Ballad of the Broken Seas

Ballad of the Broken Seas
Studio album by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
Released	March 2006
Recorded	2005
Genre	Folk rock
Length	42:45
Label	V2
Producer	Isobel Campbell, Dave Paterson
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan chronology
Ballad of the Broken Seas (2006) Sunday at Devil Dirt (2008)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Drowned in Sound	[2]
Pitchfork Media	(7.2/10)[3]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[4]

Ballad of the Broken Seas is an album released by Isobel Campbell and the first collaboration between her and Mark Lanegan. It made the shortlist for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize and was one of NME's top one hundred albums of the decade.^[5]

The Mercury nomination provoked some criticism, as collaborator Mark Lanegan is American and the award is for British and Irish artists only. However Campbell wrote most of the tracks and self-produced the album. Campbell had written the music and some of the lyrics, before sending it to Lanegan.

Track listing

All songs written by Isobel Campbell except where stated

1. "Deus Ibi Est" – 2:51
2. "Black Mountain" – 3:10 (music based in part on the traditional melody "Scarborough Fair")
3. "The False Husband" – 3:53
4. "Ballad of the Broken Seas" – 2:42
5. "Revolver" – 2:40 (Mark Lanegan)
6. "Ramblin' Man" – 3:29 (Hank Williams)
7. "(Do You Wanna) Come Walk with Me?" – 3:27
8. "Saturday's Gone" – 4:37
9. "It's Hard to Kill a Bad Thing" – 2:53 (Jim McCulloch)
10. "Honey Child What Can I Do?" – 3:44 (Isobel Campbell/Simon Shaw)
11. "Dusty Wreath" – 3:44
12. "The Circus Is Leaving Town" – 5:35

Personnel

• Mark Lanegan - vocals
• Isobel Campbell - vocals, piano, cello, harpsichord, tubular bells, glockenspiel
• Alyn Cosker - drums
• Jim McCulloch - guitars
• Ross Hamilton - double bass (1,6-8), bass guitar (4,10,12)
• David Robertson - bodhran (1), percussion (8), congas (9)
• Bill Wells - bass guitar (2,3), piano (4), vibraphone (8)
• John McCusker - solo violin (4)
• Joshua Blanchard - acoustic guitar (5)
• Eddi Nappi - bass guitar (5)
• Norm Block - drums (5)
• Geoff Allen - whip (6)
• Claire Campbell - violin (8)
• Helen Thompson - harp (10)
• Chris Geddes - Hammond organ (12)
• Paul Leonard Morgan - string arrangements (3-5,9-10)

References

1. "Ballad of the Broken Seas - Isobel Campbell". Allmusic.
2. http://drownedinsound.com/releases/6988
3. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1747-ballad-of-the-broken-seas/?utm_campaign=search&utm_medium=site&utm_source=search-ac
4. http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/mark-lanegan-ballad-broken-seas-isobel-campbell
5. "The Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade". NME.com. 18 November 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2013.