It's Never Been Like That

It's Never Been Like That is the third studio album by French indie pop band Phoenix. It was released 15 May 2006 in Europe. The album was preceded by the release of the singles "Long Distance Call" and "Consolation Prizes"

It's Never Been Like That
Studio album by
Released15 May 2006
Genre
Length36:54
LabelEMI, Source, Astralwerks, Arts & Crafts
ProducerPhoenix
Phoenix chronology
Live! Thirty Days Ago
(2004)
It's Never Been Like That
(2006)
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
(2009)
Singles from It's Never Been Like That
  1. "Long Distance Call"
    Released: 8 May 2006
  2. "Consolation Prizes"
    Released: 11 September 2006

The album was later re-released in Mexico as a tour edition with four bonus tracks recorded live in Oslo on 20 April 2006.

Commercial performance

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As of 2013, sales in the United States have exceeded 92,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[1]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [3]
The A.V. ClubA[4]
Entertainment WeeklyB[5]
NME6/10[6]
The Observer     [7]
Pitchfork8.0/10[8]
Q     [9]
Rolling Stone     [10]
Slant Magazine     [11]
Spin     [12]

It's Never Been Like That was rated number 13 in Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2006[13] and 38 in their Top Albums of the 2000s.[14]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Phoenix

It's Never Been Like That track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Napoleon Says"3:13
2."Consolation Prizes"3:16
3."Rally"3:17
4."Long Distance Call"3:04
5."One Time Too Many"3:40
6."Lost and Found"2:56
7."Courtesy Laughs"3:14
8."North"5:01
9."Sometimes in the Fall"5:49
10."Second to None"3:25
11."Diet of the Heart" (iTunes bonus track)1:03
Mexican tour edition / 2006 Virgin Music (France) edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Napoleon Says" (live)3:23
12."Rally" (live)3:18
13."Sometimes in the Fall" (live)6:07
14."Second to None" (live)6:29

Notes

  • This edition of the album is referred to as the "New Edition". It was released in France and on tour in Mexico back in 2006, but is now being sold as a 2009 release in the US.
  • The live tracks were recorded in Oslo on 20 April 2006.

Charts

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Chart performance for It's Never Been Like That
Chart (2006) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 81
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] 74
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[17] 86
Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[17] 50
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[18] 89
French Albums (SNEP)[19] 34
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 41
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[21] 118
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[22] 14
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[23] 18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 66
UK Albums (OCC)[25] 108
US Top Heatseeker Albums (Billboard)[26] 23

Release history

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Release history and formats for It's Never Been Like That
Country Date Label Format Catalog
Japan 10 May 2006 Toshiba-EMI CD TOCP-66575
United Kingdom
Europe
15 May 2006 Source LP SOURLP123 / 0946 3 55716 1 5
CD CDSOUR123 / 0946 3 60910 2 0
United States 23 May 2006 Astralwerks LP ASW-55716 / 0946 3 55716 1 5
CD ASW-60911 / 0946 3 60911 2 9
Canada 13 June 2006 Arts & Crafts CD AC018

References

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  1. ^ Lipshutz, Jason (5 April 2013). "Phoenix: The Billboard Cover Story". Billboard. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Reviews for It's Never Been Like That by Phoenix". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  3. ^ Theakston, Rob. "It's Never Been Like That – Phoenix". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  4. ^ Murray, Noel (24 May 2006). "Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  5. ^ Sinclair, Tom (19 May 2006). "It's Never Been Like That". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 6 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That". NME. 20 May 2006. p. 31.
  7. ^ Mardles, Paul (23 April 2006). "Phoenix, It's Never Been Like That". The Observer. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  8. ^ Mitchum, Rob (24 May 2006). "Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That". Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  9. ^ "Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That". Q (239): 118. June 2006.
  10. ^ Sheffield, Rob (9 August 2006). "Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  11. ^ Jones, Preston (22 May 2006). "Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  12. ^ Hermes, Will (June 2006). "Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That". Spin. 22 (6): 83. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  13. ^ "Pitchfork Album: Top 50 Albums of 2006". Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2007.
  14. ^ "Staff Lists: The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 50-21 | Features | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 16 October 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  15. ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 9 April 2007" (PDF). Australian Web Archive. 20 April 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 April 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  16. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  17. ^ a b "Ultratop.be – Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  18. ^ "Ultratop.be – Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  19. ^ "Lescharts.com – Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  20. ^ "Officialcharts.de – Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  21. ^ イッツ・ネヴァー・ビン・ライク・ザット (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  22. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  23. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  24. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  25. ^ "UK Chartlog: Rodney P. – The Pussycat Dolls". zobbel.de. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  26. ^ "It's Never Been Like That - Phoenix Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 29 April 2014.