The Book of Daniel (album)

The Book of Daniel
Studio album by Danny!
Released February 29, 2016
Genre Pop
Length 64:37
Label StarTower Music, Ltd.
Producer Danny!
Danny! chronology
Payback
(2012)		 The Book Of Daniel
(2016)
Alternate cover
UK retail cover version
Singles from The Book of Daniel
  1. "Constellations"
    Released: February 14, 2016
  2. "Perfect"
    Released: February 28, 2016
  3. "(They're Gonna) Let You Down"
    Released: March 22, 2016

The Book of Daniel or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Be the Bomb, more commonly known as The Book of Daniel, is the eighth studio album from Atlanta recording artist and producer Danny!. GQ Magazine was the first to report about the album[1] originally titled "Deliverance"; The Book of Daniel was slated for a Leap Day 2016 release and is Danny!'s first since 2012's Okayplayer LP Payback under the tutelage of Questlove of The Roots.

According to an ambiguous press statement released by a spokesperson for Kanye West,[2] The Book of Daniel is either a companion piece to, or a rival record of, West's similarly-titled The Life of Pablo; it should be noted that The Book of Daniel was available for pre-order as early as December 2015[3] while West's The Life of Pablo wasn't given its title—and was still in production—until February of the following year.

Background

Produced entirely by Danny! himself, The Book of Daniel is named after the 27th book in the modern Christian Bible, with whom Danny!'s birth name also shares a source, and features twelve songs to match the twelve chapters of the album's namesake. The record also mirrors the biblical chapter's motif of overcoming excessive hardship; in the years since, and preceding, the release of Payback, Danny! had experienced divorce, depression, homelessness and subsequent alcohol dependency. As such, the album's themes are notably darker and, by Danny!'s own admission, "sadder" in contrast to previous offerings in his discography; up until 2012, he has quipped, "[I] hadn't really gone through sh*t.".[4] The subtitle of The Book of Daniel is a reference to the Stanley Kubrick-directed film "Dr. Strangelove" and also alludes to the personal growth afforded to Danny! in the wake of events that almost "destroyed" him.[4]

The realization that personal happiness stems from accepting "[life] is all bullshit" is one of the album's main themes, and is repeated often throughout the entirety of the LP. Many song titles on The Book of Daniel reference album or song titles by Paul McCartney, Melanie Safka, the Rolling Stones and other bands from the 1960s-70s.

Content

Several songs speak about the contemplation of suicide; the hot air balloon on the cover of The Book of Daniel's UK retail version is a reference to a lyric found on the final track "Cry Of A Dreamer (Loner's Lullaby)", where Danny! considers leaping to his death from one, "impaling [him]self on anything around". The original cover of The Book of Daniel featured an illustration of a weeping Danny! with a gun pointed at the right side of his head. This was modified shortly after being delivered to retail following a complaint from Target.[1] The Book of Daniel is also Danny!'s second studio album after Where Is Danny? to not feature his name or album title on the cover, but rather imagery reflecting the album's content. However, the Japanese import version of the album features the title name and depicts photographs of Danny! in what appears to be a 19th century library.

Appearances from Just Blaze, James Poyser of The Roots and Miri Ben-Ari were the first to be announced for The Book of Daniel[1] as early as 2013, with Phonte, Anthony David and Missy Elliott being confirmed as guest artists the following year. In a recent interview, Danny! acknowledged the fusion of musical genres such as folk, pop, gospel and electronica/downtempo into the overall sound of the album as "Supa Dupa Fly meets Odelay meets Stoneground Words meets St. Elsewhere meets Blue meets Stankonia, with a smidgen of Paul's Boutique".

A substantial amount of the album features harmonies and melodies sung by Danny! and, outside of the reflection on his personal struggles, touches on subjects such as virginity, homophobia, Bill Cosby's sexual assault allegations and subsequent arrest, and the recent Paris terrorist attacks. Nearly every track has a "switch-up" point where the entire instrumental will change or become enhanced until the song's end, similar to many Timbaland productions during the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was done to parallel the fitful range of emotions experienced by Danny! that inspired the album's content as well as to signal the start of a new "verse" within a song's "chapter", as if in an actual Bible.

After initial copies of The Book of Daniel were sent to press, the "Yellow Submarine"-inspired "Mystery Dragon's Magical Aquarium (Molly's Song)" was ordered to be truncated on the tracklisting to simply "Molly's Song" so as not to allude to ectasy usage on a track featuring, and seemingly made for, children.[1] Danny! named the track as homage to the minor controversies that surrounded many songs released during the psychadelia movement of the 1960s, namely "Puff, The Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary and the Beatles' "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", of which the latter title's own initials allegedly allude to the experimental drug popular during the songs' era.[5] It is worth noting, however, that neither song overtly advocates drug use[4] but, at face value, contain nonsensical lyrics for children.

Promotion

In anticipation for the new album, Danny! leaked a snippet of "Sweet Virginia" on his once-defunct Tumblr blog in early November 2015,[6] followed by daily instrumental cues shared on his Instagram page leading up to the album's release date.

Track listing

No. TitleMusicSample(s) Length
1. "Smile Away"  Produced by Danny!  8:01
2. "Constellations"  Produced by Danny!  5:17
3. "Sweet Virginia"  Produced by Danny!  4:57
4. "Make You Wait"  Produced by Danny!  3:15
5. "Fly Away"  Produced by Danny!  5:16
6. "Oh My (Interlude)"  Produced by Danny!  4:04
7. "Summer Weaving"  Produced by Danny!  4:25
8. "Perfect"  Produced by Danny!  5:22
9. "Love U 2 Much"  Produced by Danny!  4:39
10. "(They're Gonna) Let You Down"  Produced by Danny!  4:57
11. "Mystery Dragon's Magical Aquarium (Molly's Song)"  Produced by Danny!  9:39
12. "Cry Of A Dreamer (Loner's Lullaby)"  Produced by Danny!  4:00

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Phili, Stelios (2014-03-05). "The GQ+A". GQ. Retrieved 2014-03-05.
  2. ↑ Saul, Heather (2016-02-10). "Our only comment is T.L.O.P. will be in stores February 11 and The Book Of Daniel will be in stores 29 February.". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
  3. ↑ Swain, Danny (2015-12-12). "Pre-Order The Book Of Daniel". Instagram. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  4. 1 2 3 Jeffries, David (2013-03-11). "Danny!: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  5. ↑ Lennon, John (2013-06-25). "John Lennon Explaining "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"". YouTube. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  6. ↑ Swain, Daniel (2015-11-26). "Sweet Virginia (demo)". Tumblr. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
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