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Songs of Mass Destruction
Studio album by Annie Lennox
Released	1 October 2007
Recorded	September 2006 – February 2007
Studio	The High Window (Hollywood) Westlake (West Hollywood)
Genre	Pop rock funk rock blues rock soul
Length	46:51
Label	RCA 19
Producer	Glen Ballard
Annie Lennox chronology
Bare (2003) Songs of Mass Destruction (2007) The Annie Lennox Collection (2009)
Singles from Songs of Mass Destruction
"Dark Road" Released: 24 September 2007 "Sing" Released: 1 December 2007

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	68/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Austin Chronicle
Entertainment Weekly	B
The Guardian
Houston Chronicle
Los Angeles Times
People
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Stylus Magazine	D

Songs of Mass Destruction is the fourth solo studio album by Scottish singer Annie Lennox, released on 1 October 2007 by RCA Records and 19 Recordings. It was her first album of new material since 2003's Bare and to date her most recent of original material.

Singles

The first single, "Dark Road", originally appeared on Lennox's Myspace page on 15 August 2007. It was subsequently released as a single on 24 September 2007 and charted at number 58 on the UK Singles Chart.

The second single, "Sing", was released digitally on 1 December 2007 and it had a physical release as a single on 17 March 2008. "Sing" is a collaboration between Lennox and 23 other prominent female acts and artists and is a charity record aimed to raise money and awareness for the HIV/AIDS organization Treatment Action Campaign. The line-up consists of Madonna (who sings solo on the second verse of the song), Anastacia, Isobel Campbell, Dido, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Fergie, Beth Gibbons, Faith Hill, Angélique Kidjo, Beverley Knight, Gladys Knight, k.d. lang, Sarah McLachlan, Beth Orton, Pink, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Joss Stone, Sugababes, KT Tunstall, and Martha Wainwright.

As Lennox reported herself on her official website, this song is about raising money and awareness for what she considers to be the HIV/AIDS genocide:

Several years ago I personally witnessed Nelson Mandela, standing in front of his former prison cell on Robben Island, addressing the world's press. His message was that the pandemic of HIV/AIDS in Africa was in fact, a genocide. Since that time I resolved to do as much as I can to bring attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Critical reception

Songs of Mass Destruction received generally favourable reviews from critics upon its release, holding a Metacritic's average score of 68 out of 100 based on 18 reviews.

Tour

On 13 September 2007, Lennox announced a primarily North American tour for Songs of Mass Destruction called Annie Lennox Sings, which is the third solo tour of her career. Lasting throughout October and November 2007, the tour included 18 stops: London, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boulder, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, New York City (two dates), Philadelphia, and Boston. The venues generally were at medium-size theatres, except in New York City, where one of the dates was a United Nations fundraiser at Wall Street restaurant Cipriani.

Commercial performance

Songs of Mass Destruction debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart with 25,000 copies sold in its first week, and has since been certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It peaked at number nine on the US Billboard 200, selling 78,000 copies its first week. As of October 2010, the album had sold 275,000 copies in the United States and 71,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Annie Lennox, except "Womankind", written by Lennox and Nadirah X

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Songs of Mass Destruction.

Musicians

• Annie Lennox – all vocals, piano, keyboards
• Blair Sinta – drums
• Sean Hurley – bass
• Joel Shearer – guitar
• Randy Kerber – piano, keyboards
• Zac Rae – keyboards
• Glen Ballard – keyboards
• Mike Stevens – keyboards, arrangements
• Eddie Baytos – accordion
• Nadirah X – rap on "Womankind"
• Anastacia, Angélique Kidjo, Beth Gibbons, Beth Orton, Beverley Knight, Bonnie Raitt, Celine Dion, Dido, Faith Hill, Fergie, Gladys Knight, Isobel Campbell, Joss Stone, k.d. lang, KT Tunstall, Madonna, Martha Wainwright, Melissa Etheridge, Pink, Sarah McLachlan, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Sugababes – choir on "Sing"
• The Generics – additional performance on "Sing"

Technical

• Glen Ballard – production
• Tom Lord-Alge – mixing at South Beach Studios (Miami Beach, Florida)
• Femio Hernandez – mix assistance
• Scott Campbell – recording engineering
• Mike Stevens – additional production
• Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City)

Artwork

• Mike Owen – photography
• Allan Martin – design

Charts

Certifications

References

1. ^ "Songs of Mass Destruction reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
2. Songs of Mass Destruction at AllMusic. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
3. Moser, Margalet. "Music Review: Songs of Mass Destruction – Annie Lennox". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2007.
4. Greenblatt, Leah. "Music Review: Songs of Mass Destruction – Annie Lennox". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
5. Sullivan, Caroline (4 October 2007). "Music Review: Songs of Mass Destruction – Annie Lennox". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
6. Guerra, Joey (2 October 2007). "Annie Lennox doesn't wallow in sadness on new disc". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
7. Cromelin, Richard (1 October 2007). "Grit, gospel and an army of Annies". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
8. Arnold, Chuck (8 October 2007). "Picks and Pans Review: Songs of Mass Destruction". People. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
9. "Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
10. "Slant Magazine review". Slant Magazine. 27 September 2007. Archived from the original on 5 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
11. Stylus Magazine review Archived 2 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
12. "Annie Lennox Official MySpace Site". Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
13. RCA Label Group (UK) | News | Annie Lennox – A choir of 23 renowned female artists join Annie on her new album Archived 26 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
14. Official site for "Sing" Archived 26 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 29 January 2008.
15. ^ Sexton, Paul (11 October 2007). "Bruce Bosses European Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
16. Hasty, Katie (10 October 2007). "Springsteen Is Boss of Album Chart With 'Magic'". Billboard.
17. ^ McLean, Craig. "Annie Lennox Draws Upon Childhood for Christmas Album". Billboard. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
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41. "British album certifications – Annie Lennox – Songs of Mass Destruction". British Phonographic Industry. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2021.

• 2007 albums
• 19 Recordings albums
• Albums produced by Glen Ballard
• Albums recorded at Westlake Recording Studios
• Annie Lennox albums
• Blues rock albums by Scottish artists
• Funk rock albums by Scottish artists
• RCA Records albums