Fallen

From The Evanescence Reference
Fallen
Studio album by Evanescence
Released March 4, 2003, March 4, 2013 (Remaster)
Recorded 2002–2003; Track Record Inc. & NRG Recording Studios, Ocean Studios, Conway Recording Studios
Length 54:15
Label Wind-up Records
Producer Dave Fortman
Evanescence chronology
Mystary
(2003)
Fallen
(2003)
Anywhere but Home
(2004)
Singles from Fallen
  1. "Bring Me to Life"
    Released: April 22, 2003
  2. "Going Under"
    Released: September 9, 2003
  3. "Imaginary"
    Released: November 2003
  4. "My Immortal"
    Released: December 8, 2003
  5. "Everybody's Fool"
    Released: April 28, 2004
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Fallen is the first full-length album by Evanescence, and their first album to achieve widespread release around the world.

Fallen was the eighth best-selling album in the U.S. in 2004, with about 2.61 million copies sold that year.[1] The album was recorded at Ocean Studios (Burbank) and Conway Recording Studios (Hollywood) both in California. The album reached 7x Platinum status on 24th June 2008 in the U.S.

Amy Lee stated:

Vin1.jpg We've all fallen, but at the same time we're not broken. There is the hint that we are going to get up again. Vin2.jpg


This is one of the reasons that Fallen is called what it is. Ben Moody in an interview said that Fallen was made to let people know that they aren't alone when they feel alone or feel pain.

Fallen has sold over 17 million copies worldwide[2] and over 7 million in the US alone.[3] The album debuted at #7 and stayed above #40 on the Billboard Album Chart until mid-2014. The album stayed in the top 10 for 43 non-consecutive weeks. Released on March 4th, 2003. It was recorded and mixed between late August and early December 2002.[4] The tour in support of the album lasted for nearly two years, ending on August 14, 2004.

The CD was re-released in January 2004 with the band version of "My Immortal". Fallen was Grammy nominated for Album of the Year in 2004. John LeCompt and Rocky Gray had a co-writing credit on Fallen before they joined the band for the Fallen tour.[5] John has a co-writing credit on "Taking Over Me" and Rocky has a co-writing credit on "Tourniquet", a cover of his band Soul Embraced's song "My Tourniquet" for which he wrote the guitar.

A limited edition purple vinyl version of Fallen was released on the 10th Anniversary of its original publication (March 4, 2013). All the tracks were heavily remastered by Dave Fortman.

On December 2, 2022, the album was certified Diamond by the RIAA for 10 million sales in the USA.[6]

Conception

Composing Fallen took eight years;[4] in a MTV interview, Ben Moody said that he wrote with Lee "maybe two or three times in eight years".[7] Most songs were written when they were 15 years old.[8] Half of the album was written during artist development for two years after the band was signed to Wind-Up.[8][9] Most of the album was inspired by Amy's three-year abusive relationship with an unnamed boyfriend.[9]

Vin1.jpg [The album's message is] just honestly about human emotion. It's about our life experiences and the things that we've felt and what we've been through. We're just sharing them to be an outlet for other people so that they know they're not alone and that we've been through some crap too.

—Amy Lee[10]

Vin2.jpg


Record label executives initially refused to release the album unless the band would agree to add a full-time male co-vocalist. When the band would not agree to this demand, the label relented and insisted only on having a male vocalist on the album's lead single, Bring Me to Life.[11][12] Amy was still not happy about this but agreed to it.

Songs were recorded as demos in pre-production before the recording sessions, and My Immortal, Imaginary, and Whisper appeared on earlier Evanescence recordings.[13]

Amy expressed that the making of Fallen was stressful because "we had to remember [that] at least one big single had to be totally radio-friendly. And I'm really ready not to think that way."[11] She also said that she had a more artist approach to writing, whereas Ben focused on commerciality.[14][7]

Recording Process & In the Studio

Amy, Ben, and producer Dave Fortman at NRG Recording Studios in the Fallen recording sessions.

The album was recorded from late August to early December 2002 at Track Record Inc. and NRG Recording Studios, Ocean Studios (Burbank), and Conway Recording Studios. The guitars (Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, Mesa Boogie, Marshall Amplification) for the album were cut at Mad Dog Studios in Burbank with an old Mesa Boogie guitar cabinet.[4] Amy's vocals, pianos and the background vocal by the Millennium Choir were recorded at NRG Recording Studios.[4] Drum tracks were recorded at Ocean Studios, with Josh Freese playing on selected songs to click tracks of stereo guitars and vocals. The orchestral parts, consisted of a 44-piece string section,[15] were recorded and mixed at The Newman Scoring Stage, Twentieth Century Fox.[16]

Recording work for the album started at Ocean Studios in Burbank, Calif., where most of Bring Me to Life was recorded for the Daredevil soundtrack, prior to full album production.[4][13] The last song written and recorded for the album was Going Under.[17]

Ben on the recording sessions:

Vin1.jpg I didn't want it to sound too fabricated. I love electronics and I love digital manipulation, but I wanted to first establish us as a real rock band. We're actually playing all of those parts: The strings are real, the choirs are real, the piano is real. [...] I think one of the most positive features about [the album] is that it's like watching a movie from front to back.[4] Vin2.jpg


Producer Dave Fortman was impressed with the band when he heard the initial demos, and his admiration of the group grew during the recording process.

Vin1.jpg One of the greatest parts of this record was the band's vision and their dream about it being theatrical and like a movie soundtrack. I think that gives it a special emotion, really. Every song takes you through this journey.[4] Vin2.jpg


The version of My Immortal used on the album is the same on Origin and it was included at the label's request, but with strings arranged by Graeme Revell.[16] This recording, with demo vocals and a MIDI keyboard, was recorded at the radio station where Amy's father worked after it was empty late at night.[18][19][20] When the song became a single, the band chose their preferred version of the song with David Campbell's orchestration for radio and its music video.[18]

Amy noted that even through she wrote the piano parts on the album, she didn't play them in the recording sessions as David recorded them.[13][16][21] After the album's completion, Ben said David left the band due to creative differences, noting that "We just ended up going in different directions" and "we chose to split ways before we built the whole image of the band based on somebody that wasn't going to be there."[22] In a 2018 interview, David claimed that after the label had a meeting with the band, Ben and Amy informed him that he wasn't going to be a part of it anymore.[23]

Artwork

Alternative album cover on all digital releases.

The album cover was taken by Frank Veronsky at Amy's 21st birthday.[24]

Vin1.jpg The photo that’s on the cover of “Fallen” was taken on my 21st birthday, and I had been working on this band every day since I was 17, and it goes all the way back to when I was 14.[24] Vin2.jpg


Promotion

Singles

The first single released from the album was Bring Me to Life, which was commercially released on April 22, 2003. It was written by Amy Lee, Ben Moody and David Hodges, and most of it was recorded at Ocean Studios in Burbank, California for the Daredevil soundtrack.[4] It went on to peak at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[25] The second single, Going Under, was released on September 9, 2003. The music video for it was filmed in Berlin, Germany on May 2003.[26] Imaginary was released as the third single in Spain only in November 2003. My Immortal was released as the third commercial single worldwide on December 8, 2003. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[25]

Everybody's Fool was released as the fourth and final commercial single in 2004.[27] The music video for it was directed by Philipp Stölzl, the same director of the Bring Me to Life and Going Under music videos.

Tour

Exquisite-kfind.png See also: Fallen Tour

The tour in support of Fallen started on October 7, 2003 in Lisbon, Portugal and ended on August 14, 2004 in the band's hometown, Little Rock, AR. During the tour, the band performed the Fallen B-sides, as well as a reworked version of Even in Death.

Live DVD: Anywhere But Home

The band filmed their concert in Paris on May 25, 2004 and released a live CD/DVD titled Anywhere but Home, which includes one hour of backstage footage, all four music videos from Fallen and a studio version of the b-side, Missing.

10-Year Anniversary Vinyl & Digital Scrapbook

On the tenth anniversary of Fallen's debut, Amy Lee announced that 1,500 copies of the album will be released on a purple vinyl along with a digital scrapbook.[28] The scrapbook was made available to view on Evanescence's official website on March 19, 2013.

20-Year Anniversary

In an interview with Rock Sound published on November 18, 2022, Amy Lee said she has an idea of what to do to commemorate Fallen's 20th anniversary, but it won't be "what everyone expects."[29]

On January 19, 2023, Evanescence and HipDot Cosmetics collaborated on a Fallen inspired eyeshadow palette for the 20th anniversary. Within an hour of it going on sale, they were out of stock. You can sign up for the restock here.

On February 22, 2023, the album's album cover on Apple Music was replaced with an animated version.[30]

On the day of the album's 20th anniversary, March 4, 2023, Evanescence announced that they will be releasing a special edition remaster with bonus content later in the year.[31]

In May 2023, the band announced a five-date Australian tour to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary that will span from August 24 to September 2, 2023.[32]

Ben Moody's Departure

During Fallen's European tour, co-founding member Ben Moody left the band on October 24, 2003, around two weeks after filming the music video for My Immortal. In a MTV article, it says that on the morning of their show in Berlin, he packed up his gear and flew home, leaving the band's manager to break the news to everyone.[33]

On August 24, 2010, Ben posted an open letter on EvBoard talking about his leaving Evanescence and asked fans to not cause any more drama about it. When Amy was asked about the letter in an interview with Spin in October 2011, she said that she didn't respond and that "[they're] probably both better off not being in each others' lives".[34]

Controversy

The album was initially promoted by the label in the Christian market. Amy and Ben publicly made it clear in an April 2003 interview that they were not a Christian band and did not want to be associated with Christian rock.[35] The label's chairman Alan Meltzer claimed their decision to promote Evanescence in the Christian market was made with the band's consent.[36] However, Amy said that she had always opposed the promotion in the Christian market and the "Christian band" identification from the beginning,[15][37][38] while Ben had supported it in early, pre-Fallen interviews.[35][39]

Amy told in an interview with Rock Sound in 2003:

Vin1.jpg "The album isn't a Christian record at all. There are personal things on there about isolation, solitude, longing, sadness, anger and pain even. People connected with those feelings when they heard 'Bring Me To Life' on Daredevil soundtrack and on the radio. But we're not a Christian band."[40] Vin2.jpg


Track List

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Going Under"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 3:35
2. "Bring Me to Life" (feat. Paul McCoy)A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 3:56
3. "Everybody's Fool"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 3:16
4. "My Immortal" (Origin version with strings)A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 4:23
5. "Haunted"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 3:05
6. "Tourniquet"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges, R. Gray 4:38
7. "Imaginary"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 4:16
8. "Taking Over Me"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges, J. LeCompt 3:49
9. "Hello"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 3:40
10. "My Last Breath"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 4:07
11. "Whisper"  A. Lee, B. Moody, D. Hodges 5:27
Total length:
41:36

10-Year anniversary edition (Purple vinyl) - 2013

Side A

  • Going Under
  • Bring Me to Life
  • Everybody's Fool
  • My Immortal
  • Haunted
  • Tourniquet

Side B

  • Imaginary
  • Taking Over Me
  • Hello
  • My Last Breath
  • Whisper

B-sides

Album Credits

Lineup

  • Amy Lee - Vocals, choir arrangements
  • Ben Moody - Guitars, producer (track #4), programming, tribal percussion, ProTools engineer
  • David Hodges - Piano, keyboards, additional programming and orchestral arrangements

Guests

Technical

  • Jay Baumgardner – Mixing (track #2)
  • Jeremy Parker – Engineering
  • Ted Jensen – Mastering
  • Jason Cupp – Engineering assistance
  • Dean Nelson – Engineering assistance
  • Ai Fujisaki – Engineering assistance
  • Sergio Chavez – Engineering assistance
  • Sam Storey – Engineering assistance
  • Mark Curry – Strings recording, strings mixing
  • John Rodd – Strings recording
  • Bill Talbott – Strings engineering

Album Reception

Chart Performance

Chart (2003) Position
Australian Albums (ARIA) 15
Australian Heavy Rock & Metal Albums (ARIA) 2
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 17
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 38
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 17
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 25
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts) 23
European Albums (Billboard) 3
Finnish Albums (Musiikkituottajat) 16
French Albums (SNEP) 10
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[41] 9
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)< 81
New Zealand Albums (RIANZ) 6
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[42] 15
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 5
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 3
UK Albums (OCC) 15
US Billboard 200 8
Worldwide Albums (IFPI) 7
Chart (2004) Position
Australian Albums (ARIA) 7
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 15
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 12
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 16
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 52
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts) 10
European Albums (Billboard) 5
Finnish Albums (Musiikkituottajat) 59
French Albums (SNEP) 20
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[43] 10
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) 28
Italian Albums (FIMI)[44] 41
New Zealand Albums (RIANZ) 14
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 39
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 15
UK Albums (OCC) 59
US Billboard 200 6
Worldwide Albums (IFPI) 43

See also

Guitar tabs & sheet music

Buy/Stream Fallen

References

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