Lonely Road
An image of four men standing together, covered in shadows.
Studio album by
the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
ReleasedFebruary 3, 2009
RecordedMarch 2008
StudioValley Village, California
Genre
Length40:17
LabelVirgin
ProducerHoward Benson
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus chronology
Don't You Fake It
(2006)		 Lonely Road
(2009)		 Am I the Enemy
(2011)
Alternative covers
Limited vinyl edition cover
Singles from Lonely Road
  1. "You Better Pray"
    Released: October 15, 2008
  2. "Pen & Paper"
    Released: February 27, 2009

Lonely Road is the second studio album by American rock band the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, which was released on February 3, 2009. The album received a mixed reception from critics. Lonely Road debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200 and spawned two singles: "You Better Pray" and "Pen & Paper". To promote the record, the band toured across Asia, Australia and North America, with appearances at music festivals.

Background

In March 2008, Alternative Press reported that the band were currently in the studio.[2]

Release

"You Better Pray" was posted on the band's Myspace profile on November 7, 2008, before being released to radio on November 18, 2008.[3][4] On November 22, 2008, it was announced that the group's next album, Lonely Road, would be released in three months' time. In the same announcement, the album's track listing was revealed.[5] On December 5, 2008, "Pen & Paper" was released as a free download. Shortly afterwards, the band toured throughout the remainder of the month.[6] On December 15, a music video for "You Better Pray" premiered on MTV2's Unleashed programme.[7] A day later, it was revealed that guitarist Elias Reidy had left the band back two months prior. In addition, the album's cover art was posted.[8] Following this, the band started touring again in early January, running into early February.[6] On January 14, 2009, "Pull Me Back" and "Represent" were posted on te band's Myspace.[9] On January 28, the band's show in Toronto was cancelled due to a snow storm.[10]

Three weeks before the debut of the album, the songs "Represent", "Pull Me Back" and "Believe" were made available for free streaming from their website.[11] On January 23, the album was made available for streaming through the band's Myspace.[12] Lonely Road was released on February 3 through major label Virgin Records.[13] The vinyl version of the album featured different artwork and included the album on the CD.[14] The band went on tour in Asia later in February,[13] followed by an appearance at Soundwave festival in Australia in February and March.[15] "Pen & Paper" impacted radio on March 3.[16] In April, the band went on a tour of the US with Secondhand Serenade.[17] On August 19, 2009, a music video was released for "Pen & Paper".[18]

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic54/100[19]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[20]
Alternative Addiction[21]
Alternative Press
Rock on Request(favorable) link
Rolling Stone[22]

Lonely Road garnered mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 54, based on 5 reviews.[19] A writer from Alternative Addiction wrote that the band "expanded outside their pop punk sound", saying that "No Spell" and the title track contain "a heavy dose of pop" and both "You Better Pray" and "Pleads and Postcards" "blend[s] into the rock territory," saying they've "added on some new things that they couldn’t or didn’t do with the last album and they built on the things they did well."[21] Rolling Stone's Christian Hoard said about the record, "The band skips between emo pop and orchestral pomp while applying plenty of major-label gloss. The result: Much of the time the Jumpsuits end up sounding like a lesser version of Hawthorne Heights."[22] AllMusic writer Andrew Leahey panned the album for overreaching on tracks that either contain "symphonic string schmaltz and fist-pumping guitars ("Represent")" or get excessive by adding "an honest-to-God gospel during the title track," and criticized Ronnie Winter's vocal delivery of "acrobatic flips around every melody, oversinging the songs within an inch of their lives." He concluded that "Don't You Fake It may have suffered from a lack of variety, but Lonely Road is plagued by different diseases: misguided ambition, outlandish excess, and a bad case of the ol' sophomore slump."[20]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200, selling 26,000 copies in its first week. It outperformed their debut effort Don't You Fake It, which placed at number 25 and sold 1,000 fewer copies.[23]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Ronnie Winter, all music written by Ronnie Winter, Elias Reidy, and Duke Kitchens.

No.TitleLength
1."You Better Pray"3:35
2."No Spell"3:03
3."Pen & Paper"3:24
4."Represent"3:24
5."Pull Me Back"3:10
6."Step Right Up"3:47
7."Believe"4:14
8."Pleads and Postcards"3:28
9."Lonely Road"4:14
10."Senioritis"2:20
11."Godspeed"5:37

Personnel

  • Ronnie Winter – lead vocals, keyboard
  • Elias Reidy – lead guitar, backing vocals
  • Duke Kitchens – rhythm guitar
  • Joey Westwood – bass guitar
  • Jon Wilkes – drums, percussion

Charts

Chart performance for Lonely Road
Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[24] 41
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[25] 35
US Billboard 200[26] 14
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[27] 3
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[28] 5

References

  1. ↑ "Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, "Lonely Road"". Boston.com. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  2. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus announce acoustic East Coast tour". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. March 6, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ "AllAccess.com Alternative eWeekly". AllAccess. November 11, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ Paul, Aubin (November 7, 2008). "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: 'You Better Pray'". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  5. ↑ Paul, Aubin (November 22, 2008). "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus detail new album". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  6. 1 2 "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus announce U.S. tour dates". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. December 5, 2008. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  7. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus to premiere video on MTV2". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. December 11, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Red Jumpsuit Apparatus guitarist departs, reveal album cover". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. December 16, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  9. ↑ Paul, Aubin (January 14, 2009). "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: 'Pull Me Back,' 'Represent'". Punknews.org. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
  10. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus cancel Toronto show". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. January 28, 2009. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2009-01-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus post full stream of Lonely Road". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. January 23, 2009. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  13. 1 2 "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Announce Japan Tour and Album". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. December 3, 2008. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Red Jumpsuit Apparatus to release vinyl for Lonely Road". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. December 23, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  15. ↑ Hutton, Sarah (September 23, 2008). "Soundwave Line-up 2009". FasterLouder. Junkee Media. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  16. ↑ "AllAccess.com Alternative eWeekly". AllAccess. February 24, 2009. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  17. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus touring with Secondhand Serenade". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. April 3, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  18. ↑ Paul, Aubin (August 19, 2009). "Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: 'Pen & Paper'". Punknews.org. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  19. 1 2 "Reviews for Lonely Road by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  20. 1 2 Leahey, Andrew. "Lonely Road - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus". AllMusic. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  21. 1 2 "Album Review of Lonely Road by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus". Alternative Addiction. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  22. 1 2 Hoard, Christian (January 23, 2009). "Lonely Road : The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on January 30, 2009. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  23. ↑ Hasty, Katie (February 11, 2009). "The Fray Topples Springsteen On Billboard 200". Billboard. Eldridge Industries. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – Lonely Road". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  25. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  26. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  27. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  28. ↑ "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
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