Long Distance (Ivy album)

Long Distance
Studio album by Ivy
Released	November 8, 2000
Recorded	1999–2000
Studio	Various Stratosphere Sound; Sony Music Studios (New York City, New York)
Genre	Indie pop indie rock new wave
Length	56:08
Label	Nettwerk
Producer	Andy Chase Adam Schlesinger Peter Nashel
Ivy chronology
Apartment Life (1997) Long Distance (2000) Guestroom (2002)
Singles from Long Distance
"Lucy Doesn't Love You" Released: 2000 "Disappointed" Released: July 10, 2001 "Edge of the Ocean" Released: July 10, 2001 "I Think of You" Released: November 9, 2001

Long Distance is the third studio album by American band Ivy. It was released on November 8, 2000 in Japan, while the US version was released on July 10, 2001 by Nettwerk. Noted as a departure from Ivy's previous studio album Apartment Life (1997), the album took influence from new wave music, as well as from indie pop and indie rock, a style that Ivy is known for. Ivy collaborated with long-time producer Peter Nashel for part of the album, while the rest was completely produced and written by members Andy Chase and Adam Schlesinger.

Long Distance received positive reviews upon release, and is noted for its different sound compared to Ivy's previous works, Apartment Life and Realistic. Many critics favored Ivy's new approach, although some found it less interesting compared to the material on Apartment Life. Commercially, the album fared well in both Japan and the United States, but did not peak on any significant record chart.

Four singles were released from the album. "Lucy Doesn't Love You", "Disappointed" and "I Think of You" were all commercially unsuccessful, while the album's third single, "Edge of the Ocean", appeared in numerous films and television programs. Promotional singles "Undertow" and "Worry About You" also were used heavily in the media, and the latter was used as the theme song for the ABC miniseries Kingdom Hospital. Promotional music videos were created for both "Lucy Doesn't Love You" and "Edge of the Ocean".

Development

Long Distance was originally to be released by Epic Records, but the band was dropped by the label shortly after the reissued edition of their second studio album, Apartment Life. After the end of the Epic contract and lead singer Dominique Durand's pregnancy, the New York City studio where Ivy regularly recorded music burned down.^[1] Shortly after these events, Ivy began incorporating influences from different types of music, including new wave. Schlesinger detailed the album's exploration of different genres:

"The first songs [we] recorded were jangly and simple and straight-ahead. We started gravitating toward the groovier, slightly more melancholy stuff. It works well with Dominique's voice."^[2]

The Japanese edition of the album featured a bonus track, "It's All in Your Mind", which remains unreleased in the United States.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	68/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
Blender	6/10[5]
PopMatters	[6]
Rolling Stone	7/10[7]

Long Distance received positive reviews upon release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on nine reviews.^[3] Jonathan Cohen from Billboard commented that "Durand's sensual vocals are beguiling as ever" and favored singles "Disappointed" and "Edge of the Ocean".^[1] Resonance magazine praised the album for "stay[ing] true to the belief that guitar pop can have cool, utopian sounds without bringing in a truckload of keyboards and sequencers".^[8] Launch.com stated that "no one else stateside is currently making pop quite this lush and lovely", but disapproved of the track "Undertow".^[9] E! Online declared "Lucy Doesn't Love You" a summer anthem and predicted that Long Distance would increase Ivy's popularity.^[10]

Both Rolling Stone and Blender made strong comparisons between Long Distance and the English musical duo Everything but the Girl. The former stated that "any fan on Everything but the Girl, Saint Etienne or vintage Blondie should find plenty to swoon over",^[7] while the latter called the sound "cloudy and distant, [but] takes tentative steps toward Everything but the Girl".^[5] In a more mixed review, SonicNet stated that "Ivy specialize[s] in nebulously oriented dream-pop: too ethereal for straight pop fans, too structured for the 4AD crowd".^[11] Alternative Press was more negative, expressing that "the 13 tracks here are improbably edgeless, all love-me-do/love-me-don't plaints that evaporate on impact".^[12]

Singles

In late 2000, "Lucy Doesn't Love You" was released as the album's lead single in Japan. The track received positive reviews from critics, but didn't perform well commercially.^[13] A music video for the track was filmed in 2000 to promote the song.^[14]

"Disappointed", the album's second single, also received positive feedback, but was not commercially successful.^[15]

Third single "Edge of the Ocean" was released on July 10, 2001 in the United States. The single was both a critical and commercial success, likely due to its heavy use in media, including appearances in films Shallow Hal, Angel Eyes and Music and Lyrics, and television series Roswell, Veronica Mars and Grey's Anatomy.^[16][17] A corresponding music video became Ivy's most-watched music video on the video-sharing website YouTube.^[18]

"I Think of You" was the fourth and final single released from Long Distance, on November 9, 2001.

"Undertow" and "Worry About You" were both released as promotional singles for the album in 2001. The two tracks were sampled in several different television series.^[17][19]

Track listing

All tracks written and produced by Ivy except "Digging Your Scene", written by Dr. Robert.

No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Undertow"	Adam Schlesinger Andy Chase	4:20
2.	"Disappointed"	Schlesinger Chase Peter Nashel	4:24
3.	"Edge of the Ocean"	Schlesinger Chase	4:25
4.	"Blame it on Yourself"	Schlesinger Chase	4:05
5.	"While We're in Love"	Schlesinger Chase	4:36
6.	"Lucy Doesn't Love You"	Schlesinger Chase	3:57
7.	"Worry About You"	Schlesinger Chase	3:59
8.	"Let's Stay Inside"	Schlesinger Chase	4:20
9.	"Midnight Sun"	Schlesinger Chase Nashel	5:27
10.	"I Think of You"	Schlesinger Chase	4:00
11.	"Hideaway"	Schlesinger Chase	4:09
12.	"One More Last Kiss"	Schlesinger Chase	4:51
13.	"Digging Your Scene" (Blow Monkeys cover)	Schlesinger Chase	3:40
Total length:			56:08

Japanese edition bonus track[20]
No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
14.	"It's All in Your Mind"	Schlesinger Chase	2:22
Total length:			58:30

Personnel

Ivy

Dominique Durand, Adam Schlesinger, and Andy Chase

Additional musicians

• Eric Matthews – trumpet on tracks 1,6,8,10
• Jon Skibic – guitar on 9
• James Iha – guitar on 9
• Brian Young – drums on 4,5
• Valerie Vigoda – violin on 9
• Michael Hampton – additional loops and sounds
• Jeremy Freeman – additional loops and sounds

Technical personnel

• Andy Chase – producer, engineer, mixing
• Adam Schlesinger – producer, mixing
• Geoff Sanoff – assistant engineer
• Pete Nashel – additional production on 2,9
• John Holbrook – additional mixing 5,6,7
• Vlado Meller – mastering

Graphics

• Frank Olinsky – art direction and design
• Phillippe Garcia – photographer

Soundtracks and commercial use

• "Edge of the Ocean" was featured in the movie Shallow Hal during a scene where Hal and Katrina are in a cab,^[16][21] and "I Think of You" was played during the closing credits.^[21]
• "Edge of the Ocean" was used in September 2003 for a Holland America TV commercial.^[16]
• "Edge of the Ocean" was used in the TV series Roswell and a Duotone remix appeared on the soundtrack album.^[22]
• "Edge of the Ocean" was used in the movie Angel Eyes (2001).^[23]
• "Edge of the Ocean" was used in season 1, episode 5, of the ABC television hospital drama Grey's Anatomy.^[17]
• "Edge of the Ocean" played during the end credits of the 2007 movie Music and Lyrics.^[24]
• "Edge of the Ocean" was used in the UPN television series Veronica Mars.^[25][26]
• "Edge of the Ocean" was played in the South Korean series "Emergency Couple", opening the first episode.
• "Lucy Doesn't Love You" and "One More Last Kiss" were used in the movie I'm With Lucy.^[27]
• "One More Last Kiss" was used in the film Insomnia (2002).^[28]
• "Undertow" was featured in season 1, episode 5 of Witchblade.^[29][30]
• "Undertow" and "Worry About You" were featured in the "Heart of Mine" episode of Roswell.^[19]
• "Worry About You" was used in the CBS science fiction TV series The 4400 and included on its soundtrack album.^[31]
• "Worry About You" was used in the movie In the Mix (2005).^[32]
• "Worry About You" was the theme song for the ABC miniseries Kingdom Hospital.^[33]

References

1. Cohen, Jonathan (7 July 2001). "Despite Calamities, Nettwerk's Ivy Gets Lift from Far East". Billboard. pp. 13, 20. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
2. Cohen, Jonathan (7 July 2001). "Despite Calamities, Nettwerk's Ivy Gets Lift From Far Easy". Retrieved 7 December 2015.
3. "Long Distance: Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
4. Phares, Heather. "Long Distance - Ivy". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
5. Ivy - Long Distance review. Blender. September 2001. p. 123.
6. Kovey, Fred (9 July 2001). "Ivy: Long Distance". PopMatters. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
7. Sheffield, Rob (16 August 2001). "Ivy: Long Distance". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 22, 2002. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
8. "Long Distance - Ivy". Resonance (32): 60.
9. "Review: Ivy - Long Distance". Launch.com. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
10. "E! Review - Long Distance". E! Online. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
11. "Long Distance by Ivy Review". SonicNet. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
12. "Long Distance Review". Alternative Press: 91. September 2001.
13. "Ivy – Lucy Doesn't Love You". Discogs. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
14. "Ivy - Lucy Doesn't Love You.". YouTube. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
15. "ivy - Discography". thebandivy. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
16. Wilcox, Roger M. "Music". Roger M. Wilcox's Shallow Hal gushing fan page. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
17. "Grey’s Anatomy Song List". Grey’s Anatomy Soundtracks. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
18. TiToubidou (12 May 2007). "Ivy - Edge of the Ocean". YouTube. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
19. "Season 2 Music". Roswell Music Guide. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
20. "The Band Ivy: Discog". Retrieved 21 November 2015.
21. "Shallow Hal (2001) - Soundtracks". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
22. Wilson, MacKenzie. "Roswell [Original Television Soundtrack] - Original Soundtrack". Allmusic. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
23. "Angel Eyes (2001) - Soundtracks". IMDB. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
24. "Music and Lyrics (2007) - Soundtracks". IMDB. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
25. "The Music Of Veronica Mars: Episode 2-10: "One Angry Veronica"". The Music of Veronica Mars. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
26. ""Veronica Mars" Meet John Smith (2004) - Soundtracks". IMDB. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
27. "I'm with Lucy (2002) Soundtrack". mooviees.com. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
28. "Insomnia (2002) Soundtrack". mooviees.com. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
29. "WitchbladeMusic". solitaryphoenix.com. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
30. "Witchblade Music Located....". witchbladeconnections.yuku.com. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
31. "The 4400 - Various Artists". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
32. "In the Mix (2005) Soundtrack". mooviees.com. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
33. Fonseca, Nicholas (26 March 2004). "Credit Check". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 November 2011.