A Beautiful Lie

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A Beautiful Lie
A Beautiful Lie cover
Studio album by 30 Seconds to Mars
Released August 16, 2005 (USA)
February 26, 2007 (UK)
Recorded 2003—2005, Pulse Recording (Los Angeles, California);
The Laboratory (Los Angeles, California);
The Center for the Advancement of the Arts and Sciences of Sound (Alaska);
Lionhead Studios (South Africa);
Circle in the Square Studio (New York City, New York)
Genre Alternative rock, progressive rock
Length 56:12
Label Virgin, Immortal
Producer Josh Abraham, 30 Seconds to Mars
Professional reviews
30 Seconds to Mars chronology
30 Seconds to Mars
(2002)		 A Beautiful Lie
(2005)		 30 Seconds to Mars 3rd Album(2008)
Alternate Cover
Alternative Cover
Alternative Cover
Singles from A Beautiful Lie
  1. "Attack"
    Released: April 12, 2005
  2. "The Kill"
    Released: August 30, 2005
  3. "From Yesterday"
    Released: 2006
  4. "A Beautiful Lie"
    Released: 2007

A Beautiful Lie is the second album written and performed by 30 Seconds to Mars. It was released on August 16, 2005 under Virgin Records. The album was produced by Josh Abraham and 30 Seconds to Mars.

The album has so far produced four singles, "Attack", "The Kill", "From Yesterday", and "A Beautiful Lie"; three of the four songs managed to chart within the top thirty on the U.S. Modern Rock chart, with "The Kill" and "From Yesterday" both entering the top ten. It has also gone Platinum, shipping over 1 million copies.

A Beautiful Lie is different from the band's debut album 30 Seconds to Mars both musically and lyrically. Whereas the eponymously-titled debut album's lyrics focused on human struggle[1] and the music was heavily atmospheric, the lyrics of A Beautiful Lie are "personal and less cerebral" and the music takes on a more alternative rock approach.

The new video "A Beautiful Lie" was released on January 29, 2008. The video features the band in Greenland.

Contents

[edit] History

A Beautiful Lie was recorded on four different continents in five different countries over a three-year period to accommodate vocalist/guitarist Jared Leto's acting career. The album's title track, as well as three other songs, were composed in Cape Town, South Africa, where Leto was later met by his bandmates to work on the tracks. It was during this time that Leto conceived the album's title.[2] Prior to this, the album was tentatively to be released under the title The Battle of One.

The album was leaked onto peer-to-peer file sharing networks almost five months before its scheduled release; however, the version of the album that leaked happened to be unmastered. Because of this, the band was forced to set the release date of the album back.

To promote A Beautiful Lie, 30 Seconds to Mars included the songs "Battle of One" and "Hunter" (originally performed by Björk) as bonus tracks. To further promote the album, the band included "golden passes" with three of the special versions of the album that entitled the buyer free entrance and backstage access to any 30 Seconds to Mars show for life. Unfortunately, the label was not happy with this and forced the band to limit the pass users to one (1) show and free merchandise.

[edit] Deluxe Edition

The album was re-released with new artwork as A Beautiful Lie - Deluxe Edition on November 21, 2006. The set contained one bonus track - a re-recording of the "The Kill", entitled "The Kill (Rebirth)". Also included was a DVD featuring the VMA-nominated video for "The Kill", making of "The Kill" video, live performances and MTV2 moments involving the band.

Before production of the Deluxe Edition, the band requested that the members of the "Echelon" send in their names so that they could be thanked for their support over the years. As a result, the inside cover(s) of the Deluxe Edition contain a huge list of printed fan names. In addition to this, the front cover contains a holographic image consisting of the Mithra (Phoenix) and the Trinity (Skulls).

[edit] 2007 re-release

The album was re-released yet again in 2007, following extensive touring throughout Europe, in an attempt to expose themselves to a larger audience. This re-release is essentially the same as the original release, just with different artwork. The re-release does not contain the new version of "The Kill", nor does it contain a bonus DVD. The album was re-released in Ireland again in November 2007. This version contains the new version of "The Kill" and a second bonus track, an acoustic version of "A Beautiful Lie" recorded live on a radio session.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Attack" - 3:09
  2. "A Beautiful Lie" - 4:05
  3. "The Kill" - 3:51
  4. "Was It a Dream?" - 4:15
  5. "The Fantasy" - 4:29
  6. "Savior" - 3:24
  7. "From Yesterday" - 4:08
  8. "The Story" - 3:55
  9. "R-Evolve" - 3:59
  10. "A Modern Myth" - 14:14
  11. "Battle of One" - 2:47
  12. "Hunter" (Björk cover) - 3:54
 Music sample:

"The Kill" (2005)

Sample from 30 Seconds to Mars' "The Kill".
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

"From Yesterday" (2005)

Sample from 30 Seconds to Mars' "From Yesterday".
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

[edit] Bonus tracks

  1. "The Kill (Rebirth)" (Irish Edition bonus track) - 3:39
  2. "Attack" (Live) (Wal-Mart Edition bonus track)
  3. "Was It a Dream?" (Acoustic) (Japanese Edition bonus track)
  4. "A Beautiful Lie" (Acoustic) (Irish Edition bonus track)

[edit] DVD track listing

  1. "The Kill"
  2. The Making of "The Kill"
  3. The International Music Feed Interview
  4. "Attack" (MTV2's All That Rocks)
  5. "The Kill" (MTV2's All That Rocks)
  6. "The Fantasy" (Fan-generated take) (MTV2's All That Rocks)
  7. MTV2's T-Minus Rock Interview
  8. Red Carpet Arrival (MTV Video Music Awards)
  9. MTV2 Award Acceptance Speech (MTV Video Music Awards)
  10. MTV2 $2Bill Internet Promo
  11. MTV2 $2Bill Pre-Sale Tour Promo
  12. MTV2 $2Bill Ticket Sale Tour Promo

[edit] Charts

[edit] Album

Year Country Chart Peak position Certification Sales
2006 U.S. Billboard 200 #36 Platinum 1,024,902+[3]
2007 Australia ARIA Album Chart #20 Gold 35,000+
2007 Canada CRIA Album Chart — Gold[4] 50,000+
2007 UK UK Albums Chart #39 Silver 60,000+
2007 New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart #20 — —
2007 Finland Finnish Albums Chart #15 — —
2007 Italy Italian Albums Chart #8 Platinum 100,000+
Worldwide Sales 1,500,000+

[edit] Singles

Year Single Chart Position
2005 "Attack" Modern Rock Tracks #22
2005 "Attack" Mainstream Rock Tracks #38
2006 "The Kill" Billboard Hot 100 #65
2006 "The Kill" Modern Rock Tracks #3
2006 "The Kill" Mainstream Rock Tracks #14
2006 "From Yesterday" Modern Rock Tracks #1
2006 "From Yesterday" Mainstream Rock Tracks #11
2006 "From Yesterday" Billboard Hot 100 #76
2007 "A Beautiful Lie" Modern Rock Tracks #37

[edit] Album personnel

  • All the songs are written by Jared Leto, except "Battle of One", "From Yesterday" and "Savior" which are written by the whole of 30 Seconds to Mars
  • All songs are performed solely by 30 Seconds to Mars
  • "Hunter" was originally written and performed by Björk and was covered by 30 Seconds to Mars on the deluxe album.
  • Produced by Josh Abraham and 30 Seconds to Mars
  • Engineered and mixed by Ryan Williams
  • Assistant engineer: Brandon Belsky
  • Additional engineering by Brian Virtue
  • "Attack" mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, assisted by Femio Hernandez
  • Mixed at Pulse Recording (Los Angeles, California)
  • "Attack" mixed at South Beach Studios (Miami Beach, Florida)
  • "The Battle of One" and "Hunter" produced by 30 Seconds to Mars and Brian Virtue; engineered by Brian Virtue at CRC Studios (Chicago, Illinois)
  • Mastered by Brian Gardner at Bernie Grundam Mastering (Hollywood, Los Angeles, California)
  • A&R: John Deutsch
  • Piano on "The Kill" by Matt Serletic
  • Additional synthesizer on "Attack", "From Yesterday" and "Savior" by Oliver Goldstein
  • String players on "A Modern Myth": Steve Dress (double bass); Caroline Campbell (violin); Neel Hammond (violin); Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (viola); Vanessa Freebairn-Smith (cello)
  • Wataru Hokoyama: string arranger
  • Management: Irving Azoff Management
  • Legal: Gary Stiffelman for Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca & Fischer
  • Business management: Dian Vaughn for Loring Ward
  • U.S. booking: John Marx, John Branigan for William Morris
  • International booking: Mike Greek for Creative Artists Agency UK Ltd
  • Creative direction and design: 30 Seconds to Mars and Sean Mosher-Smith
  • Photograph: Olaf Heine

[edit] In popular culture

  • "The Kill" was featured in the January 21, 2007 Without a Trace episode, "Primed".
  • On December 25 "The Kill" and "Attack" were released as DLC for both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 videogame "Rock Band".
  • "Battle of One" is featured in the tracklisting in Madden 07.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • When the press release info for "The Kill" video was released, Jared Leto stated that the video was directed by a Danish albino named Bartholomew Cubbins. This was intended as a joke as Cubbins is the main character of the Dr. Seuss book The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, however airings of the video on music channels still list Cubbins as the director (the actual director of the video is Jared Leto, he's the director for A Beautiful Lie as well, but went under the name Angakok Panipaq, as people had clicked on that he was Bartholomew Cubbins) and the gag remains a running joke on the band's message boards. The band also did this for the video for "From Yesterday".
  • "The Fantasy"'s lyrics include a nod to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure.
  • At the last page of the album information booklet, Jared thanks 3 unknown people by the abbreviations of C.D., S.J, and A.O. Jared may have thanked Cameron Diaz (C.D.), Scarlett Johansson (S.J.), and Ashley Olsen (A.O.), who were all of his ex-girlfriends.
  • The band wrote nearly forty songs for the album and had a difficult time choosing the songs that would appear on the album. At one point or another the songs "Attack", "The Kill", "From Yesterday", and "The Story" were among those cut from the album. In the case of "Attack", the band had thrown the song out many times before, as they were unable to make the song work with the full band. However, during the recording of the album, Jared had played the song acoustically for producer Josh Abraham, jokingly calling it a hit single. After hearing it, Abraham insisted it go on the album, saying it actually would be a hit single. While statistics show that it wasn't the hit single, it still made an appearance on the Billboard Modern and Mainstream rock charts.
  • The video of "The Kill" is based upon the film The Shining and the video has several subliminal messages, most notably at 2:58, 3:51, and 3:58.
  • On a Barnes & Noble music section (along with others), an mp3 sample of "The Kill (Rebirth)" contains a "scary speak[citation needed]" which does not belong to the song. In fact, it is the end of the track "Hunter".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Redmon, Jess (May 2002). 30 Seconds to Mars: Welcome to their universe. Shoutweb.com: On the Record. Retrieved on 2006-04-06.
  2. ^ 30 Seconds To Mars Official Site. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
  3. ^ Billboard Top 200
  4. ^ Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum - January 2005
v • d • e
30 Seconds to Mars
Jared Leto • Shannon Leto • Tomo Milisevits • Tim Kelleher (temporary bassist)
Matt Wachter • Solon Bixer • Kevin Drake
Studio albums
Singles
Related