Hopes and Fears is the debut album by the English alternative rock band Keane. It was released on 10 May 2004 in the United Kingdom and topped the UK Albums Chart upon release. It was the UK's second best-selling album of 2004, and has since been certified 9× Platinum by the BPI. The album returned to the top of the charts after winning a Brit Award for Best Album in February 2005.

With more than 2.7 million copies sold in the UK, Hopes and Fears ranks the 11th-best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK. In July 2011, it was ranked the 9th-highest-selling album of the 21st century in the UK. As of September 2019 it is the 36th-best-selling album in UK chart history. Worldwide, the album has sold over 5.8 million copies . It was also among ten albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards in 2010, ultimately losing to (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis.

Background and recording Most songs were already composed by the album's conception date; the track "She Has No Time" was composed circa 1999, making it the earliest composed song appearing on the album. Some were already played in a guitar-led form with Dominic Scott still in the band. The tracks "On a Day Like Today" and "We Might As Well Be Strangers" were the last to be composed, circa 2003.

Four songs on the album were recorded in Normandy, France, on the property of the record producer James Sanger, from July to November 2001. Sanger co-wrote these songs, including "This Is the Last Time" and "Bedshaped". The rest of the album was recorded at Helioscentric Studios in Peasmarsh, Rye, by Andy Green and the band from September to Christmas 2003. Sanger did not attend any recording sessions in England.

The album was mixed down to six channels to enable a release on Super Audio CD (SACD).

Hal Leonard music published two versions of the official score book for Hopes and Fears, designed for differing skill levels. The Music Sales Group also published a book, including two demo CDs with accompanying bass and drum tracks.

Critical reception

Hopes and Fears received generally positive reviews from critics. Review-aggregating website Metacritic, reported a normalised score of 61/100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally favourable" reviews.

Playlouder was very positive, calling it "one of the best albums you'll hear this year", as was Q magazine, which gave it four out of five stars and wrote that "as a debut album, its confidence is right up there with [Oasis's] Definitely Maybe." AllMusic, giving the album four and a half out of five stars, praised its "beautiful, emotive dalliance of instrumentation", singer Tom Chaplin's "rich vocals", and the band's "open-hearted ambition...audible on every song", while Rolling Stone noted that the album "contains more hooks than most pop groups manage in their careers."

In a mixed three-star review, The Guardian criticised the first half the album for "rely[ing] too heavily on Chaplin's show-stopping vocals" and for the "radio-friendly simplicity of the lyrics", while praising "Can't Stop Now" as a "swooning, epic pop song" and the "booming drum and bass" of "Untitled 1" on the second half. Drowned in Sound gave it 5 out of 10, accusing Keane of excessively imitating Coldplay (specifically comparing "Your Eyes Open" and "On a Day Like Today" to, respectively, "Daylight" and "Politik" on the band's album A Rush of Blood to the Head), criticising the album as being "stylistically all over the place" and its lyrics as being "immature" and "cringe-worthy". However, it gave credit to the album's "fine moments", praising lead single "Somewhere Only We Know", for example, as "breathtaking".

Legacy In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums and NME organised a poll in which 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever, and Hopes and Fears was placed at number 51 on the list."Oasis album voted greatest of all time". The Times. 1 June 2006 The album was ranked number 5 in Amazon's Best Selling Albums of the Decade. In 2005, the album won the Brit Award for best album. In 2010 the album was nominated for Brit awards in the category Album of 30 Years; however, it lost to Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

In 2011, Q magazine made a list called 250 Best Albums of Q's Lifetime 1986–2010 and the album appeared at number 34.

Track listing Original release

Japanese edition

International editions

Deluxe edition Issued in 2009. The first CD includes the original UK track list, as seen above, plus tracks 13–19. The second CD presents B-sides, early singles, and other rare tracks.

Personnel Keane Tom Chaplin – lead vocals, co-lead vocals (9) Tim Rice-Oxley – piano, keyboards, bass, backing vocals, lead vocals (9) Richard Hughes – drums

Production Andy Green – programming and production Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing

Charts

Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for Hopes and Fears Chart (2004–2006) Peakposition Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico)8

Year-end charts +2004 year-end chart performance for Hopes and Fears Chart (2004) PositionBelgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)40Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)46Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)14French Albums (SNEP)110Irish Albums (IRMA)15Italian Albums (FIMI)71Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)90Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)60UK Albums (OCC)2Worldwide Albums (IFPI)22 +2005 year-end chart performance for Hopes and Fears Chart (2005) PositionDutch Albums (Album Top 100)12European Albums (Billboard)9French Albums (SNEP)32Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico)94Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)24Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)59UK Albums (OCC)18 US Billboard 200131 +2006 year-end chart performance for Hopes and Fears Chart (2006) PositionUK Albums (OCC)109 +2007 year-end chart performance for Hopes and Fears Chart (2007) PositionUK Albums (OCC)180

Certifications

Bonus DVD

A CD+DVD version was released internationally over the course of 2005. This version included two bonus tracks, "Snowed Under" and a remix dance version of "We Might as Well Be Strangers" by DJ Shadow. The DVD contained the four international videos for "Somewhere Only We Know", "Everybody's Changing", "Bedshaped", and "This is the Last Time", and the US video for "Somewhere Only We Know".

This version of Hopes and Fears also featured a different box cover design: white and with Keane's "Everybody's Changing" promotional image. The inner 2-CD box had the same cover as the international version.

Track listing "Somewhere Only We Know" (international version video) "Somewhere Only We Know" (US version video) "Everybody's Changing" (version 1 video) "Bedshaped" (video) "This Is the Last Time" (version 4 video)

Japanese version Keane 30-second TV advertisement "Somewhere Only We Know" (live) "She Has No Time" (live) "This Is the Last Time" (live) "We Might As Well Be Strangers" (live) "Everybody's Changing" (live) "Bedshaped" (live) "Somewhere Only We Know" (international version video)

See also List of best-selling albums of the 2000s (decade) in the United Kingdom

References

External links Official album site Hopes and Fears on Keaneshaped