Please"2:52
  • All bonus tracks originally appeared as B-sides to the singles released from Songs for Polarbears.[11]

Personnel[edit]

Snow Patrol

Other personnel

Charts[edit]

Chart performance for Songs for Polarbears
Chart (1998–2006) Peak
position
Irish Albums Chart[13] 90
UK Albums Chart[14] 143

Certifications[edit]

Certifications for Songs for Polarbears
Organization Level Date[15]
BPI (UK) Silver 3 February 2006
BPI (UK) Gold 15 June 2007

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Snow Patrol - Songs for Polarbears (US Version)". Interscope. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
  2. ^ Allmusic review
  3. ^ Beaumont, Mark (1 September 1998). "Snow Patrol - Songs For Polarbears". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  4. ^ PopMatters review
  5. ^ Pitchfork Media review
  6. ^ Rolling Stone review
  7. ^ "Songs for Polarbears". Snow Patrol. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  8. ^ Zimmerman, Kevin (9 March 2005). "Snow Patrol". BMI. Archived from the original on 2 November 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  9. ^ Syairi Ramly, Adly (9 July 2004). "Join this Snow patrol". AccessMyLibrary. The Malay Mail. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2009. Appears as: "The musical diversity that ranges from hip hop beats to guitar drone to Pavement-esque indie rock that can be heard on the album is strong enough of a reason to make them a cult favourite."
  10. ^ Bailie, Stuart (3 February 1999). "Licensed to chill". Hot Press. Retrieved 4 January 2010. Appears as: "Once they were called Shrug, and more recently, Polarbear, which was changed when another, similarly titled act started getting a bit frosty. Hence the title of the album."
  11. ^ "Snow Patrol album reissues". Jeepster. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  12. ^ Personnel details
  13. ^ "Snow Patrol - Albums". Irish Charts. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  14. ^ Chart Log UK
  15. ^ "Certified Awards Search". BPI. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2009. Note: Need to manually search for 'Snow Patrol'
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