Mary Star of the Sea (album)

See also: Our Lady, Star of the Sea

Mary Star of the Sea
Studio album by Zwan
Released	January 28, 2003
Recorded	2002
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	65:52
Label	Reprise
Producer	Billy Corgan, Bjorn Thorsrud
Billy Corgan chronology
Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (2000) Mary Star of the Sea (2003) TheFutureEmbrace (2005)

Mary Star of the Sea is Zwan's only album, released on January 28, 2003. It is a generally upbeat pop-rock/alternative rock record, driven by melodic basslines, flashy drumming, and lots of guitars. "Honestly" and "Lyric" were released as singles. The album is named both for the Blessed Virgin Mary, from whom Billy Corgan claimed to find comfort and guidance, and for the Catholic church in Key West, Florida where he spent time during Zwan's early rehearsals.^[1] Corgan announced the band's dissolution seven months after the album's release, which he later attributed to internal conflict.

Corgan is credited as "Billy Burke" in the liner notes, a reference to Billy Burke, a Florida evangelist who has dedicated his life to "touching the world with God's power". The CD was packaged with a set of four stickers, and was simultaneously released as a deluxe edition with a DVD.

Response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Billboard	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	(A-)[4]
Mojo	[3]
NME	[3]
Pitchfork Media	(4.8/10)[5]
Q	[3]
Rolling Stone	[3]
Spin	[3]
Uncut	[3]

The album received mostly positive reviews. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly named Mary Star of the Sea the sixth best album of 2003.^[6] The Alternative Press called the album a "return to form" for Corgan.^[7] The album debuted at #3 in the U.S. selling 90,000 copies in its first week,^[8] but quickly descended the charts, and fell short of the sales of any Smashing Pumpkins album.

Track listing

All songs were written by Billy Corgan, except where noted.

1. "Lyric" – 3:17
2. "Settle Down" (Corgan, Paz Lenchantin) – 5:25
3. "Declarations of Faith" – 4:17
4. "Honestly" – 3:45
5. "El Sol" (Traditional) – 3:38
6. "Of a Broken Heart" – 3:54
7. "Ride a Black Swan" (Traditional) – 4:53
8. "Heartsong" – 3:08
9. "Endless Summer" – 4:22
10. "Baby Let's Rock!" – 3:41
11. "Yeah!" – 3:06
12. "Desire" – 4:14
13. "Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea" (Traditional/Zwan) – 14:04
14. "Come with Me" – 4:01

Deluxe edition

A deluxe edition of the album was also released, which included a bonus DVD entitled For Your Love, a 40-minute collage of interviews, studio performances, and miscellaneous footage, some of which comes from the aborted Djali Zwan album/film. The songs listed on the DVD are "My Life and Times", "Rivers We Can't Cross", "Mary Star of the Sea", "Love Lies in Ruin", "For Your Love", "Down, Down, Down", "A New Poetry", "W.P.", "Jesus, I", "God's Gonna Set This World on Fire", "To Love You", "Consumed", a different rendition of "My Life and Times", "Danger Boy", and "Spilled Milk", but they are not clips of the full songs.

Personnel

• Billy Corgan (as Billy Burke) – guitar, vocals, producer, additional mixing
• Jimmy Chamberlin – drums
• Matt Sweeney – guitar, vocals
• Paz Lenchantin – bass, vocals
• David Pajo – guitar
• Ana Lenchantin - cello on "Of a Broken Heart"
• Bjorn Thorsrud – producer, additional mixing
• Alan Moulder – mixer
• Ron Lowe – engineer
• Manny A. Sanchez – engineer
• Mathieu LeJeune – engineer
• Greg Norman – engineer
• Rob Bochnik – engineer
• Azuolas Sinkevicius – assistant engineer
• Lionel Darenne – assistant engineer
• Mark Twitchell – second assistant engineer
• Jarod Kluemper – second assistant engineer
• Russ Arbuthnot – second assistant engineer
• Tim Harrington – guitar sound re-enforcer
• Linda Strawberry – assistant to Mr. Thorsrud
• Howie Weinberg – mastering
• Roger Lian – digital editing
• Geoff McFetridge – design

For Your Love DVD personnel

• Lester Cohn – director
• Greg Sylvester, Damon Ranger, Lester Cohn, and Brian Churchwell – cameras
• Tony "Tadpole" Mysliwiec – audio mastering
• David May – DVD producer
• Penny Marciano – DVD production director
• Raena Winscott – DVD graphics coordinator
• Davi Russo – DVD graphics design
• Jim Atkins – authoring

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2003	The Billboard 200	3
2003	Top Internet Albums	3
2003	Top Canadian Albums	4
2003	German charts[9]	17
2003	New Zealand Albums Chart[10]	10

Singles

Date	Title	Chart positions
		US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock	Canadian Top 40 Singles	Germany[11]	UK Singles Chart[12]
November 2002	"Honestly"	7	21	17	86	28

References

1. ^ "Billy Corgan's Blog.". http://billycorgan.livejournal.com/1284.html. Retrieved 2007-08-22. 
2. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r624638/review
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} http://www.metacritic.com/music/mary-star-of-the-sea/critic-reviews
4. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,409009~4~0~marystarofsea,00.html
5. ^ http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8920-mary-star-of-the-sea/
6. ^ "Metacritic: Best Albums of 2003". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2003.shtml. Retrieved 2007-08-22. 
7. ^ "Metacritic: Zwan, Mary Star of the Sea". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/zwan/marystarofthesea/. Retrieved 2007-08-22. 
8. ^ Martens, Todd. "Dixie Chicks Return 'Home' to No. 1". billboard.com. February 5, 2003.
9. ^ "Chartverfolgung / Zwan / Longplay" (in German). musicline.de. PHONONET GmbH. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Zwan/?type=longplay. Retrieved 2011-04-03. 
10. ^ "Chartbitz: Wednesday, July 18, 2007". RIANZ.com. http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/chart_bitz.asp. Retrieved 2007-07-18. 
11. ^ "Chartverfolgung / Zwan / Single" (in German). musicline.de. PHONONET GmbH. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Zwan/single. Retrieved 2011-04-03. 
12. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 618. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.