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''The Generous Mr. Lovewell'' is the sixth studio album by Christian rock band MercyMe. Released in May 2010, the album is a concept record revolving around a fictional character, 'Mr. Lovewell', and the overall theme of love. Produced by Brown Bannister and Dan Muckala, the album met with positive critical and commercial reception. The album sold over 88,000 copies its first week and debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200 and at number one on the Christian Albums chart. Three singles were released in promotion of the album, all of them reaching number one on ''Billboard's'' Christian Songs chart. Lead single "All of Creation" spent ten weeks at the top of the Christian Songs chart, also peaking at No. 14 on the Heatseekers Songs chart and No. 2 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. "Beautiful" and "Move" also reached number one on the Christian Songs chart, holding the top spot for one and nine weeks, respectively, with "Move" also peaking at No. 20 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. ==Background, concept, and recording== The idea for the character of "Mr. Lovewell" and the album came up while the band was attempting to figure out concepts for the record. According to lead singer Bart Millard "we () were trying to come up with the concept for our next record. For some reason, the words 'love well' got stuck in my head".〔 Millard elaborated that "we're very good, as a nation, at loving well when a massive tragedy takes place... We all of a sudden become very unified, which is a great, great thing. But on a day-to-day basis, we pass up opportunities. We look the other way, or we try to ignore. So the idea of loving well is almost a kind of 'pay it forward' that revolves around the cross". With that general idea, MercyMe was going to name the album ''Love Well''. However, the band decided to make a character that personifies the idea of 'loving well', and came up with the character of 'Mr. Lovewell',〔 partly inspired by The Beatles' 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''.〔 Because of the character and the more diverse sound the album was going to have, the band felt the original name didn't fit and changed the album name to reflect the character of 'Mr. Lovewell'. Millard has described the character of 'Mr. Lovewell' as "like Buddy the Elf meets Forrest Gump. He sees the good in everyone and knows his neighbors enough to know their needs. Mr. Lovewell may not be the next Billy Graham, but he’s changing the world each day in every little word and deed.”〔 The concept of 'loving well' was further developed when the band made a trip to the Dominican Republic and were inspired by the resilient spirits of people living in poverty on the island.〔 When the band started to write the songs for the album, they joined the character of 'Mr. Lovewell' and the concept of 'loving well', creating the overall message of love that is present in the album. Millard stated the band's dream for the album was "to inspire others to ‘pay it forward’ to the cross. It doesn’t have to be about major sacrifices. Just let your life become such that people know what you stand for".〔 The album was recorded mostly by Reid Shippen at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas, with the exceptions of "Won't You Be My Love" and "All of Creation", which were recorded by Steve Bishir at Quad Studios.〔According to the inner liner notes of the album.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Generous Mr. Lovewell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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