| Whaler | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Sophie B. Hawkins |
| Cover: | Sophie B. Hawkins - Whaler.jpg |
| Released: | August 2, 1994 |
| Recorded: | March – June 1994 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 47:48 |
| Label: | Columbia |
| Producer: | Stephen Lipson |
| Prev Title: | Tongues and Tails |
| Prev Year: | 1992 |
| Next Title: | Timbre |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
Whaler is the second album by American singer-songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins, released in 1994 on Columbia Records. The release was preceded by the single "Right Beside You", which reached No. 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,[1] but did much better in the UK, where it peaked at No. 13.[2]
The album was not as commercially successful as her debut album Tongues and Tails two years earlier; however, the sales picked up after the third single, "As I Lay Me Down", released at the beginning of 1995,[3] went to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Consequently, the album managed to climb to No. 65 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The critical reception was mixed. Paul Evans of Rolling Stone said that the album did not quite live up to the standard and expectations set by her debut.[4] The Los Angeles Times review noted that Hawkins tries to knit "a crazy quilt of styles" trying to combine different influences but the experimentation does not pay off and "unravels at the seams", and the only tracks that do work are the mainstream ones, such as the "dance-floor-friendly" opening track "Right Beside You" and the "anguished" ballad "I Need Nothing Else".[5] Other reviews were more favorable, praising the album's subdued and subtle melodies, which make the album overall more consistent than her debut outing, and describing some tracks as "irresistibly catchy".[6]
All songs written by Sophie B. Hawkins, except where noted.
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "Right Beside You" | Billboard Hot 100 | 56 |
| Top 40 Mainstream | 24 | ||
| 1995 | "As I Lay Me Down" | Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| Adult Top 40 | 1 | ||
| Billboard Hot 100 | 6 | ||
| Top 40 Mainstream | 3 | ||
| 1996 | "Only Love (The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty)" | Adult Contemporary | 22 |
| Adult Top 40 | 19 | ||
| The Billboard Hot 100 | 49 | ||
| Top 40 Mainstream | 22 |