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''What We Saw from the Cheap Seats'' is the sixth studio album by American alternative singer-songwriter
Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (russian: Регинa Ильинична Спектор, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian–born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in ...
. On November 21, 2011, Spektor posted on her Facebook page that the album had been recorded with Mike Elizondo in Los Angeles during the summer of 2011. It was released on May 29, 2012. The album is a collection of new material alongside the first studio recordings of several songs Spektor had previously only performed live. By the time of the album's release, "Jessica" was the only song that was entirely new to fans: an earlier recording of "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)" had been included on Spektor's album ''
Songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...
'', and the rest of the songs had already been performed live, with "How" and "The Party" making their debut just weeks earlier.


Singles and promotion

The album's first single, " All the Rowboats", was released for streaming on February 27, 2012, and for digital download the following day. It was featured prominently on the episode of the CW's '' Ringer'' that aired on March 13, 2012, making Spektor the "Artist Spotlight" of the week. The second single, " Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)", is a new version of "Ne Me Quitte Pas", a song originally from Spektor's 2002 album ''
Songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...
''.
Music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
s were produced for both of these songs. On October 16, 2012, "How" was released as the third single from the album. Spektor undertook two tours in support of the album. The first was a tour of the southern US, on which Spektor opened for
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drumme ...
for eight shows in April and May 2012. The second was an international tour that opened with three sold-out shows in
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,
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, and
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, at which Only Son, a band led by Spektor's husband Jack Dishel, was the opening act. This tour extended to several European countries (including Russia, to which Spektor had not traveled since emigrating from it as a child) and ran through the summer of 2012. To promote the album, Spektor performed on the
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,
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,
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, and
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; did an interview with the
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; and did a special "Live on
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" engagement.


Critical reception

Similarly to Spektor's previous studio albums, ''What We Saw from the Cheap Seats'' received a favorable reaction upon its release. On review-aggregation website
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, it has a score of 73 out of 100, based on 28 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Several critics praised the unique quirkiness of the album, with
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of ''
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'', who gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars, claiming that the album "may be pektor'sbest," and made Spektor "her generation's
Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...
." A staff reviewer for
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gave the album the maximum 5 out of 5 stars, writing that it is Spektor's "best effort yet," and that "an artist who could already seemingly do no wrong went and became even more perfect."
American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwr ...
wrote that "''Cheap Seats'' as a whole ..points toward ever unfolding new directions for an artist whose sense of whimsy never excludes the possibility of real-world despair."


Commercial performance

In the United States, the album debuted at number three on the
Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of arti ...
, with sales of 42,000 (this was the same rank, but a slight decrease in sales from the opening of Spektor's previous studio album, Far). As of September 2016, the album had sold 174,000 copies in the United States.


Track listing

All songs written by Spektor except where noted. ;Deluxe edition bonus tracks


Personnel

All credits for tracks one through eleven are listed in the album's booklet. * Regina Spektor - vocals, piano (1-10), keyboards (2-10), marimba (3), co-producer, songwriter * Mike Elizondo - producer, bass (1, 3, 5, 7-10), upright bass (2, 4, 6), electric guitar (1, 6, 7), acoustic guitars (11), programming (3, 5, 7) * Aaron Sterling - drums (1, 3-7, 9), percussion (1, 5, 7), marimba (3) * Jay Bellerose - drums (2, 7, 10), percussion (2, 10), bongos (10) * Danny T. Levin - trumpet (3) * David Moyer - baritone and tenor saxophone (3) * Jack Dishel - vocals (3, 5) * John Daversa - trumpet (10) ;Additional personnel *Art Direction, Design – Stephen Walker (6) *Co-producer – Regina Spektor *Engineer – Adam Hawkins *Engineer ssistant– Brent Arrowood *Management – Ron Shapiro *Management usiness– Errol Wander *Mastered By – Bob Ludwig *Photography By – Shervin Lainez *Producer – Mike Elizondo *Written-By – Regina Spektor


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Singles


References


External links


François Villon's Prayer, Track 13, in Russian and English
{{Authority control 2012 albums Regina Spektor albums Sire Records albums Albums produced by Mike Elizondo