Friendly Fire is the second studio album by Sean Lennon, released on 2 October 2006 by Capitol Records in the US, and Parlophone in the UK. It reached No. 152 on the US Billboard 200 chart and No. 5 in the Top Heatseekers chart. It stayed on the French album chart for 43 weeks and was certified silver.
Background The inspiration behind most of the songs on Friendly Fire was Lennon's tumultuous relationship with actress Bijou Phillips.San Francisco Gate article: "Pop Quiz: Sean Lennon." According to Lennon, Phillips cheated on him with his childhood best friend, Max LeRoy; LeRoy died shortly afterwards in a motorcycle accident, before he and Lennon were able to resolve their differences.
Visuals The album was turned into a film, directed by Michele Civetta and written by Lennon and Civetta. The film stars Lennon, Bijou Phillips, Lindsay Lohan, Devon Aoki, Asia Argento, Jordana Brewster, Carrie Fisher and Harper Simon. Produced by Manu Gargi and Griffin Marcus for Quintessence Films, the story follows Lennon's discovery of Philips' alleged affair throughout a series of music videos. Throughout the film, many different scene settings were used. Scenes set in a circus, in a movie theater, at a fair, and during a Victorian sword fight. The scenes are connected with an overlying setting that represents Lennon's home, where we see Lennon creating art, writing, and eventually, mourn the loss of his relationship with Phillips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oANvkpDeisI Lennon's mother Yoko Ono shared executive production credits with Lennon for the film.
Track listing All songs written by Sean Lennon, except where noted.
"Dead Meat" - 3:37 "Wait for Me" - 2:39 "Parachute" - 3:19 "Friendly Fire" - 5:03 "Spectacle" (Lennon, Jordan Galland) - 5:24 "Tomorrow" - 2:03 "On Again Off Again" - 3:18 "Headlights" - 3:16 "Would I Be the One" (Marc Bolan) - 4:58 "Falling Out of Love" (Lennon, Galland) - 4:07
French 2007 reissue bonus track "L'éclipse" (Duet with -M-, French version of "Parachute") (Lennon, -M-) - 3:16
Bonus DVD "Dead Meat" "Parachute" "Spectacle" "Headlights" "Friendly Fire" "Wait for Me" "On Again Off Again" "Tomorrow" "Would I Be the One" "Falling Out of Love"
Personnel Sean Lennon - vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums Harper Simon - guitar Yuka Honda - bass guitar, keyboards Jon Brion - guitar, Hammond organ, bass guitar, drums Greg Kurstin - Hammond organ Sebastian Steinberg - bass guitar Jim Keltner, Matt Chamberlain - drums Athena Legend, Bijou Phillips - backing vocals Sean Lennon, Eric Gorfain - string arrangements
Chart positions ChartPositionFrench SNEP Albums Chart59U.S. Billboard 200[ Allmusic - Friendly Fire > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums]152
Certifications
Release details Country Date Label Format Catalog Japan 29 September 2006 Toshiba-EMI CD/DVD TOCP-66630 / 4988006846982 United Kingdom 2 October 2006 Parlophone CD/DVD 3719492 / 0946 3 71949 2 8 United States 3 October 2006 Capitol Records CD/DVD 7243 5 35568 2 2
References
External links Friendly Fire at Metacritic.