Schoolyard Ghosts is the sixth studio album by British art rock band No-Man. Recorded in the UK, France, Sweden and the USA and released on 12 May 2008, the album features contributions from Bruce Kaphan, drummers Pat Mastelotto and Gavin Harrison, saxophonist/flautist Theo Travis, and the London Session Orchestra arranged by Dave Stewart. In his online diaryTim Bowness mentions that, despite following a difficult year and being typically melancholy in places, the tone of the album is more optimistic than anything the band have done before. He also says "All Sweet Things" and "Truenorth" are perhaps the pinnacle of the band's achievements. A promotional Schoolyard Ghosts microsite was created by the band's label, K-Scope. It first featured a music video for "Truenorth – Part Two" which was thereafter replaced for a video of the song "Wherever There Is Light". No-Man fan site "A Confession" has also created a dedicated Schoolyard Ghosts microsite featuring the video for "Truenorth – Part Two" and album lyrics. The No-Man MySpace page also includes extracts from the album.
Reception
Reviews for the album have generally been very favourable, with positive reviews and interviews featured in Classic Rock, Rock Sound, Goldmine, Record Collector, Eclipsed, Metal Hammer, Metal Hammer, Free!, Rolling Stone, Jam, and Allmusic. In June 2008, the album was No. 1 in Prog Archives' Member's Albums of the Year chart and No. 474 in Rate Your Music's reader's albums of 2008. In October 2008, the album was No. 5 in the Eclipsed magazine's reader's charts. In January 2009, the album was rated No. 23 in the Eclipsed critic's end of year lists.
Formats
The album is available in a CD/DVD-A audiophile edition and comes in a digipack format with booklet and also features a 5.1 mix of the album, a photo gallery and videos for 3 songs. The first 2000 copies of the album obtained from the No-Man online store came with an exclusive 6 track, 20-minute, bonus disc of alternates and edits. It sold out within 2 weeks of the pre-release announcement. A second print of the album will be issued in August 2014, replacing the DVD-A with a second CD of bonus material.
Promotion
To promote the album, the band played its first performances for fifteen years in London, Düsseldorf and Zoetermeer. The London Bush Hall performance was recorded for the first No-Man's DVD, Mixtaped.
Track listing
"Beautiful Songs You Should Know" was written by Bowness with Giancarlo Erra of the Italian band Nosound and the two recorded an alternative version of the song for the album called "Warm Winter" which they released under the moniker Memories of Machines. The song "Mixtaped" is a reworked version of a Tim Bowness solo demo called "Schoolyard Ghosts". A proper recording of this version was later also included on "Warm Winter".
Bonus material
The original No-Man Store edition featured an exclusive 20-minute bonus disc of alternates and edits.
2014 Reissue bonus disc
A reissue will be printed in August 2014 which replaces the DVD-A with a second CD of bonus material. It collects most of the bonus disc listed above along with Bowness' home demos and bonus tracks from the "Wherever There is Light" single.
