Daisy Jones & the Six’s debut album AURORA is out now, and it’s as great as we all imagined. Along with the album, the release of the Amazon Prime series’ first three episodes sent fans into a frenzy. As a result, AURORA reached number one on US iTunes, which makes Daisy Jones & the Six the first fictional band to hit this spot on the chart.
Grammy Award-winning producer Blake Mills co-wrote and produced the 11-track record. He also collaborated with friends and musicians Phoebe Bridgers, Marcus Mumford, Jackson Browne, and Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith to create the songs on AURORA, plus 14 tunes that are not featured on the album but appear in the series. Also, producer and A&R executive Tony Berg worked on additional production on the album, and he was the series’ chief music consultant.
.@daisyjonesand6's 'AURORA' has reached #1 on US iTunes. pic.twitter.com/bHOsdbnFmg
— chart data (@chartdata) March 2, 2023
When the musicians finished the songs, Mills and Berg started rehearsals with the cast of Daisy Jones & the Six. Initially, the actors only had a few months to undergo vocal training. However, when the COVID pandemic hit, shooting was delayed, and the training was extended to 18 months. This helped the cast improve their skills even more. All actors contributed with vocals, but they didn’t play the instruments on the album and series.
The album was recorded at Sound City Studios, which is also the studio featured on the show. “All the studio footage was done here. We remade the rooms to look much as they did back in the day,” Berg explained. Moreover, the actors played a gig at SIR Studios in LA in front of an audience.
Overall, AURORA truly captures the ’70s band feeling that book author Taylor Jenkins Reid was looking for. Jenkins wrote the story of Daisy Jones & The Six mainly inspired by Fleetwood Mac. Each track makes the listener travel to the past and feel like they’re listening to a real band from that era. Berg stated that the producers asked themselves “‘are these great songs? Would a band 50 years ago […] perform these songs?’ That constituted our criteria for whether [AURORA] was good enough.”
Every song has its personality. Even if you haven’t read the book or watched the first episodes of the show yet, you’ll get the gist of the story between Daisy Jones — played by Riley Keough in the series — and Billy Dunne — portrayed by Sam Claflin on the show — thanks to the album. While most of the songs are duets, there are a few which are solo tracks, giving Riley and Sam their own time to shine. Arguably the best tune in AURORA is “More Fun to Miss,” where Keough brings all of Daisy’s rockstar and carefree attitude to the table and offers a performance for the ages.
Likewise, Claflin’s embodiment of Billy Dunne is perfect. “Please” is an accurate representation of the character’s struggle with addiction and staying sober. For someone who’s never sung before this album, Sam did an excellent job.
Of course, AURORA wouldn’t feel like a ’70s album without the proper instrumentation. In the hands of Mills, the album resulted in an incredible piece of work reminiscent of those years. One of the best riffs on the record is the one in “The River,” and it sounds a lot like Norman Greenbaum’s 1969 classic hit “Spirit in the Sky.”
Closing with a banger, the final track on AURORA is “No Words.” The song flawlessly captures the complete history of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne’s relationship. With lyrics like “I just don’t know the words to tell you what I mean” and “there ain’t no words for what I’m trying to say,” the song tells the audience everything they need to know about both characters. Definitely, AURORA is a success in real life as much as in fiction.
Besides the album, Atlantic Records will also be releasing an EP for each episode, which will include the songs featured in the show. You can listen to the first three EPs now on all streaming platforms. We’ll surely have lots of great new music this month.
Check out “More Fun to Miss” by Daisy Jones & the Six below, and remember to stream or buy AURORA. Also, the first three episodes of the show, which are amazing, by the way, are available on Prime Video now.
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