# Benjamin Booker (album)

Benjamin Booker is the debut studio album by American musician Benjamin Booker. It was released on 9 August 2014 by ATO Records and Rough Trade Records.

## Recording and production

The album was recorded in December 2013 in engineer/producer Andrija Tokic's all-analog Bomb Shelter in East Nashville, Andrija Tokic who has produced recordings for Hurray for the Riff Raff and Alabama Shakes. The Bomb shelter was recommend to Booker as a place to record his album by Alynda Lee Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff and by Sam Doores of The Deslondes. Booker chose The Bomb Shelter as the place to record his album, as he wanted to record the album in analog like he stated in an interview: "
   I wanted to do the record analog, not digital. So we went to The Bomb Shelter, a studio that is totally analog and where other bands from our label, Alabama Shakes and Hurray For The Riff Raff, recorded their album. I knew the guy there was good… and analog was important to me. If you want to put out an album on vinyl, you might as well do it right."
Booker arrived for the recording of the album with his only band mate, Max Norton, from Tampa, FL. The recording of the album was done using a RCA overhead on Norton’s kit, a Neumann U 87 on kick, and a Shure 57 on snare. Booker’s vocal chain usually included a Neumann U 67 with an Altec tube preamp and a UA 175 compressor, recording was often done with other instruments such as Sennheiser 441, in rotation to the main instruments used. the main guitars used for recording were 60s hollow-body Super Lynx Deluxe Vox, and an ’80s Ibanez Matsumoku Roadster. After recording started Tokic started bring in bass players and keyboardists to "flesh out recordings". The album was mixed on Tokic's MCI JH600 console.

## Reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 81/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| NME | 8/10 |
| The Guardian | |
| musicOMH | |
| DIY | 8/10 |
| Clash Music | 7/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Uncut | 7/10 |
| The Observer | |
| American Songwriter | |
Upon its release Benjamin Booker's self-titled album Benjamin Booker received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Benjamin Booker

## Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.
* John Baldwin – mastering
* Benjamin Booker – bass, composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals
* Jem Cohen – bass, vocals (background)
* Eduardo Duquesne – bass, vocals (background)
* Mitch Jones – organ
* Rob Jones – design
* Peter Keys – Fender Rhodes, organ
* Max Norton – drums, organ, mandolin, photography
* Andrija Tokic – engineer, mixing, producer
* Ben Trimble – bass, mellotron

## Charts

| Chart (2014) | Peak position |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) | 187 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) | 59 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 80 |
| US Billboard 200 | 46 |
| US Alternative Albums | 10 |
| US Rock Albums | 15 |
| Tastemaker Albums | 10 |
| Independent Albums | 7 |
| Top Album Sales | 46 |