100 Broken Windows

Background and production

Idlewild released their debut studio album Hope Is Important in October 1998. It peaked at number 53 in the UK, while all of its four singles appeared on the UK Singles Chart, with "When I Argue I See Shapes" reaching the highest at number 24. The band wrote and recorded their next album in sections during their 120-date promotional tour for Hope Is Important. While writing the album, lead singer Roddy Woomble revisited Scottish folk music that he had grown up listening to prior to discarding it for nosier forms of music, as well as American rock. Between May and November 1999, recording sessions were held at AIR Studios in London, Jacob's Studio in Surrey, Rockfield Studios in Wales, and Electrical Audio in Chicago, Illinois.

Woomble had been enamored with bands such as June of 44 and Slint; Idlewild contacted Bob Weston and sent him some demos. Weston, who liked the demos, went to London to work with the band.

Woomble said they didn't want to be viewed as "just as a rowdy night out for teenagers"; with the creation of "Little Discourage" and "Roseability", the band had a newfound confidence. They visited Weston in Chicago to finish working on some tracks. Eringa revisited the material the band had done during their first session with Weston, and had them re-sing some vocal sections. Weston recorded "Listen to What You've Got", "Rusty", and "The Bronze Medal", while Eringa produced the remaining tracks, and did additional recording for "The Bronze Medal". They were assisted by John Bailey, Matt Ollivier, Lee Butler, and Willie Deans. All recordings were by mixed by Eringa at CaVa Studios in Glasgow in December 1999, except for "Rusty", which was mixed by Weston in Chicago.

Composition and lyrics

Musically, the sound of 100 Broken Windows has been described as indie punk, and was compared to 1980s alternative acts, such as R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü. Woomble said the Smiths served as a big influence on the album. The album saw Woomble sing in his own accent, in contrast to the previous releases where he leaned towards a more American vocal. Rich Hughes of The Line of Best Fit said the band got the "mix perfect between their REM-influenced literary rock and their punk past". Ink 19 writer Marcel Feldmar said it "conjures up some of the best moments of Swervedriver, and at other moments you just get lost in the power and passion, pulling in a ferocity like the New Model Army up in arms again". Discussing the title, guitarist Rod Jones said Woomble had written it in a book sometime prior, and that it dealt the album's topical theme of dissatisfaction. Woomble said the lyrics reference subject matter such as postmodernism, the Scottish mountains, crofting, and Gertrude Stein. He said the band were improving as songwriters, "but not so much for the album to lose its raw edges". Jeff Jackson of Sonic said the lyrics bounce between "straightforward declarations and enigmatic wordplay, the songs unfurl their meanings in short bursts and volleys".

100 Broken Windows opens with "Little Discourage", a track that beings with a Nirvana-esque guitar part. Its call-and-response chorus section contains touches of new wave keyboards. "Roseability" is an alternative rock track; Woomble said he was inspired by a poem by Gertrude Stein.

The song "Idea Track" was subsequently named after this, and deals with optimism. The chorus sections came about as Woomble was unable to settle on a melody that he enjoyed, so Eringa combined all six existing vocal takes into one. The bridge section features a violin performance from Jones, as they had found the instrument while at Jacob's. "Let Me Sleep (Next to the Mirror)" is a mid-tempo song that recalls the early work of the Smashing Pumpkins. "Listen to What You've Got" evoked the work of the Pixies, which Woomble attributed to the American underground rock they liked. As the song was done in Chicago with Weston, Jones was able to use Steve Albini's Travis Bean and IVP guitars to give it "that buzzsaw guitar sound".

"Actually It's Darkness" opens with a post-punk keyboard part, before switching into Oi!-era guitar riff, with a piano-centred bridge section. During one weekend, Eringa was working as a sound engineer for a Manic Street Preachers show; Idlewild got drunk in the studio, attempting to cover "Save Tonight" (1997) by Eagle-Eye Cherry, and wrote "Mistake Pageant" in the process. The album ends with the ballad "The Bronze Medal", which recalled "All Apologies" (1993) by Nirvana.

Release

In July and August 1999, Idlewild played a handful of shows in mainland Europe and the UK, including an appearance at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. In September 1999, the band embarked on a tour of the UK. Coinciding with this, "Little Discourage" was released as a single on 20 September 1999. The music video for "Little Discourage" was directed by James and Alex. On 13 January 2000, 100 Broken Windows was announced for released in three months' time. In March and April 2000, the band toured across the UK; Jeremy Mills of Peeps into Fairyland served as the band's touring guitarist for the trek.

"Actually It's Darkness" was released as a single on 27 March 2000. Two versions were released on CD: the first with "Meet Me at the Harbour" and "West Haven", while the second featured "Forgot to Follow", and a cover of "It'll Take a Long Time" (1972) by Sandy Denny. The music video for "Actually It's Darkness" was directed by James and Alex. The album's booklet includes a black-and-white map of Outer Hebrides. In another part of the booklet, "Subject: History" is mentioned, which Woomble had a double meaning: when people inquired as to the subject matter of their songs; when they worked with Weston, the tapes had a section on the label listed as "Subject", intended for the name of the band, though Weston wrote topics like geography and history.

100 Broken Windows was promoted with an instore performance at the HMV shop in Edinburgh, a one-off gig that was broadcast on Japanese TV, as well as appearances on Later... with Jools Holland and Top of the Pops. They then embarked on a tour of Europe with Muse in May 2000, leading up to the single release of "These Wooden Ideas" on 12 June 2000. Two versions were released on CD: the first with "There's Glory in Your Story" and a cover of "When the Ship Comes In" (1964) by Bob Dylan, while the second included an acoustic version of "Actually It's Darkness", and a cover of "Rescue" (1980) by Echo & the Bunnymen. The music video for "These Wooden Ideas" was directed by James and Alex.

In between of these shows, Jones accompanied Graham Coxon on his solo tour of the UK in July 2000. The concept for the "Roseability" video stemmed from the label asking if they could create a "straightforward video" as the previous ones were not shown till after midnight. As James and Alex were busy, the band settled on Gee, who had previously worked with other acts on Parlophone, such as Coldplay and Radiohead; they invited their fans to appear in the video. 100 Broken Windows was released in the US on 13 March 2001 through Capitol and Odeon Records. "Little Discourage" was released to US modern rock radio stations on 11 June 2001.

100 Broken Windows was played in full in December 2008 at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow as part of a series of shows where the band performed all of their albums. It was released as a two-CD package with Hope Is Important in 2002, and then with their third studio album The Remote Part in 2011. A 10th anniversary two-CD version of 100 Broken Windows was released in 2010, with B-sides, demos, and radio session versions. The band performed the album in its entirety again, in 2010 in Edinburgh. "Roseability", "These Wooden Ideas", "Let Me Sleep (Next to the Mirror)", and "Little Discourage" were included on the band's first compilation album, Scottish Fiction: Best of 1997–2007 (2007), alongside the music videos for all of the album's singles. "Roseability", "Actually It's Darkness", "Idea Track", "Little Discourage", and the remix of "Rusty" were included on the band's third compilation album, The Collection (2010).

Reception

Original reviews

100 Broken Windows was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. Entertainment Weekly writer Brian M. Raftery said Woomble's voice was "backed by rousing punk guitars and a ceaseless energy. The results are flashes of beauty and menace, often [...] in one song." Octavio Hernandez of La Opinión said it was an "energetic recording", with Woomble's " brilliant voice and a rhythmic skeleton of great flavor". Spin Jon Dolan wrote that the album was an "astounding follow-up" to Hope Is Important. The staff at NME said melody is "now paramount over velocity, the rough edges of reckless spontaneity smoothed by the high-gloss patina of responsible coherence". They noted that the album "gracefully enacts the sort of awkward, jarring progression another band would take several albums to complete."

Keith Gwillim of Stylus write that the band made music that is "all bluster and belligerence on the surface, but goes much deeper", showcasing that they were capable of "stealing from the past and making it your own". AllMusic reviewer MacKenzie Wilson noted that the band "scale back a bit" on the album, while showing they had "grown up". Chris Lorraine for Blender said that while it was a "melodic, chorus-catchy disc", the band's "need to kick into a loud anthemic chorus on each song feels a bit by-the-book".

Retrospective reviews

The List writer Camilla Pia said the album was "slightly out of step with the modern world and yet meant so much to those who ‘got it. Dan Bean of The Press wrote that the album has "dated little" since its release, with "Little Discourage" "setting the pace and style of the album". The Skinny PJ Meiklem noted that a few of tracks had "all the melodic clues" that would be expanded upon with their next album The Remote Part. He added that ten years removed from its release, 100 Broken Windows was "still a powerful record".

Commercial performance and accolades

100 Broken Windows peaked at number six in Scotland, and number 24 in the UK. and number 23 in the UK. and number 32 in the UK. and number 38 in the UK. By July 2003, it has sold 35,000 copies in the US.

Spin ranked it at number one on their list of overlooked albums from the year. The Skinny ranked the album as number one on their Scottish Albums of the Decade list. Kerrang! included it on their list of Seven Amazing British Rock Albums From A Golden Era between 1999 and 2002. Fatherson have cited it as an influence on their third album Sum of All Your Parts (2018), while Mastersystem have cited it and Hope Is Important as influences on their debut album Dance Music (2018).

Track listing

All songs by Idlewild.

1. "Little Discourage" – 3:08
2. "I Don't Have the Map" – 2:14
3. "These Wooden Ideas" – 3:52
4. "Roseability" – 3:38
5. "Idea Track" – 3:13
6. "Let Me Sleep (Next to the Mirror)" – 3:20
7. "Listen to What You've Got" – 2:32
8. "Actually It's Darkness" – 2:39
9. "Rusty" – 4:17
10. "Mistake Pageant" – 2:49
11. "Quiet Crown" – 3:21
12. "The Bronze Medal" – 3:35

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. Idlewild

• Bob Fairfoull – bass
• Rod Jones – guitar
• Colin Newton – drums
• Roddy Woomble – vocals Production and design
• Bob Weston – recording (tracks 7, 9 and 12), mixing (track 9)
• Dave Eringa – producer, mixing (all except track 9), additional recording (track 12)
• John Bailey – studio assistant
• Matt Ollivier – studio assistant
• Lee Butler – studio assistant
• Willie Deans – studio assistant
• Ian Ritterskamp – cover photograph
• Chika – band photography
• Anonymous – design

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Certifications

References

Citations

Sources

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