Fires is the ninth studio album by Irish singer Ronan Keating. The album was released on 3 September 2012, with a special deluxe, signed edition to be available from the Universal Music official store.[1] It is his fifth album to contain original material and his first in six years following Bring You Home.
| Fires | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 3 September 2012 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 43:18 (Standard) 51:34 (Deluxe) | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
| Producer | Gregg Alexander, Electric, Odd Jensen, Stephen Lipson, Cass Lowe, Paul Meehan, Rick Nowels, Brian Rawling, Dean Reid | |||
| Ronan Keating chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Fires | ||||
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Promotion
edit
To promote the record, Keating embarked on a short promotional tour, which began on 3 August 2012, with the Summarfestivalur in The Faroe Islands.[2] Other dates included the Þjóðhátíð festival in Iceland on 5 August, and the Festas do Mar in Portugal on 17 August[3] as well as appearances in Germany and Australia.[4] Keating also undertook two weeks of radio promotion around radio stations in the last week of August. A arena tour of the UK and Ireland commenced in January 2013.
Singles
edit- "Fires", the album's title track, premiered on 21 July 2012 on BBC Radio 2. The music video for the song premiered on 1 August 2012, via YouTube. The single as released as a digital download on 2 September 2012. The song was only available as a digital download and sold 10,000 copies.[5]
- "Wasted Light", is the second track on the album and premiered on 3 December 2012. The music video part live, part animated.
Critical reception
editOn 22 August 2012 the album was voted album of the week by BBC Radio 2.[6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| BBC Music | positive[7] |
| Daily Express |   [8] |
Fires received positive reviews from BBC Music, critic Mike Driver declared that "a few bloopers aside, this is probably Keating’s best album since his eponymous debut."[9]
The Daily Express gave the album a rating of 4 out of 5 and commented that "it's on songs such as Love You And Leave You that you get a whiff of a truly original artist." However, it also said that Keating had "put together something that, while slick and seamless, doesn’t really say anything new and mostly sounds a little sub-something else, largely Scissor Sisters."[8]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fires" | Edvard Førre Erfjord, Henrik Barman Michelsen, Shelly Poole | Electric | 3:51 |
| 2. | "I've Got You" | Ronan Keating, Paddy Dalton, Mathias Wollo | Electric | 3:53 |
| 3. | "Love You and Leave You" | Odd Jensen, Cass Lowe | Electric, Cass Lowe, Odd Jensen | 3:15 |
| 4. | "Nineteen Again" | Gregg Alexander, Rick Nowels | Gregg Alexander, Rick Nowels, Dean Reid | 3:21 |
| 5. | "Wasted Light" | Erfjord, Michelsen, Gary Go | Electric | 4:03 |
| 6. | "Lullaby" (featuring KizMusic) | Jamie Hartman, Lee DeWyze, Andy Stochansky, KizMusic | Brian Rawling, Paul Meehan | 3:57 |
| 7. | "Easy Now My Dear" | Keating, Dalton, Wollo | Electric | 3:46 |
| 8. | "NYC Girl" | Orion Simprini, Linda Horwatt, Sherif Fanous, Chris Sokolewitz, Jon Weber | Brian Rawling, Paul Meehan | 3:48 |
| 9. | "Oxygen" | Erfjord, Michelsen, Lowe | Electric, Cass Lowe | 3:19 |
| 10. | "Close Your Eyes" | Nicole Dash Jones, Matt Schwartz, Daniel Spencer | Stephen Lipson | 3:59 |
| 11. | "Get Back to What Is Real" | Alexander, Nowels | Gregg Alexander, Rick Nowels, Dean Reid | 3:20 |
| 12. | "The One You Love" | Don Mescall, Vanbrugh Hill | Brian Rawling, Paul Meehan | 4:42 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "It's Alright" | Dalton, Wollo | Stephen Lipson | 2:51 |
| 14. | "Will You Ever Be Mine?" | Alexander, Nowels | 3:32 | |
| 15. | "Lullaby" | Jamie Hartman, Lee DeWyze, Andy Stochansky | Brian Rawling, Paul Meehan | 3:54 |
Chart performance
edit| Chart (2012) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[10] | 12 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] | 51 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[12] | 138 |
| Croatian International Albums (HDU)[13] | 12 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] | 20 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA)[15] | 12 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16] | 35 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[17] | 18 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[18] | 8 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[19] | 3 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[20] | 26 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[21] | 5 |
References
edit- ^ a b "Ronan Keating Fires Box Set at Universal Music". Store.universal-music.co.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ "Twitter / ronanofficial: Largest ticket pre-sale in". Twitter.com. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ "Twitter / ronanofficial: Holy cow batman. What a gig". Twitter.com. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ "August 2012". Ronankeatingnews.com. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ "Ronan Keating: Voice of the voiceless". gulfnews. 12 December 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- ^ "Radio 2 – Playlist". BBC. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ "Music – Review of Ronan Keating – Fires". BBC. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ a b "Ronan Keating: Fires". Daily Express. London. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Ronan Keating – Fires". Hung Medien.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Ronan Keating – Fires" (in German). Hung Medien.
- ^ "Ultratop Belgian Charts". ultratop.be. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ^ "Top Stranih [Top Foreign]" (in Croatian). Top Foreign Albums. Hrvatska diskografska udruga.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Ronan Keating – Fires" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
- ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 37, 2012". Chart-Track. IRMA.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Ronan Keating – Fires" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Ronan Keating – Fires". Hung Medien.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Ronan Keating – Fires". Hung Medien.
- ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Ronan Keating – Fires". Hung Medien.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.