The Bedlam in Goliath

The Bedlam in Goliath is the fourth full length release by The Mars Volta.  It was their last to be released through Universal Records.  Jeff Jordan’s artwork was again used for the album cover.  The name of the piece is called Agadez.  

The Bedlam in Goliath was marketed as having a rather elaborate and intensive lore, more so than even De-Loused in the Comatorium.  Through various interviews the story was presented that Omar purchased a Ouija board while on a trip to Jerusalem with the name “The Soothsayer”.  The board was given to Cedric as a gift and throughout the 2006 tour they used it on the tour bus.  Omar and Cedric claim the board would tell them stories, share names, and also express demands.  “Goliath” was a personality they contacted through the board.  

Omar and Cedric have claimed that as a result of their interactions with the board they began to have otherworldly experiences akin to being cursed such as audio recordings for the album deleting, Omar’s studio flooding and losing power on multiple occasions, and the original audio engineer having a nervous breakdown and refusing the complete the album, allegedly having said “I’m not going to help you make this record. You’re trying to do something very bad with this record, you’re trying to make me crazy and you’re trying to make people crazy.”

Eventually Omar destroyed the board, buried it, and with the help of new audio engineers was able to complete the album.  

The Bedlam in Goliath is the first album to not feature Jon Theodore on drums as he had quit the band after the completion of Amputechture.  Thomas Pridgen became the band’s full time replacement.  

Wax Simulacra was the first single for the album.  The music video was posted online in the Autumn of 2007.  As the album was not posted on youtube, instead having its own unique URL, members of The Comatorium quickly uncovered music videos for Goliath and Aberinkula  as well by trying to use all the song titles in the URL, accidentally revealing these music videos earlier than planned.  Askepios and Ilyena were posted a little later in the year.  

The album was promoted far more heavily than any of their other albums.  For example, they had a full length set on Yahoo’s Nissan Live Set, played on David Letterman’s show, and even a video game was commissioned to go along with the album.  As mentioned, there were five music videos and a myriad of bonus tracks, all of which were uncommon for a The Mars Volta Release.  

The album was further promoted by the band’s only New Year’s Eve show and a run of smaller club shows prior to the records release in late January.  

Bonus tracks:

The Bedlam in Goliath was packaged with varying bonus tracks depending on the region and format you purchased it.  

• Mr. Muggs was a bonus 7” that came with the vinyl release.
• Birthday is a cover of a song by The Sugarcubes.  Available on Japanese version of the album and from Best Buy as a bonus download.
• Candy and a Currant Bun is a cover of a song by Pink Floyd.  Available on the UK, AUS, and NZ versions of the album. Also from U.S. independent record stores as a VinylDisc single.
• Memories is a cover of a song by The Soft Machine. Available on the Japanese version of the album and on iTunes as a bonus track.
• Things Behind the Sun is a cover of a song by Nick Drake. Available on the Japanese version of the album and on iTunes as a bonus track.
• A DVD containing a live rendition of Cygnus….Vismund Cygnus from the 2007 Australia tour was packaged with the US release at some stores.
• Two demos, one for Agadez and one for Soothsayer, were released through the USB stick release.

Charting:

Australian Albums (ARIA) 3
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 46
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 35
Canadian Albums (Billboard) 6
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 42
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) 9
French Albums (SNEP) 87
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 29
Italian Albums (FIMI) 42
Irish Albums (IRMA) 57
Japanese Albums (Oricon) 22
Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico) 47
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 13
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) 10
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) 58
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 32
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 57
UK Albums (OCC) 42
US Billboard 200 3