| Benjamin Booker | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Benjamin Booker |
| Cover: | Benjamin_booker_cover.jpg |
| Recorded: | The Bomb Shelter, Nashville, December 2013 |
| Length: | 44:20 |
| Producer: | Andrija Tokic |
| Next Title: | Witness |
| Next Year: | 2017 |
Benjamin Booker is the debut studio album by American musician Benjamin Booker. It was released on 9 August 2014 by ATO Records and Rough Trade Records.[1]
The album was recorded in December 2013 in engineer/producer Andrija Tokic's all-analog Bomb Shelter in East Nashville, Andrija Tokic who has produced recordings for Hurray for the Riff Raff and Alabama Shakes. The Bomb shelter was recommend to Booker as a place to record his album by Alynda Lee Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff and by Sam Doores of The Deslondes.[2] Booker chose The Bomb Shelter as the place to record his album, as he wanted to record the album in analog like he stated in an interview: "
Booker arrived for the recording of the album with his only band mate, Max Norton, from Tampa, FL. The recording of the album was done using a RCA overhead on Norton’s kit, a Neumann U 87 on kick, and a Shure 57 on snare. Booker’s vocal chain usually included a Neumann U 67 with an Altec tube preamp and a UA 175 compressor, recording was often done with other instruments such as Sennheiser 441, in rotation to the main instruments used. the main guitars used for recording were 60s hollow-body Super Lynx Deluxe Vox, and an ’80s Ibanez Matsumoku Roadster. After recording started Tokic started bring in bass players and keyboardists to "flesh out recordings".[3] The album was mixed on Tokic's MCI JH600 console.
Upon its release Benjamin Booker's self-titled album Benjamin Booker received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".
Credits adapted from AllMusic.[4]
| Chart (2014) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[5] | 187 | |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[6] | 59 | |
| Dutch Albums Chart[7] | 80 | |
| US Billboard 200[8] | 46 | |
| US Alternative Albums[9] | 10 | |
| US Rock Albums[10] | 15 | |
| Tastemaker Albums[11] | 10 | |
| Independent Albums[12] | 7 | |
| Top Album Sales[13] | 46 |