Billy Talent (album)

Billy Talent is the debut studio album of Canadian band Billy Talent, after their first, Watoosh!, was released under their old name of Pezz in 1999.

Billy Talent
Studio album by Billy Talent
Released	September 16, 2003
Recorded	December 2002 The Factory, Vancouver, British Columbia[1]
Genre	Punk rock, post-hardcore, pop punk, alternative rock, emo
Length	41:04
Label	Atlantic 83614
Producer	Gavin "Golden" Brown
Billy Talent chronology
Try Honesty / Living in the Shadows (2003) Billy Talent (2003) Billy Talent II (2006)
Alternative cover
cover for 10th Anniversary Edition
Singles from Billy Talent
"Try Honesty" Released: September 1, 2003 "The Ex" Released: December 23, 2003 "River Below" Released: July 5, 2004 "Nothing to Lose" Released: November 16, 2004

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The Daily Princetonian	(favorable)[3]
Decoy Music	[4]
Ottawa XPress	[5]
Q Magazine	[6]
Rock Hard	9.5/10[7]
Sputnikmusic	[8]

Commercial performance

Billy Talent debuted at #6 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 7700 copies in its first week.[9] The album was certified 3 times platinum in Canada in January 2007.[10] Between 1996 and 2016, Billy Talent was among the top 15 best-selling albums by Canadian bands in Canada and among the top 40 best-selling albums by Canadian artists overall in Canada.[11]

Reception

In 2005, Billy Talent was ranked number 453 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[12]

BT Turns 10

On August 2013, Billy Talent announced a Canadian tour for Fall of that year entitled "A Return to The Roots" which they played their entire first self-titled album live to celebrate its 10th anniversary.[13] Soon after the tour, the band announced a 10th Anniversary reissue of the album released November 26, 2013, through Warner Bros. Records that features a bonus disc of rare demos and live recordings of the album's track list.[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Billy Talent.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"This Is How It Goes"	3:27
2.	"Living in the Shadows"	3:15
3.	"Try Honesty"	4:13
4.	"Line & Sinker"	3:37
5.	"Lies"	2:58
6.	"The Ex"	2:40
7.	"River Below"	2:59
8.	"Standing in the Rain"	3:20
9.	"Cut the Curtains"	3:50
10.	"Prisoners of Today"	3:53
11.	"Nothing to Lose"	3:38
12.	"Voices of Violence"	3:10

Disc 2 – 10th anniversary edition re-issue

No.	Title	Length
1.	"This Is How It Goes" (demo)	3:08
2.	"Living in the Shadows" (demo)	3:15
3.	"Try Honesty" (demo)	4:05
4.	"Line & Sinker" (live at Nova Rock Festival)	4:51
5.	"Lies" (live acoustic)	3:05
6.	"The Ex" (demo)	2:36
7.	"River Below" (live at the Orange Lounge)	3:00
8.	"Standing in the Rain" (live at Metalworks)	3:34
9.	"Cut the Curtains" (demo)	3:38
10.	"Prisoners of Today" (demo)	3:43
11.	"Nothing to Lose" (live at Phillipshalle)	3:59
12.	"Voices of Violence" (live at Norwegian Wood Festival)	3:20

Chart positions

Chart	Position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15]	38
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[16]	6
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17]	97
UK Albums	124
US Billboard 200[18]	194
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[19]	11

Personnel

• Benjamin Kowalewicz – lead vocals
• Ian D'Sa – guitar, vocals, art direction, package design
• Jonathan Gallant – bass guitar, vocals
• Aaron Solowoniuk – drums

Appearances

• The song "Line & Sinker" can be heard in the 2003 movie 'Grind' but is not included on the official soundtrack CD.
• The song "Nothing to Lose" is in the Polish film 'Sala Samobójców' (English: Suicide Room).
• The song "Try Honesty" was featured as the episode title for Degrassi: The Next Generation in season 10, episode 11 and 12 (Part 1 & 2)

References

1. Bliss, Karen, "Billy Talent", Access Magazine (February 2003 – March 2003), archived from the original on 2010-06-12
2. Allmusic review
3. "The Daily Princetonian review". Archived from the original on April 27, 2005. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
4. Quote on decoymusic.com Review With Broken Link
5. Ottawa XPress review Archived February 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
6. Q Magazine December 2003, p. 120
7. Himmelstein, Andreas. "Rock Hard". issue 198. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
8. Boy, Davey. "Billy Talent Billy Talent". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
9. "Billy Talent debuts in Top 10". Archived from the original on November 7, 2004. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
10. CRIA Gold and Platinum Certifications for January 2007 Archived 2010-05-26 at the Wayback Machine
11. "NIELSEN MUSIC & BILLBOARD PRESENT CANADA 150 CHARTS" (PDF). bdsradio.com. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
12. [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 27. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
13. "Billy Talent Celebrate 10th Anniversary of Debut Album with Canadian Tour". exclaim.ca. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
14. "Billy Talent Give Self-Titled Debut Expanded Reissue for 10th Anniversary". exclaim.ca. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
15. "Austriancharts.at – Billy Talent – Billy Talent" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
16. "Billy Talent Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
17. "Offiziellecharts.de – Billy Talent – Billy Talent" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
18. "Billy Talent Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
19. "Billy Talent Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 July 2020.