Talkie Walkie

For the device, see Walkie-talkie.
Talkie Walkie
Studio album by
Air
Released26 January 2004 (2004-01-26)
Recorded2003
Studio
Genre
Length43:27
Label
Producer
Air chronology
10 000 Hz Legend
(2001) 		Talkie Walkie
(2004) 		Pocket Symphony
(2007)
Singles from Talkie Walkie
  1. "Cherry Blossom Girl"
    Released: 16 February 2004
  2. "Surfing on a Rocket"
    Released: 9 April 2004
  3. "Alpha Beta Gaga"
    Released: 9 August 2004

Talkie Walkie is the third studio album by French electronic music duo Air, released on 26 January 2004 by Virgin Records. "Alone in Kyoto" was included on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Lost in Translation, and "Run" was used in both the Veronica Mars episode "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" and the 2004 French film Lila Says. "Talkie-walkie" means walkie-talkie in French.

As of November 2006, Talkie Walkie had sold 161,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[4] The album shipped 405,000 copies outside France within two weeks of its release, according to Virgin Records.[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[8]
The Guardian[9]
Los Angeles Times[10]
NME8/10[11]
Pitchfork8.3/10[12]
Q[13]
Rolling Stone[14]
SpinB[15]
Uncut[16]

Talkie Walkie received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on 29 reviews.[6] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called the album "excellent" and commented that Air "return to what they do best: elegantly moody soundtrack music for imaginary films."[14] NME reviewer Piers Martin commented, "It is light and fluffy, of course, but tender and romantic, synthetic and soulful, too. It sounds, effortlessly, new and different, fresh and focused, clean and Zen, no doubt the outcome of Godin and Dunckel's decision to play and programme all the instruments and perform all the vocals on the record themselves in Paris without any external assistance...". Praise was given to the subtle touch producer Nigel Godrich and string arranger Michel Colombier presumably brought to the album at its final stage,[11] and the more personal and tighter songwriting.

Pitchfork named Talkie Walkie the 20th best album of 2004,[17] and later placed it at number 191 on its list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s.[18]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin

No.TitleLength
1."Venus"4:04
2."Cherry Blossom Girl"3:39
3."Run"4:12
4."Universal Traveler"4:22
5."Mike Mills"4:26
6."Surfing on a Rocket"3:43
7."Another Day"3:20
8."Alpha Beta Gaga"4:39
9."Biological"6:04
10."Alone in Kyoto"4:51
Japanese edition bonus track[19]
No.TitleLength
11."Easy Going Woman"4:34

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Talkie Walkie.[20]

Musicians

Technical

  • Air – production
  • Nigel Godrich – additional recordings, production, mixing
  • Darrell Thorp – mixing assistance (all tracks); street sounds recording (track 8)
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering

Artwork

  • Richard Prince – cover art
  • Aaron Klein – technical assistance
  • Claude Gassian – cover photo
  • Jenna Felling – interior photos
  • Marc Teissier du Cros – polaroids
  • Roger Gorman – design

Charts

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for Talkie Walkie
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[51] Gold 10,000‡
Ireland (IRMA)[52] Gold 7,500^
United Kingdom (BPI)[53] Gold 100,000^
United States — 161,000[4]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

  1. ^ Additional recordings

References

  1. ^ "Air, Talkie Walkie | Music | the Guardian".
  2. ^ a b "AIR - Talkie Walkie".
  3. ^ a b Pitchfork Staff (October 2, 2009). "The 200 Best Albums of the 2000s". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 27, 2023. Air...[are] now the de facto gold standard of new-age Gallic pop...Talkie Walkie slipped by relatively unheralded; with its baroque arrangements...
  4. ^ a b Cohen, Jonathan (16 November 2006). "Air Composes A 'Pocket Symphony'". Billboard. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  5. ^ Martin, James (28 February 2004). "French Export Office Targets Turnaround". Billboard. Vol. 116, no. 9. p. 60. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ a b "Talkie Walkie by Air Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  7. ^ Bush, John. "Talkie Walkie – Air". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  8. ^ Endelman, Michael (23 January 2004). "Talkie Walkie". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  9. ^ Petridis, Alexis (16 January 2004). "Air, Talkie Walkie". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  10. ^ Kuipers, Dean (29 February 2004). "Shimmer that dissipates fast". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  11. ^ a b Martin, Piers (30 January 2004). "Air : Talkie Walkie". NME. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  12. ^ DiCrescenzo, Brent (25 January 2004). "Air: Talkie Walkie". Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  13. ^ "Air: Talkie Walkie". Q. No. 211. February 2004. p. 99. ISSN 0955-4955.
  14. ^ a b Sheffield, Rob (5 February 2004). "Air: Talkie Walkie". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 26 May 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  15. ^ Matos, Michaelangelo (January 2004). "Air, Talkie Walkie (Astralwerks)". Spin. Vol. 20, no. 1. p. 102. ISSN 0886-3032 – via Google Books.
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  18. ^ "The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 200–151". Pitchfork. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
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  20. ^ Talkie Walkie (liner notes). Air. Virgin Records. 2004. 72435 966002 8.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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  28. ^ Sexton, Paul (5 February 2004). "Air Blows Away Dido's Euro Chart Reign". Billboard. Archived from the original on 1 August 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
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  32. ^ "Top 50 Ελληνικών και Ξένων Άλμπουμ" [Top 50 Greek and Foreign Albums] (in Greek). IFPI Greece. 4–10 April 2004. Archived from the original on 11 April 2004. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
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