Some Cities at 15

A few weeks ago, February 21st to be precise Some Cities turned 15 years old! The album reached number one on the UK album chart selling almost 60k copies. Doves toured the arse off the album playing all over the UK, Europe, North America (several times), Australia & Japan.

Doves started the sessions for Some Cities in 2003 working with producer William Orbit in Rosemount Ireland. This didn’t work out so the band returned to the UK and enlisted the help of Ben Hillier who went onto co-produce the album with the band. The album was recorded across the UK but most famously at Fort Augustus Abbey where the band recorded Ambition using the acoustics as a instrument which stands out as one of Doves most iconic moments. See the pictures below.

Black & White Town was Doves first digital download, released in December of 2004. This was soon followed by a trio of warm up gigs in late December where they played London, Wolverhampton & Blackpool. The Blackpool gig is regarded among fans as one of Doves great gigs.

Black & White Town was released on 2 CD singles & vinyl in February 2005. Two more singles followed, Snowden & Sky Starts Falling. These singles included some great b-sides, 45, At The Tower, Son of a Builder and perhaps one of the more obscure Doves tracks, Black Circus of Prague which was given its own promo release on 7″ vinyl and is worth tracking down!

Doves completed the Some Cities cycle with a live EP release Some Cities Live which is a digital only album released in April 2006. For more waffle on how the album was made and some comments from Jimi at the time, this Irish Times article is a good read.

Here’s a few snaps I managed to dig up including some hand written lyrics for Walk in Fire. A fan favourite which surprisingly has never been performed live to date. Maybe one for the future..