Albumpedia
Register
Advertisement

The World from the Side of the Moon is Phillip Phillips' debut studio album which was released on November 19, 2012 on Interscope Records.

Tracklisting[]

  1. Man On The Moon 3:35
  2. Home 3:30
  3. Gone, Gone, Gone 3:30
  4. Hold On 4:11
  5. Tell Me A Story 4:21
  6. Get Up Get Down 3:17
  7. Where We Came From 3:33
  8. Drive Me 3:49
  9. Wanted Is Love 3:47
  10. Can't Go Wrong 3:38
  11. A Fool's Dance 4:34
  12. So Easy 3:41
  13. Hazel 2:46
  14. Wicked Game 4:14
  15. Home (Live) 4:19
  16. Take Me Away 5:38
  17. Thriller 4:00

Chart Performance[]

"The World from the Side of the Moon" debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 169,000 copies. It also debuted at #1 on Billboard's Rock Albums chart and #2 on Billboard's Digital Albums chart.

The album was certified gold by the RIAA and it has sold 1,033,000 copies as of November 2013.

Critical Reception[]

"The World from the Side of the Moon" has received mixed to positive reviews from professional music critics, and has an overall Metacritic rating of 61 indicating "generally favorable reviews."

Most critics noted influences from Dave Matthews Band and Mumford & Sons in the album.

Glenn Gamboa of Newsday opined that Phillips "offers up Dave Matthews Band's jamming-blues-rock hybrid to a younger generation in "Get Up Get Down," while also giving the indie-leaning folk of current darlings Mumford & Sons an attractive American face in "Gone Gone Gone.""

Gary Graff of Billboard noted that Phillips' song "Home" "aligned him with the Mumford & Sons nu-folk movement," but considered "the album actually plays out more like the year's second-best Dave Matthews Band release."

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic thought the similarities to Dave Matthews Band to be "near farcical" and the similarities to other bands led Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone to wonder if Phillips is redundant "when we've already got Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz, why do we need another earnestly raspy balladeer with ace acoustic-guitar skills?"

Rosen nevertheless thought that "he's far better in originals like "Gone, Gone, Gone" and his hit "Home," which build from folksy picking to hooting power-ballad choruses, a pleasantly popified take on Arcade Fire."

Emily Tan of Idolator was enthusiastic and thought that the album "showcases Phillips’ potential as a musician, singer and songwriter who can rise above the generic pop that these reality competitions sometimes spawn."

Katie Hasty of HitFix considered that "this collection is shot after shot at the Next Big Single," and added that "some melodies will achieve exactly the radio single sound Universal undoubtedly hoped Phillips could achieve."

Kristin Coachman of Blogcritics.org commented that Phillips in the album "reflects every bit of the gravelly voiced pop rock artist, with jazz leanings that he portrayed during his Idol run."

Grady Smith of Entertainment Weekly viewed the songs written by Phillips alone to be "more circuitous, brooding" and "less compelling" than those he co-wrote with other songwriters, but nevertheless concluded that the album is "the most relevant debut album the Idol machine has cranked out in years."

Advertisement