Babel (album)
Released 21 September 2012
Genre
Folk rock nu-folk Americana
Length 52:17
Label
Island Glassnote Gentlemen of the Road
Producer Markus Dravs
Babel is the second studio album by British rock band Mumford & Sons. As with Sigh No More, the album was produced by Markus Dravs. The vinyl LP version of the record was pressed by United Record Pressing in Nashville, Tennessee. It was released on 21 September 2012 in Ireland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Australia and New Zealand. It was released on 24 September 2012 in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Spain, Italy, Eastern Europe, South America, and on 25 September 2012 in the United States and Canada.
Upon its release, Babel debuted at number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. It became the fastest-selling album of 2012 in the UK, selling over 159,000 copies in its first week, and was the biggest selling debut of any album in 2012 in the US at the time, selling 600,000 in its first week. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics and was nominated in the category of Album of the Year for both a Brit Award and Grammy Award, winning the latter.
In late 2010, Mumford & Sons had already begun road-testing new material that they had been working on. Most of these songs, including “Broken Crown” and “Below My Feet”, had already been played live on numerous occasions before the album’s release. Mumford & Sons decided not to change their sound on Babel, which is the follow-up to 2009’s highly successful Sigh No More, which elevated them to international fame. They did, however, admit that they purposely took their time in order to perfect the sound that they had already developed.
Track listing
All tracks written by Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford and Winston Marshall, except for “The Boxer” by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.
1. “Babel” 3:29
2. “Whispers in the Dark” 3:15
3. “I Will Wait” 4:36
4. “Holland Road” 4:13
5. “Ghosts That We Knew” 5:39
6. “Lover of the Light” 5:14
7. “Lovers’ Eyes” 5:21
8. “Reminder” 2:04
9. “Hopeless Wanderer” 5:07
10. “Broken Crown” 4:16
11. “Below My Feet” 4:52
12. “Not With Haste” 4:07
Bonus tracks
Deluxe edition bonus tracks
13. “For Those Below” 3:36
14. “The Boxer” (featuring Jerry Douglas and Paul Simon) 4:06
15. “Where Are You Now?” 3:41
Target edition bonus disc
No. Title Length
1. “Lover of the Light” (Live) 5:05
2. “Roll Away Your Stone” (Live) 4:04
3. “Below My Feet” (Live) 4:40
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