Blackbird

Blackbird is the second studio album by American rock band Alter Bridge, released on October 5, 2007. The first single, "Rise Today", was released on July 30, 2007. The album peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200, selling 47,000 copies in its first week on the charts. As of December 2008, Blackbird has sold 227,000 copies. Despite receiving poor marketing and generally low mainstream success, initial critical reception towards the album was mostly positive, with music critics praising the songwriting and musicianship. The album was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Background The band stated in early 2006 that the song writing process was two thirds complete. On February 8, 2007, the band announced that all of the album's songwriting was finished and that they would be entering the studio to begin the recording process for the new record. It was then announced on May 11, 2007 (by guitarist Mark Tremonti on www.thealterbridgenation.com), that the recording of the album was complete, the mixing had been finished, and only a few small minor things were still to be done. On July 23, 2007, there was another official press release containing the official release date for the first single from the album, the track listing for the album, and news that tour dates would be released at a later time. Three days later, Alter Bridge uploaded two new songs to their official MySpace page for fans to listen to as a taste of the new album. The songs were "Ties That Bind" and the album's single "Rise Today". A UK version of the album was released on October 8 with a special UK bonus track titled "We Don't Care at All", a track also found on the iTunes version of the album. There is also a version of the album sold exclusively through Best Buy that contains the two bonus tracks "The Damage Done" and "New Way to Live", and a Walmart version with a bonus DVD containing exclusive interviews and an in-depth look at the making of the album.