Monuments and Melodies

Monuments and Melodies
Greatest hits album by Incubus
Released	June 16, 2009
Venue	Live X, 99X, Atlanta (A Certain Shade of Green)
Studio	4th Street Recording, Santa Monica, California NRG Studios, North Hollywood Morning View Studio, Malibu, California Southern Tracks Recording, Atlanta Henson Recording Studio, Hollywood
Genre	Alternative rock, alternative metal
Length	61:10 (disc 1) 47:22 (disc 2) (Total: 108:32)
Label	Epic/Immortal
Producer	Brendan O'Brien, Scott Litt
Incubus chronology
Light Grenades (2006) Monuments and Melodies (2009) If Not Now, When? (2011)

Monuments and Melodies is the first greatest hits compilation album by American rock band Incubus released on June 16, 2009, through Epic Records.^[1] It is released as a double-disc set, the first disc features 13 previously released singles from the albums Make Yourself, Morning View, A Crow Left of the Murder..., and Light Grenades, along with two new Brendan O'Brien–produced tracks, "Black Heart Inertia" and "Midnight Swim".

The second disc is a collection of rarities including B-sides, soundtrack cuts, alternate versions, three previously unreleased songs, and a cover of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy". The album takes its title from a song that was originally released as the B-side to "Megalomaniac" and as a bonus track on international releases of A Crow Left of the Murder...; it is also included on Disc 2 of this album.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Rock Sound	[3]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the compilation four out of five stars, commenting that the first disc "does its job efficiently, running through all but two of Incubus' Billboard hits", and that the second disc "[provides] a nice service of rounding up the tunes that got away."^[2] Conrad Hughes of Contactmusic.com wrote in his June 2009 review that "the band's work reminds me a little bit of what the Chili Peppers may have done were Mike Patton their lead singer instead of Kiedis. And hopefully they'll follow up their Greatest Hits with a better album than the Chili's Stadium Arcadium."^[4] Craig Hlavaty of the Houston Press reflected in August 2009 that "It's been a long and varied career for the band, who started in 1991 as little more than teenagers armed with a Red Hot Chili Peppers tab book and unfinished algebra homework", adding that "Make Yourself turned the band away from the monotony of punk-funk into more soulful, organic territory. Overnight, Incubus seemingly took a turn from mookish modern rock into straight-up makeout-core."^[5]

Aly Comingore of the Santa Barbara Independent stated in her July 2009 review that "the five musicians have crafted some of the most forward-thinking and experimental radio-friendly rock of their time, proving all the while that alt-metal can prosper within the mainstream-and attract the attention of millions."^[6]

Track listing

Charts

Credits

• Brandon Boyd – lead vocals; djembe (on "New Skin"), album cover
• Mike Einziger – guitar, backing vocals, occasional keyboards
• Alex Katunich – bass (on all tracks of S.C.I.E.N.C.E., Make Yourself, & Morning View)
• José Pasillas – drums
• DJ Lyfe – turntables (on "New Skin")
• Chris Kilmore – turntables, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, theremin on all tracks except "New Skin".
• Ben Kenney – bass, backing vocals (on all tracks of A Crow Left of the Murder..., Megalomaniac, Halo 2 Original Soundtrack, Stealth soundtrack, Light Grenades, & Monuments and Melodies)

References