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The Beautiful Letdown

The Beautiful Letdown is the fourth album by alternative rock band Switchfoot. Released in early 2003, it launched the band into the mainstream limelight. Two Top-40 singles were released from this disc: "Meant to Live" (top 20) and "Dare You to Move" (top 20). "This Is Your Life" was also released to mainstream radio, while "Gone" received airplay at CCM radio. After selling over 2.6 million copies, the album was certified double platinum by the RIAA and won for Album of the Year at the 2003 San Diego Music Awards.

Recording & History

In 2002, the band entered the studio to begin recording of the follow-up to their 2000 gold record, Learning to Breathe. They were unsigned at the time, their contract with re:think Records/Sparrow having expired with the completion of Learning to Breathe. They finished recording in two weeks, but shortly afterwards, were signed to the major record label Columbia Records/Red Ink. This ultimately delayed the release, as the label submitted the album for further mixing and marketing. It was finally released February 25, 2003 as The Beautiful Letdown.

Track listing

"Meant to Live" – 3:20
"This Is Your Life" – 4:18
"More Than Fine" – 4:14
"Ammunition" – 3:45
"Dare You to Move" – 4:15
"Redemption" – 3:06
"The Beautiful Letdown" – 5:20
"Gone" – 3:45
"On Fire" – 4:39
"Adding to the Noise" – 2:50
"Twenty-Four" – 4:52

2004 CD/DVD Release

In 2004, "The Beautiful Letdown" was re-released in two different forms: A standard CD-only reissue featuring a slightly tweaked audio mix, as well as new artwork, and a CD/DVD package.

The CD/DVD edition featured a DVD that included a few bonus-features, including the entire album in 5.1 Surround Sound.

It also featured a Making of “Dare You to Move” video, as well as Version 1 of the music video itself, an acoustic impromptu performance of “On Fire,” and two previously unreleased bonus tracks, “Monday Comes Around” and “Meant to Live (Live).” For some reason, these bonus tracks were inexplicably included only on the DVD, and not on the audio side.

2005 Dual Disc Release

In 2005, the album was released yet again, this time as a DualDisc. The audio side remained the same as the 2004 re-issue, and the DVD side featured all of the same features, but also included the second version music video of "Dare You to Move."

2007 iTunes Deluxe Edition

A deluxe edition of the album was released by Sony on December 25, 2007 exclusively on iTunes. It contained all the tracks on the previous releases, but included these three bonus tracks, available for purchase for the first time:

"Monday Comes Around"
"Dare You to Move" (alternate version)
"Meant to Live" (Acoustic)

Charts and certifications

Year	Chart	Position
2004	U.S. Billboard 200	#16
2004	Top Internet Albums	#16
2004	Top Christian Albums	#1

Country	Certification	Sales/shipments
United States	Double Platinum	2,600,000
Canada	Gold	500,000

In TV and Film

Many of Switchfoot's songs have been used in various TV shows and movies. The WB's Smallville used This is Your Life and the 2007 film The Ultimate Gift incorporated On Fire into one of its scenes.

Miscellaneous information

Jon Foreman wrote the song "Twenty-Four" on the day before his 25th birthday.
The first few promotional copies of the album were printed with the song "Monday Comes Around" on it. When the wide release version went to print Jon Foreman removed the song as he felt it didn't match the tone of the album. The song can now be found on the 2004 re-release of "The Beautiful Letdown" on the accompanying DVD, on the b-side of the Meant to Live record single released, in copies of "Nothing Is Sound (Japan)", and in the 2007 iTunes Deluxe re-release of "The Beautiful Letdown."
This album was the first to feature keyboardist/guitarist Jerome Fontamillas, who had been touring with the band since 2001.
The band's bassist Tim Foreman designed the album cover.