''The Answers'' is the first album by the American rock band

Blue October Blue October is an American Rock music, rock band originally from Houston, Texas, formed in 1995. It currently consists of singer/guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld, multi-instrumentalist #Personnel, Ryan Delahoussaye, b ...

. It was recorded in October 1997, at Sound Arts Studio in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. It was released in the

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, on January 3, 1998, by RoDan Entertainment/Scoop. It is Blue October's only album featuring founding member and bass guitarist Liz Mullally, who also played piano on the album. For several years, the band was not allowed to sell the album on its website or at concerts because of its contract with

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. The album was only available by mail order directly from RoDan (Justin and Jeremy Furstenfeld's parents Roann and Dan Furstenfeld, who managed the band at the beginning) until an agreement was reached in 2005. The album was re-released in the US by Universal Records in 2008. However, the re-released version was packaged in a

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and did not include the booklet that accompanied the original version of the album. ''The Answers'' was also originally released on cassette tape in addition to CD. Cassette versions of the album are extremely rare, and have become collectors items among Blue October fans. A

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ed version of the album was released on translucent colored

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

in 2024 as part of Blue October's "Collected Series"

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

, which included their first four albums. A limited edition stand-alone version of the album was released on translucent black vinyl in 2025. The stand-alone vinyl version of the album features an

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of an

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on the reverse side of the second record. Between January and April 2018, the album became unavailable on various streaming services, such as

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and

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. The reason for this change is unknown, but the rest of the band's catalogue remains on the platforms. Many of the songs on the album deal with themes of depression, including "Black Orchid", which is about suicide.

Track listing

All songs written by

Justin Furstenfeld Justin Steward Furstenfeld (born December 14, 1975) is an American musician and actor. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and lyricist of the rock band Blue October. He is also a member of the band Harvard of the South. Personal life When not ...

Personnel

* Brian Baker – producer,

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, mastering, mixing * Adrian Garcia – assistant engineer * Jeff Wells – mastering * Ryan Delahoussaye –

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, violin * Jeremy Furstenfeld – percussion, drums *

– lyrics, guitars, vocals, piano, drums * Liz Mullaly – bass guitar, piano

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Answers, The 1998 debut albums Blue October albums