Kaden Walsh

[Phantomwolfx]

Original Character Series

Faceclaim: Matthew Noszka

Kaden Walsh (Born 27 September 1978) is an Irish Born, singer, song-writer and multi-instrumentalist. 

 

Though many known among many of his peers to be one of the most prolific songwriters, Walsh did not start his form of song writing as far as mid to Late 1996, recording with only a Casio Tape Player, and his voice, a lot of the recordings that were made during the time were only followed through as Demos at the time, at the age of 18, Walsh began taking up guitar lessons to further his song writing abilities at the time, wanting anything but the kitchen's utensils as instruments to get a rhythm of the song. Walsh's first believed song that was known to be recorded before he went any further with his musicianship was "Yeats Street Daises" which was the street name of where his house was at the time.

 

[Phantomwolfx]

As early as 1997 that Walsh began recording more and more songs, all the while, completing his final year of high school and graduating successfully, with, however, some poor grades, which Walsh had stated 'Absolutely failed History and Further Math, like, scolding teacher look failed as you walk by'. All the while he completed the likes of his music, writing of the songs in 1997 would not start until August of 1997 where Walsh would go on to write 50 songs for his debut album. It was during this time that at a family gathering, that Walsh's Uncle, would introduce him to a known close friend named Michael Davies, an ambitious music producer who wanted to start a record label or hop on one that had the biggest and yet to be biggest stars for the time. Having being introduced to Davies, Walsh stated that upon meeting him 'he was very eager to get everything, right off the bat' and when conversing on the phone, whenever the topic would come up of music, would be very anxious to bring up that he too was trying to be an ambitious musician himself. It would only be as Late of September of 1997 and after many phone calls that it would slip Walsh's mouth that he was writing music, and that Davies at the time, had the start of what was soon to become the basics of Prism Records. With Davies wanting to Walsh to go under his label, the contract was set for an initial $25,000 two album deal with 85% royalties and a 90% live tour income, should he go on tour at any point during the initial two albums.

1998 ⸻  Last Train Home

Though Initial Recording for the album would not start as early as September of 1997. Walsh had been writing for the album as early as August of the same year, beginning to record basic elements of what would become most parts of his first initial album. With almost 28 songs already written between August and September, it would only take Walsh a few more months before he had his first configured album that Davies would be happy with in terms of sound. Main initial tracking, recording and productions of the album started as Early as the 17th of September to where Walsh would make the title track. Where later on, the album would be worked through from September of 1997, to as Late as March of 1998. Usually spending a week on a track for the album before either writing more or producing other tracks. However, under Davies direction, the album was slated to have a completion date of April of 1998 so they were able to place the financial losses of what was soon becoming Walsh's first album, into a profit. Though Walsh would only end up getting $25,000 for the album. The album would cost around £1.1 Million pounds in order to finally produce and market upon launch. Walsh would ultimately end up making around 65 songs for the initial album.

With the album set to release in a single month, and with Michael Davies as the Executive Producer, Davies made the first initial decision for Walsh to place the album out first before pushing two singles out, this initially, though was told to be a good idea by the marketing crew from Prism records at the time, eventually backfired to having no single behind it in order to hype up the album, and with only two singles chosen from the debut album. Many had stated the album was going to see weak sales upon launch for an album that sounded like a lot of potential from the up and coming Irish Artist. 

Last Train Home launched on the 13th of April with only 19,608 sales worldwide, reaching #13 in the UK and #8 in Ireland, though it was a good sign initially for Walsh at the time, the album did not last on the charts long thanks to the lack of any form of single before it. In the US, the album launched at #15. Thanks to the Top 20 debut in many countries it allowed the album to settle down before any mass movements from the label which involved thoughts about singles and a possible tour for Walsh, which never materialised. 

After two months of allowing the public to buy the album, Michael Davies began the executive decision of choosing the singles to be launched from the album. The first of which was released on the 8th of June, 1998. Last Train Home was the first released single with little to no promotion with the hopes that the initial album sales start would get Walsh somewhere high on the charts. This however, would of course not be the case as in many countries, the single from the album, never became more than a Top 75 hit. Reaching number #73 on the Billboard Hot 100, #47 on the Ireland Top 50 charts, and a peak of #62 on the UK Top 75. The single would only last three weeks before it was off the charts.

Though both singles did not live up to the result of Michael Davies' expectations, the second single Dear Diary faired worse compared to the first single released. Though loved among fans due to it's ballad-esque rhythm and style, it wasn't enough to place it from charting on any charts, however, managing to sell only around 6-7 thousand copies less than Last Train Home due to lack of radio promotion. It would however, be soon after the launch of the final single from Walsh's debut album, that the recordings for the second album would begin and a goal of doubling what Last Train Home had made in eventual album sales.

Last Train Home (1998)*

*Bonus Tracks would later be reissued with iTunes Launch. Bonus Tracks are found on the "Last Train Home" single

Genre: Rock

1. 9 Lives (3:22)
2. Last Train Home (3:18)
3. Cool Wit It (4:29)
4. Dear Diary (3:57)
5. Put It All In Perspective (5:02)
6. Murder Was The Case (4:47)
7. Rags to Riches (3:38)
8. Too Much Energy (4:50)
9. A Nation on Fire [Bonus Track] (4:18)
10. For What it's Worth [Bonus Track] (3:26)

Total Time: 33:23

Bonus Tracks Total Time 41:07

Recorded Album Sales

Africa: 9,025

Asia: 25,835

Australasia: 5,219

Europe: 80,150

North America: 65,785

South America: 6,685

Total: 192,705

 

 

[Phantomwolfx]

Last Train Home (1998) - The Singles

*Many continents and areas may be missing due to the singles not within charting position

Last Train Home - Single Number #1

1. Last Train Home (3:18)
2. A Nation on Fire (4:07)
3. For What It's Worth (5:22)
4. Last Train Home - Radio Edit (3:02)

 

 

 

 

 

Chart Positions

United States: #73

United Kingdom: #62

Ireland: #47

Canada: #51

France: #80

Japan: #65

Australia: #67

 

Dear Diary - Single Number #2

1. Dear Diary (3:57)
2. Dear Diary - Radio Edit (3:17)
3. Dear Diary - Instrumental (3:57)
4. Dear Diary - Acapella (3:57)

 

 

 

 

 

Chart Positions

United Kingdom: #97

Ireland: #63

Australia: #83

 

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Phantomwolfx

[Phantomwolfx]

1999/2000 ⸻  Kaden Walsh

With Prism Records quaintly disappointed in terms of album sales, Walsh was told to get into the studio mere months before the launch of the final single 'Dear Diary' under the labels hopes to make a more successful album with now 'more than' double the sales of the previous album. Basic Elements of the album came together under the a small studio session in June of 1998 at Animal Studios in the UK where one song was, according to audio engineer Glynn Stoker 'started it all with the direction he wanted to go in for the next album.' 

Quote

"He came into the studio one morning, we'd just finished two songs and, if I remember correctly the song was called 'In My Life' and it went for like....two, two and a half minutes? He put demo vocals down, murmured some of them and he put his hand up to me to stop the recording and he was just like "Got it. Got the album." And it took you by surprise every time because, whatever was going on in Kaden's head. It was incredible the way that his mind would just have an album or a sound down on the spot and that would be the album."
 ⸻ Glynn Stoker (2012), Mixer for the album Kaden Walsh (1999) 

After the session in June of 1998, Walsh would come back to Animal Studios in September of the same year and begin the recording of what would be the second album. No material album would surface until the 17th of September where he began the recording of what would the first song of the completed album. The album was once more under Michael Davies Executive Direction to a point where Walsh would be pulled from the studio every month and asked how the progress of the album was proceeding, recommended by the executives that he should put the album material first much rather than vault material, due to how slow the pace was of last album and how the album was completed a month before it's release. It was by the end of September of 1998 that Walsh had already made an albums worth of music, was was not satisfied with the sound or the material that was being produced at the time save for a singular song. Walsh then later decided to openly take a month break in the hopes that he would be able to try and find a similar sonic sound for his second studio album.

During October of 1998, Walsh attempted to try and make further progress on the album over two weeks. Writing another albums worth of music, only producing two songs during the time after the sessions that caught Walsh's interest for his next album, however were ultimately left off due to sonic consistency issues with the later parts of what were to be the fully mixed production. However, Walsh was once more away from the studio just a month later, focusing in on the promotion of his last single from his previous album "Last Train Home" which then later caused Davies and the executives at Prism Records after the first initial week of charting to push Walsh harder on the production of the album. Though nothing had materialized until January of 1999, Walsh spent the majority of November, December and January producing Vault Tracks. It was reported at the time as of December 28th, 1998 that Walsh had written 24 tracks from the album, and was only satisfied with three of them before the mixing stage of the album. 

With the heavy pressures of the label executives questioning as to where the album was, Walsh spent from the 19th of January until the 21st of August in the studio writing and producing studio and vault tracks, it was as late as the 27th of January of the same year where Walsh would begin writing tracks for the album after spending a late night at the studio with what would later become, the last single. It would also be the first time that during the process Walsh would consistently miss monthly progress meetings with the label executives due to how much he was both busy with writing and producing. It would only be a mere 12 days later that Walsh would write the second single of the album before he stated to label executives that the albums single choices were complete. Amongst the three single that were to come from the album, they were: "Hear Me Out", "Divisions", and "Hold On". Walsh would not come up with any more album content until May of 1999 where he had once more been burned out by the creative process in trying to look for the exact sound. 

Initial album tracking was finally finished on the 4th of August 1999, a month and 14 days before the albums launch. However, combing both Album and Vault material, the album was done from September 1998 - August 1999. however, due to the label executives strict album and vault material regulation for Walsh. Many songs that were not intended for the album, were not complete as late as October of 2000. Glynn Stoker, who had worked on the album, later stated in another interview:

Quote

"He [Walsh] had written about 80 songs for the album just trying to find the same sound that sparked it. And I remember having a conversation with him and I was asking him why he was so annoyed and he said, 'it was putting the album first and vault content second that completely threw him off.' Because he was someone that made music for ages and when he got an idea, he kept onto that idea and expanded on the little details on it, or as he would say 'f*** around and find out', in the sense that he'd find a vault song, and made an album for that. And it was absolutely incredible, watching how he made the process of what became an album."

⸻ Glynn Stoker (2007), Mixer for the album Kaden Walsh (1999) 

Initial tracking done on the 4th of August, with only two weeks after the album was completed, the first single was pushed to radio airwaves and launched as a single, with a music video in tow. Hear Me Out was the first single used from the forthcoming self-titled album. Released on the 23rd of August 1999, compared to the previous album, Michael Davies gave this enough of a budget in the hopes to show the true charting potential for Walsh, however, though the attempt was made, a majority of European countries had the single chart in the Top 40 to Top 75 with only Ireland, his home country, have the single debut at #41. The highest debuting country, with other countries failing to have the single chart at all or within the bare reach of the Top 75. Walsh took it upon himself to have Michael Davies removed as Executive producer within the second week of the singles charting, the single only charted for three weeks in his home of Ireland before it left the charts.

Though the failure to have Michael Davies removed from the second album's project, Walsh kept his distance until such time as the next album was requested, spending months promoting the now failing single and hoping to not have the album do the same, Kaden would spend one and a half months promoting the album to the best of his abilities in both Europe and the United States in the hopes to have a further breakout album, a week before the albums launch. Walsh was pulled into a meeting where he was able to voice what had become a complaint towards the management from Davies at the time, stating that both the label and Michael were not putting in enough to promote the album and or the singles and that Walsh should have no executive choices under the management of Michael Davies. With the label agreeing per the release of the next album, depending on the varying success of the album, the initial budget of Walsh's third studio album would be able to go the likes of 5 Million Pounds, even though Walsh had a bad habit of going over the albums budget, and did so for the second time, going over by an estimated 1.1 Million pounds compared to the 2 Million Pound budget. 

Kaden Walsh the second, self-titled album only launched seven days after the meeting on the 18th of October, 1999 but debuted strongly with 78,037 copies worldwide upon debut. The album was a first for Walsh, whom debuted at #9 on the US Billboard 200, becoming his first Top 10 on the US Charts. The album however, did better in Europe which had it debuting in a majority of countries at #1 which also included Ireland and the United Kingdom. And though fairing better in Australia at Number #13, it only debuted in New Zealand in the Top 25 at Number #21. In other countries which include Asia, the album faired better, but charted lower due to it's Pop-Rock genre focus. Due to both Walsh and the label wanting to focus more so on the album, the label decided to not release any new single up until such of 2000 due to plausible worry of affecting the sales. 

Kaden Walsh (2000)*

*Bonus Tracks would later be reissued with iTunes Launch. 

Genre: Pop- Rock

1. Divisions (3:17)
2. Hold On (4:08)
3. Out of Time (5:22)
4. Dynasty (3:57)
5. Hear Me Out (4:11)
6. Careful (5:02)
7. Tombstones of the Unknown (6:32)
8. Press (4:17)
9. To The Streets (5:34) 
10. Is That You? [bonus track]* (3:37)

 

Total Time: 42:20

Bonus Tracks Total Time: 45:57

 

Recorded Album Sales and Charting Positions

Africa (#28): 12,342

Asia (#25): 30,876

Australasia (#20): 7,284

Germany (#1): 162,373

France (#1): 124,759

United Kingdom (#1): 286,724

Ireland (#1): 5,331

North America (#9): 312,472

Canada (#8): 22,774

South America (#26): 8,909

Total: 1,341,207

 

[Phantomwolfx]

With the year 2000 soon arriving and Walsh's new album with very positive reviews coming in, rumours were circulating that Walsh, for the first time, would begin to go on tour. Unknown to many reviewers that, while he had some remaining chart success from the album, it was unknown if he was able to push the multi-instrumentalism and voice, out onto the live stage to be defined as an artist who was labelled at the best - versatile, even while live. And now wanting to dominate on the success of his second album, which was becoming top charting success in Europe, Prism Records began to team up with British Mastercard for a two year two that had Walsh touring Europe from the 26th of November, 1999 to May 14, 2000. Though still recording songs at some points in time when he was in London, Walsh did not begin recording his next album until two months later after his tour. 

Initially Called Kaden Walsh 1999 Tour British Mastercard would change it towards something more marketable which eventually changed into British Mastercard Presents: Kaden Walsh with the albums main success in Europe, Walsh did not have much of an issue in terms of selling tickets and eventually went on to sell all 19 Shows out within the UK and Ireland which was the first initial leg on where Walsh began touring.

Before the second leg of the tour, with the news that the first leg was, in it's entirety, sold out. Prism issued the second single of the album "Divisions" which was released January 24, 2000. Though the single did not make much impact around the world, the main markets that were focused in on were both the United States and Europe where the sales were best seen there, becoming a Top 20 and even Top 10 in Many countries. In the United States however, the single only rose to Number 17. With Canada and Mexico both individually charting at Number 10 and 12 respectively. It had also become Walsh's first Top 10 in Canada and first Top 20 in the US.

In Europe however, the single faired way better, becoming his first both Top 20 hit in the United Kingdom and Top 10 in his home Ireland, breaking his streak of having three Top 75 singles at the time. Which eventually went to go on to be certified Platinum in Ireland and Gold in France respectively, with the single charting in the United Kingdom and Ireland for 13 weeks before it left the charts.

The second Leg, which was helped alongside British Mastercard, brought Walsh touring in and amongst many European, UK and Ireland Cities of 42 concerts that were, like his previous leg, sold out. Though only making an initial 5 Million pounds on his first tour, Walsh, alongside the help of sponsorship, made 100 million dollars more due to heavy marketing from the group and rave reviews about his live ability and engagement with the audience with bringing out certain covers of songs. Fans of Walsh were also stunned to see just with ease, and in a live setting, how easily it was for him to play both bass and guitar when required. Many fans would later go on to set up a website related to Walsh's content and would also post the setlists of shows each night if they attended. Here is the Known Setlist from the British Mastercard Presents: Kaden Walsh Tour

February 22, 1999 Setlist:

1. Last Train Home
2. Hear Me Out
3. To The Streets
4. Press
5. Out Of Time
6. Dear Diary
7. Hold On
8. Careful
9. Tombstones of The Unknown
10. A Nation On Fire
11. Murder Was The Case

17 Shows had been directly sold out as cause for the great reviews and performance Walsh had put on. So much so, that Prism Records issued the third and final single from the album before giving Walsh the go ahead to begin the process of writing his next album, (it was however, that Walsh had already begun writing songs, a reported albums worth of 14 tracks before he was told to begin working on his next album.) Which executive of the label were hoping it would follow in the footsteps of the self titled album, and even sell more in the process due to the live shows.

Prism giving the go-ahead to Walsh's third studio album, the third and final single from the self-titled album, was launched. Hold On was released on the 27th of March 2000. Though not promoted as much as previous singles, due to touring, it was enough to pull Walsh into the Top 20 of many countries upon launch of the first week. In the United States, the single debuted at Number 17, becoming Walsh's second Top 20 in the US. However, staying at the same position of debut as his previous single Divisions. In Europe, the single faired here or about the same in many European countries, becoming a Top 20 hit, much like in the US, becoming Walsh's first Top 20 hit in his home country of Ireland, peaking at Number 13, which was lower than his previous song, Divisions but was impressive none the less, however, the United Kingdom had the song Chart at Number 14. Which was only one number higher than his previous single. 

With a now successful tour ending only months later after the launch of a single, spending 13 weeks in the United Kingdom on the charts, and 12 in respectively in Ireland. Walsh was now onto the next album, to which was rumoured he'd written more than 30 songs for it, during the process however, he'd caught the slight attention of a late R&B star thanks to the hook in the song "Hold On". But neither one of them would reach out to each other until much later with a phone call to Prism Records in Late October of 2000.

[Phantomwolfx]

Kaden Walsh (1999) - The Singles

*Many Continents and areas may be missing due to singles not within charting position

Hear Me Out - Single Number #1

1. Hear Me Out (4:11)
2. Too Much Energy (4:50)
3. Hear Me Out (Radio Edit) (3:22)
4. Hear Me Out (Instrumental) (4:11)

 

Chart Positions

Ireland: #41

France: #52

Germany: #65

Italy: #72

Japan: #84

 

Divisions - Single Number #2

1. Divisions (3:17)
2. Divisions (acapella) (3:17)
3. Divisions (Instrumental) (3:17)

Chart Positions

United States: #17

Canada: #10

Mexico: #12

Germany: #15

France: #10

United Kingdom: #15

Italy: #11

Spain: #11

Ireland: #8

 

Hold On- Single Number #3 (Due to budget limitations, the album cover was used during promotion)

1. Hold On (4:08)
2. Hold On (12" Mix) (8:17)
3. Hold On (Instrumental) (4:08)
4. Hold On (Acapella) (4:08)

Chart Positions

United States: #17

Canada: #16

Mexico: #13

Germany: #18

France: #13

United Kingdom: #14

Italy: #14

Spain: #13

Ireland: #13

 

[Phantomwolfx]

2000/2001 ⸻  Justice

    With the likes of a new album coming around and having already almost 30 songs written for what would become Walsh’s new project, many people were uncertain just as to how or even where Walsh would go with his next project. With studio time starting as soon as the 14th of January, 2000. The initial studio sessions saw only two tracks being used from the sessions out of the 24 songs rumored to be done during January through to March, the studio recordings were completed at Abbey Road Studios in London, England. 

    Music Forums at the time were running rampant with what would become of the next Kaden Walsh album once more as they had been with his last two studio albums, and though many people had openly guessed it would be more so of the sound of his previous ventures, no one expected the sound that was to come of the next album - Punk Rock. Initially unsure of what his sound was becoming, the first two songs that would come to later form the album being “Slave” and “Battle Cry” would later go on to set the sensual undertones of the album, and stir up all the more controversy when the album launched about various other questions many people had about the album and just exactly what it was about to begin with.

    Beginning in April, yet another  meeting set up between Walsh and the executives of Prism Records once more, many of the initial thoughts of what was to become the album were very sceptical, stating that Walsh ‘should not go ahead’ with making the stated album and that Punk Rock was on the way out to which Walsh would later go on to state that they were very wrong and that it was going to reach it’s peak within the next ten years at best, Walsh would later go on to later prove them right with the likes of Avril Lavigne, Green Day and Fall Out Boy.

Quote

"When I was in the midst of making Justice, these big suits would come in with him [Davies] and come swindling around, making you stop production of a song and go ‘alright, let’s hear what you’re working on’ even if it wasn’t complete. They’d just simply nod their head or give each other the look that would just go and say ‘I’m not liking where this guys going’ and then interrogate you wondering if it was going to be on the album or not, they hated it when I was doing a vault track, because they were always in the mindset of album first, vault tracks later, which never truly inspired me to get the sound I properly wanted. With Justice, it was the same thing, they were absolutely appalled that I was doing something with Punk Rock and suggested to immediately scrap the album even, going with the safe sounds of the self titled and I just looked at them and just said ‘Sharp as a beach ball, you bunch are’"  

        ⸻ Kaden Walsh (2022), Apple Music “The Zane Lowe Show” - Kaden Walsh, 25 Years” (2022)

Given the direction was heavily doubted by the executives at Prism Records, production to soften the heavy Punk Rock sound was done in order to make it more of a broader sound to both Pop and Rock Radio in order to allow Walsh to chart better, and even allow him to have a chance at scoring another set of Top 40 hits, if at all possible, which was also added in with doubt from the executives, further recording was done from June - July of 2000 before the first single was released to introduce the world to what would become a somewhat marginal success compared to the previous two works by Walsh.

The final tracking for the album was done on the 19th of August, 2000, Walsh began planning what would become his third studio album, Justice. With the photo shoot garnering what would later become questions from the press over his sexuality, and what he suddenly decided to have a more sexual image compared to his last two albums which made him see like the boy next door. Though not openly replying to some of the comments made over his sexuality knowing that no matter the response he gave, Walsh knew that he would still be rumoured to have denied it to begin with and decided to let his music do the talking for him, however, the controversy did not stop there, with the album’s cover completely barred off in many Middle Eastern States to only show his arm and the explicit label.

Quote

 

"I remember when we launched, two weeks in I remember seeing an article about my album being digitally changed by a rating board or something, and the original cover for it was just of me posing in a bathroom, shirt open and one arm on the window seal and one arm on a curtain rail, and what they’d done was barred the bottom half, and I told the Executives and Davies about it and though we knew we couldn’t do anything about it, we absolutely laughed our heads off at it because what was supposed to be a suggestive cover certainty got a hell of a lot more suggestive without another arm in the picture " 

    ⸻ Kaden Walsh (2022), Apple Music “The Zane Lowe Show” - Kaden Walsh, 25 Years” (2022)

 

    With Prism Records giving the go ahead to release the album, the album was set to be released on the 9th of October, 2000 with the lead single Doing It Right  released on the 25th of September, 2000. The single, though while charting well in the Americas Region and Europe, was set as something for concern, compared to the Top 10 and 20 nature of the previous single, Doing It Right only reached the likes of The Top 40 in the United Kingdom, #30 in Ireland and becoming yet another Top 75 for Walsh in America despite constant promotion. Due to this, panic had risen to new heights for the record company when the Music Video did worse than expected when being rotated on MTV at the time, becoming his third lowest video of all time with only 32,665,941 views according to MTV as of three months in. 

    When the 9th of October came around, many of the executives did not have very high hopes for the album getting within the top 10 due to the singles weak performance, and estimated that the album would sell a quarter, to half the sales of Walsh’s self titled (670,000 sales or even under 500,000 sales) however, Walsh’s promotion during the times was more heavily focused in on the album much rather than the sales of the singles, with Walsh knowing it would only get better from then on in, a week after the albums launch, the album debuted at #1 on the US, UK and Ireland Charts, with 105,197 sales sold worldwide upon debut, more so than his self-titled. Becoming his second album in the UK to go Gold and his first to do the Same in the United States. And due to this varying success, another single was soon chosen as the second single to continue the hype on the sales.
 

Justice (2000)* [Middle Eastern Cover]

    *Bonus Tracks would later be reissued with iTunes Launch. 

    Genre: Punk Rock

1. Justice (6:00)
2. Luv Me Baby (4:34)
3. U Get Me (3:22)
4. Battle Cry (4:18)
5. Doing It Right (4:46)
6. Slave (3:53)
7. Dreaming of Warmth (4:02)
8. In The Lobby (3:27)
9. * Things You Do (3:31)
10. * Swing Your Love 2 Me (4:02)

     

    Total Time: 34:22

    Bonus Tracks Total Time: 41:55

     

    Recorded Album Sales and Charting Positions

 Africa (#19): 22,344

 

    Asia (#39): 23,881

    Australasia (#17): 7,316

    Germany (#1): 162,373

    France (#2): 97,854

    United Kingdom (#1): 236,914

    Ireland (#1): 4,224

North America (#1): 578,158

 

    Canada (#1): 44,971

    South America (#30): 7,760

    Total: 1,513,011

Edited September 11, 2022 by Phantomwolfx

[Phantomwolfx]

With a tour imminent to be starting soon, the smash hit of the album was receiving rave reviews from many musical critics, even though it would later be revealed that the sales from the album weren’t at all what Prism Records was expecting, during the time however of recording the rest of the material that Walsh had written, late R&B Star Aaliyah had called up Walsh out of pure interest of wanting to write a few songs and to possibly feature him on an album in the future of even her third studio album that she was working on, with Walsh declining the idea of featuring on her album, Walsh was more than happy to work with the late R&B act when she was freely available, citing that he would only be able to do next year due to his upcoming tour and musical work. With a set possible date of next year in mind, Walsh completed all of the sessions' known tracks by May of 2001 due to the tour.

    The second single that was released several weeks after the albums launch was of the titled track Justice this time around however, the varied success was something that both Walsh and Prism were looking for, though it was not of the global scale they had hoped for. The single did both poorly in Africa and Asia, with only South Africa have the single debut at #75, and though higher charting in Australia, it still failed to chart anywhere within the region. The success more so carried over into Europe and the United States at the time, which though became a third Top 20 hit for Walsh in the US, he would score his second Top 10 hit in Canada and his first in Mexico. The varied success however was more so in Europe however, where it later charted in the Top 20 in Germany, France and the United Kingdom (#14, #12, and #12 Respectively) but became a Top 10 hit everywhere else, charting at #8 in his home country of Ireland.

It was with the help of the tour in Europe that helped boost single sales in and around Europe, alongside rumblings that Walsh was to begin touring in the United States after a short eleven date tour, combined, the European leg proved to be Walsh’s most successful tour to date, eclipsing the 110 Million Pound Tour, to that of almost Forty Million Dollars more. Fans of Walsh were once more pleasantly surprised by the fact that he was able to change songs on key and did almost all of the songs without any assistance from guitarists in his backing band, which only did so when he placed his guitar away. Much like the album, the Justice Tour had been given rave reviews and even stacked up alongside the album in the way that Walsh was executing his shows, the known set list from the night was later posted on a Walsh fan forum, and tour footage which was taken at Croke Park: 

 

 

 

    December 12, 2000 Setlist:

1. Luv Me Baby

2. Hold On

3. To The Streets

4. So Appalled (Unreleased Track)

5. Divisions

6. Out Of Time

7. Slave

8. Hear me Out

9. U Get Me

10. Tombstones Of The Unknown

11. Dreaming Of Warmth

12. Cool Wit It

13. All You Need (Unreleased Track)

14. Justice

 

 

It was no joke that with an already immense European tour, the world was now starting to focus its eyes on the upcoming Irish young-blood in the music industry, and nonetheless, festivals had started offering the likes of headlining acts for the R&B star, the first of which was Leeds Festival in August. However, though it was rumoured he was to be headlining the festival, it soon came to be that he was the last act on for the night, but not the top name, but it did have many people in the music entertainment industry curious about what was next, including an even bigger festival that was set to come only 10 months later.

Having taken a holiday break on the Justice tour which wrapped up on the 20th of December, Walsh was back in the studio once more producing the final vault tracks overall for the Justice era, with the final song rumoured to be produced around New Years Day, 2001, it was alongside this that with a two week break and another planned meeting about the album, and what should be the final single, Walsh decided upon the second track of the album Luv Me Baby, the single, was released just 18 days before his continued tour of Europe. The third and final single turned out to be popular with the general public, with the single becoming a Top 10 hit around Europe, with it charting at #7 in the UK and higher, at #6 in Ireland. The US as well had him held at a higher Top 20, with his peak at the time at #11, the song was slated to become Walsh’s first Top Ten in the States, however, lack of promotion failed to break it into the Top 10, Walsh was surprised by the immense success of the single, with it selling well over almost 600,000 sales more of his previous single, it failed however, to chart anywhere once more in Australia, though there was high radio airplay demand for the song at the time.

[Phantomwolfx]

Justice (2000) - The Singles

*Many Continents and areas may be missing due to singles not within charting position

Doing It Right [Saudi Arabia Cover] - Single Number #1

1. Doing It Right (4:46)

2. Doing It Right (Single Edit) (3:41)

3. Doing It Right (Instrumental) (4:46)

4. Doing It Right (Acapella) (4:46)

Chart Positions

United Kingdom: #39

Ireland: #30

France: #41

Germany: #60

Italy: #38

United States: #57

Mexico: #43

Canada: #50

 

 

Justice [Saudi Arabia Cover] - Single Number #2

1. Justice (6:00)

2. Justice (Radio Edit) (3:28)

3. Justice (Instrumental) (6:00)

4. Justice (Acapella) (6:00)

5. Justice (Radio Edit Instrumental) (3:28)

6. Justice (Radio Edit Acapella) (3:28)

Chart Positions

United Kingdom: #12

Ireland: #8

France: #12

Germany: #14

Italy: #10

Spain: #10

United States: #13

Mexico: #9

Canada: #9

 

Luv me Baby [Saudi Arabia Cover] - Single Number #3

1. Luv Me Baby (4:34)

2. Luv me Baby (Radio Edit) (3:55)

3. Luv me Baby (Instrumental) (4:34)

4. Luv Me Baby (Acapella) (4:30)

Chart Positions

United Kingdom: #7

Ireland: #6

France: #6

Germany: #10

Italy: #7

Spain: #6

United States: #11

Mexico: #7

Canada: #8

 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Phantomwolfx