The Awakening (Melissa Etheridge album)

The Awakening
Studio album by Melissa Etheridge
Released	September 25, 2007
Genre	Rock
Length	59:17
Label	Island
Producer	Melissa Etheridge, David N. Cole
Melissa Etheridge chronology
Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled (2005) The Awakening (2007) A New Thought for Christmas (2008)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(66/100)[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Boston Globe	(positive)[3]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[4]
Los Angeles Times	(mixed)[5]
Robert Christgau	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]

The Awakening is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, released by Island Records on September 25, 2007. The album conveys Etheridge's current autobiographical, religious and political perspectives. Etheridge made the album to convey parts of her story and journey along with her love for God. In the album's booklet, she included a letter to all who buy it starting with "Dear Friend".

The album debuted at No. 13 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling nearly 48,000 copies in its first week.[8] As of 2010, the album has tallied 167,000 copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[9] This album was No. 20 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.[10]

Track listing

All songs written by Melissa Etheridge.

1. "All There Is" – 1:03
2. "California" – 3:47
3. "An Unexpected Rain" – 6:56
4. "Message to Myself" – 3:25
5. "God Is in the People" – 1:58
6. "Map of the Stars" – 5:31
7. "Threesome" – 3:33
8. "All We Can Really Do" – 1:18
9. "I've Loved You Before" – 4:16
10. "A Simple Love" – 1:17
11. "Heroes and Friends" – 4:23
12. "Kingdom of Heaven" – 4:11
13. "Open Your Mind" – 5:13
14. "The Awakening: The Universe Listened" – 3:09
15. "The Awakening: Imagine That" – 3:00
16. "The Awakening: What Happens Tomorrow" – 6:18

Production

• Produced By Melissa Etheridge & David N. Cole
• Engineers: Jorge Costa & Jared Kvitka

Personnel

• Melissa Etheridge – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric rhythm guitar
• Philip Sayce – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Mark Browne – bass guitar
• Mauricio "Fritz" Lewak – drums, percussion
• Rami Jaffe – keyboards, backing vocals
• David Cole – keyboards, percussion
• Bernadette "Bernie" Barlow – backing vocals
• Lily Wilson – backing vocals

Charts

Chart (2007)	Peak positions
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11]	57
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12]	28
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13]	18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[14]	87
US Billboard 200[15]	13

References

1. Critic reviews at Metacritic
2. AllMusic review
3. The Boston Globe review
4. Entertainment Weekly review
5. Los Angeles Times review
6. Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
7. "Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 17, 2008. Retrieved 2012-11-16.
8. Katie Hasty, "Rascal Flatts Races To No. 1 In Debut-Heavy Week", Billboard.com, October 3, 2007.
9. "Billboard". 2010-04-03.
10. ROBERT CHRISTGAU, DAVID FRICKE, CHRISTIAN HOARD, ROB SHEFFIELD (December 17, 2007). "The Top 50 Albums of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
11. "Austriancharts.at – Melissa Etheridge – The Awakening" (in German). Hung Medien.
12. "Dutchcharts.nl – Melissa Etheridge – The Awakening" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
13. "Offiziellecharts.de – Melissa Etheridge – The Awakening" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
14. "Swisscharts.com – Melissa Etheridge – The Awakening". Hung Medien.
15. "Melissa Etheridge Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.

External links

• The Awakening at Metacritic