After The Rain

About

After the Rain is the debut album of the American rock group Nelson, released by DGC Records in 1990. The album was a commercial succe, peaking at number 17 on the Billboard 200 and spending 64 weeks on the chart. It contained the #1 hit, "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" which was also a gold single. The follow-up single, "After the Rain", also reached the Hot 100's top 10, peaking at #6 in February 1991. The album was eventually certified double platinum by RIAA. Writing and composition: Matthew and Gunnar Nelson decided to approach Geffen Records for a record deal. They began talks with A&R executive John Kalodner. According to Gunnar, they met with Kalodner "every month for a year", during which he filtered the songs they brought him until they had enough for an album. Most of the songs of the album were co-written with Marc Tanner, who was introduced to the band by Tom Vicker. Gunnar Nelson described the collaborating process in an interview as "magical" and praised Tanner for being "very supportive of our own instincts and our melodic sense". Tanner also produced the album. After a year of meeting with Kalodner without being signed, Matthew and Gunnar met with him alone, against the wishes of their manager, and played an acoustic version of "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection". Kalodner was so impressed that the band was signed the next day. As they prepared to record, Matthew and Gunnar started assembling a band. They settled on drummer Bobby Rock, Joey Cathcart, Brett Garsed, and Paul Mirkovich. Mirkovich also contributed an "Interlude" to the album. In the making of the album, there were several issues in creating the album. One was that Gunnar could not play guitar. Gunnar stated, "But what if I took a year off and all I did for that year was play guitar for 10 hours a day, every day?" Gunnar ended up studying and learning how to play. Another issue was their songwriting. Then another issue was the producers for the album: they had to fight the label to get Tanner behind production, and they were initially supposed to work with Duane Baron and John Purdell, which both never worked out. Eventually, they worked with Tanner and co-producer David Thoener, who helped shape Nelson's influences into a modern, radio-friendly sound. Recording: After the Rain was recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angele, and Studio B in Hollywood. According to Gunnar Nelson, they weren't "intimidated" by the proce, despite being relatively new to the industry. He also credits co-writer and producer Marc Tanner for keeping them focused. According to the Nelson, Geffen producer John Kalodner "basically let us do our own thing". Gunnar has said that Kalodner's process of filtering songs before signing them helped them sort out their material and made it easy for them to come up with the songs for the album. Reception: After the Rain was released on June 26, 1990, and became an instant succe, peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard 200. It also demonstrated staying power, remaining in the charts for 64 week. The album was eventually certified double platinum by RIAA after selling more than 2,000,000 copie. As a result of the success of the album, the band began a world tour with over 300 concert. The Chicago Tribune noted that "the Nelsons are decent enough guitar players and singers but have yet to put together a strong sound for their band, which relies heavily on '70s-style riffs that vaguely recall Boston and Foreigner". Aftermath: .

via Last.fm

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