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A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation

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2007 studio album by The Wombats
A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
Studio album by The Wombats
Released5 November 2007
RecordedRockfield Studios, Monmouth, Wales
Electric Lady Studios, New York City, United States
Brick Lane, London, England
RAK Studios, London, England
GenreIndie rock, post-punk, new wave
Length44:24
Label14th Floor
ProducerStephen Harris, The Wombats, Jimmy Robertson
The Wombats chronology
Girls, Boys and Marsupials
(2006) 		A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
(2007) 		This Modern Glitch
(2011)
Singles from A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
  1. "Moving to New York"
    Released: 26 October 2006
  2. "Backfire at the Disco"
    Released: 9 April 2007
  3. "Kill the Director"
    Released: 25 June 2007
  4. "Let's Dance to Joy Division"
    Released: 8 October 2007
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic65/100
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Digital Spy
The Guardian
LAUNCHcast(7/10)
NME(7/10)
Pitchfork Media(5.9/10)
Spin
stv.tv
This Is Fake DIY
Yahoo! Music UK

The Wombats Proudly Present A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, usually shortened to A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, is the debut major studio album by English rock band the Wombats. It was released by 14th Floor Records on 5 November 2007. Most of the songs first appeared on the band's 2006 Japan-only album Girls, Boys and Marsupials. A DVD to accompany the album includes footage of the band at the South by Southwest festival, along with music videos from their recent singles.

The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios and reached No. 11 in the UK Albums Chart. It contains a pregap before the first track, which contains the band attempting to make wine glasses "ring" and extolling the virtues of the French wine Beaujolais, ending with them performing a mock advert for Beaujolais. The album had sold 335,361 copies in the UK as of April 2015.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Matthew Murphy, except where noted; all music is composed by The Wombats, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."Tales of Girls, Boys & Marsupials" (lyrics by The Wombats)1:10
2."Kill the Director"2:42
3."Moving to New York"3:31
4."Lost in the Post"3:06
5."Party in a Forest (Where's Laura?)"3:27
6."School Uniforms"3:14
7."Here Comes the Anxiety"2:31
8."Let's Dance to Joy Division"3:11
9."Backfire at the Disco"3:13
10."Little Miss Pipedream"4:12
11."Dr. Suzanne Mattox PhD" (includes elements from the chorus of "Help Me, Rhonda", by the Beach Boys)3:33
12."Patricia the Stripper"4:01
13."My First Wedding" (track ends at 4:36. hidden track; Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials piano instrumentation version)6:38
iTunes bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."Derail and Crash"3:29
15."Metro Song"3:51
Bonus DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Let's Dance to Joy Division" (video) 
2."Kill the Director" (video) 
3."Backfire at the Disco" (video) 
4."Moving to New York" (video) 
5."The Wombats in Austin" 
6."Found Footage" 

Personnel

  • Matthew Murphy – vocals, guitar, synthesizers, piano
  • Dan Haggis – backing vocals, drums, synthesizers, piano, stylophone, harmonica, melodica
  • Tord Øverland-Knudsen – backing vocals, bass, synthesizers, cello
  • Llangattock Primary School – kids choir on "Let's Dance to Joy Division"
  • Ian McNabb - banjo

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) 35
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts) 57
UK Albums Chart (OCC) 11
US Heatseeker Albums 20
Chart (2023) Peak
position
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) 39

Year-end charts

Chart (2008) Position
UK Albums (OCC) 74

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) Gold 35,000
United Kingdom (BPI) Platinum 300,000

Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. "Reviews for A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation by The Wombats - Metacritic". Metacritic.
  2. ^ Mason, Stewart. "A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation - The Wombats". AllMusic.
  3. Alex Fletcher (6 November 2007). "The Wombats: 'A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation'". Digital Spy.
  4. Leonie Cooper (2 November 2007). "CD: The Wombats, A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation". the Guardian.
  5. "LAUNCHcast review". yahoo.com.
  6. "NME Reviews - The Wombats: A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation". NME. 30 October 2007.
  7. "The Wombats: A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation". Pitchfork.
  8. Young, Jon (23 June 2008). "The Wombats, 'The Wombats Proudly Present…A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation'". Spin. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
  9. "stv.tv review". Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  10. Mutch, John (11 May 2007). "The Wombats - A Guide To Love, Loss and Desperation: Album Review". This Is Fake DIY. Archived from the original on 25 February 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
  11. "Yahoo Celebrity UK". Yahoo.
  12. Jones, Alan (20 April 2015). "Official Charts Analysis: Paul Simon scores 6th No.1 with 15,487 sales". Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  13. ^ "A Guide To Love Loss & Desperation". acharts.us.
  14. "The Wombats". billboard.com.
  15. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2023. 18. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  16. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 - 2008". officialcharts.com.
  17. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  18. "British album certifications – The Wombats – A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation". British Phonographic Industry.

External links

The Wombats
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Tours
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