Upon its release,Babel received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number one on both theUK Albums Chart and the USBillboard 200,[3][4] becoming the fastest-selling album of 2012 in the UK, with over 159,000 copies sold in its first week, and 600,000 first week copies in the US.[3][4]Babel wonAlbum of the Year at the55th Grammy Awards.
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. "Not With Haste" was a re-written version of the song "Learn Me Right" which they had performed withBirdy for thesoundtrack of the filmBrave. Mumford & Sons decided not to change their sound onBabel, which is the follow-up to 2009's highly successfulSigh No More, which elevated them to international fame. They did, however, admit that they purposely took their time to perfect the sound that they had already developed.[citation needed]
On Monday, 16 July 2012 the band's official website announced that their new albumBabel would be released in the UK on 24 September, and the following day in the US. A final track list and album art were also revealed, as well as a 30-second promo.Babel was made available for preorder on the band's official website on Monday, 23 July, when it was announced that the album would also be released as a vinyl LP and a deluxe edition with additional tracks.[5]
The album's official lead single is "I Will Wait". The band premiered the song onZane Lowe'sBBC Radio 1 show on 7 August 2012.[6] On 29 August 2012, Mumford & Sons recorded their live performance of "I Will Wait" atRed Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.[7] The performance was released on 9 September as the band's official video for the song.[7]
The album's second single is "Lover of the Light". The music video was released on 7 November and stars actorIdris Elba who also directed the short film. The song was officially released on 3 December 2012.[citation needed]
The title-track "Babel" is their fourth single off the album. It has already made it into the BBC Radio 1 Playlist's A list.
A music video for the song "Hopeless Wanderer" premiered on 4 August 2013. Directed bySam Jones,[8] the video featuresJason Sudeikis,Jason Bateman,Ed Helms andWill Forte as Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwayne, respectively.[9] The video was released on bothVevo and YouTube; within less than four days on the latter site, the video already had over 3 million views.[10]
Babel received generally positive reviews frommusic critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received anaverage score of 63, based on 33 reviews.[12]Mojo magazine found it to be "more than just a decent nu-folk album," but also "a great pop album".[18]Clash called it a "rip-roaring record" with catchyhooks and "not much depth," but "some good tunes".[23] Davis Inman ofThe A.V. Club found the entire album "sonically impeccable", even though Mumford's imagery seems "like go-to words in a lazy songwriter's starved lexicon."[14]Q called it an "ultimately comfortable listening, befitting folk sounds of a resolutely un-freak variety."[20] Melissa Maerz ofEntertainment Weekly viewed that the music will convince listeners who cannot appreciate "lyrics this earnest", as the band "has mastered the emotional gut-punch of quiet/louddynamics".[15] Kelly O'Brien ofState praised the band's "unrestrained ardour and zealous poetry", and wrote that they "manage to play loudly and boisterously, without ever making the descent intocacophony."[24]Will Hermes ofRolling Stone cited the band's lyrics as the album's defining characteristic, writing that they use "church flavor" to "supersize and complicate love songs."[21]Magnet magazine foundBabel to be a "more subtle and accomplished album" thanSigh No More.[25]
In a mixed review, Kevin Perry ofNME called it an "average", "middle of the road" album and "a retooled, streamlined adaptation" ofSigh No More.[19]Greg Kot of theChicago Tribune found its songwriting "pedestrian" and felt that the "loud-quiet-loud dynamic" of both the singing and the music "becomes repetitive."[26]AllMusic's James Christopher Monger felt that its "incredibly spirited" songs "bark much louder than they bite" and found most of the album "delivering its everyman message with the kind of calculated spiritual fervor that comes from having to adapt to the festival masses as opposed to the smaller club crowds."[13]Chuck Eddy ofSpin panned the band's "U2-styleevangelism" and wrote that they "don't seem remotely musically curious."[22] Andy Gill ofThe Independent headlined his review "A Heart-to-Heart with the Nu-Folk Romantics" and accused Mumford of "wallowing self-absorption" while lacking "metaphor and metonymy".[17]Kitty Empire ofThe Observer calledBabel "an anodyne record, lacking the shivery authority ofLaura Marling's work", and viewed the band's "lack of nuance" as counterintuitive, writing that "folk is a malleable resource, and here it is stripped of all politics or witness-bearing, becoming an exercise in romantic exegesis for nice men with mandolins."[27]Uncut magazine wrote similarly that the love themes "[reduce] the genre to the level of rusticised boy-band pop."[28]
Babel debuted at number one in the UK selling 159,000 copies and becoming the fastest selling album of 2012. It also sold 573,000 copies in the UK in 2012.[34]
The album debuted at number one on the USBillboard 200, selling 600,000 copies, the second biggest debut of the year behindTaylor Swift's album,Red.[35] The album spent a total of 15 weeks at No. 1 on theBillboardAlternative Albums chart, longer than any other album has sinceDark Horse byNickelback. It sold 1,463,000 copies in the US in 2012, which made it the fourth best-selling album in the US in 2012.[36] It was also the eleventh best-selling album of 2013 with 1,096,000 copies sold for the year.[37] As of May 2015, the album has sold 2.7 million copies in the US.[38] The album also debuted at number one on theCanadian Albums Chart selling 75,000 copies.[39]
On 29 October 2012 the band's website announced a new version of the album titled "Gentlemen of the Road Edition".[42] This is the album alongside the bonus tracks, accompanied by a CD/DVD of the filmThe Road to Red Rocks. The film contains interviews and footage with the band recorded by the duo Fred & Nick whilst on the Gentlemen of the Road touring circuit, including two sold-out concerts atRed Rocks. The track listing is similar on both CD and DVD, with the exception of "Thistle & Weeds", contained only in the DVD.
Marcus Mumford – lead vocals,acoustic and electric guitars, drum kit, percussion
Ted Dwane –upright bass, electric bass, electric guitar, drum kit, percussion, backing vocals
Ben Lovett – piano, keyboards,mellotron,accordion, electric guitar, backing vocals
Winston Marshall –banjo,electric banjo, electric bass, electric guitar,resonator guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "For Those Below" and small part in "Lovers Eyes"
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^"Mumford & Sons: Babel".Uncut (185). London: 84. October 2012....the focus on matters of the heart is limiting, reducing the genre to the level of rusticised boy-band pop.
