Return to Cookie Mountain

Return to Cookie Mountain is the second studio album by American rock band TV on the Radio. It was released July 6, 2006, worldwide by 4AD, and issued in the U.S. and Canada on September 12, 2006, by Interscope Records and Touch and Go Records. The North American release features three bonus tracks, two of which are B-sides from the single "Wolf Like Me"; the other is a remix of "Hours" by El-P. Videos were made for the singles "Wolf Like Me" and "Province".

Return to Cookie Mountain
Studio album by TV on the Radio
Released	July 6, 2006
Recorded	2005
Studio	Stay Gold (Brooklyn, New York) Head Gear (Brooklyn, New York)
Genre	Art rock electropunk[1] experimental[2][3] post-punk revival[4] psychedelia[5] shoegaze[5][6] space rock[7]
Length	56:10
Label	Interscope Touch and Go 4AD
Producer	David Andrew Sitek
TV on the Radio chronology
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004) Return to Cookie Mountain (2006) Dear Science (2008)
Singles from Return to Cookie Mountain
"Wolf Like Me" Released: February 13, 2006 "Province" Released: May 8, 2006

The album featured several notable guest vocalists: "Province" features backing vocals from David Bowie, who championed the band's full-length debut, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes; Katrina Ford of the band Celebration guests on "Wolf Like Me", "Let the Devil In" and "Blues from Down Here"; Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead sings on "Hours". This is their first album to feature the keyboardist Gerard Smith.

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	88/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
The A.V. Club	A[2]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[10]
The Guardian	[3]
MSN Music (Consumer Guide)	A−[11]
NME	9/10[12]
Pitchfork	9.1/10[13]
Q	[14]
Rolling Stone	[5]
Spin	[7]

Return to Cookie Mountain earned overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, and was named the album of the year by Spin for 2006, leading to the band's appearance on the magazine's cover. The album was ranked second on Pitchfork Media's list of Top 50 Albums of 2006.^[15] Rolling Stone, Slant Magazine, and Stylus Magazine each named the album as the fourth best of 2006, and the album is ranked fifth on Metacritic's year-end list. In 2009, Rhapsody ranked the album at eighth on its "100 Best Albums of the Decade" list.^[16] In December 2007 the album was ranked number 96 in Blender (magazine)'s 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever.^[17]

As of 2014, sales in the United States have exceeded 242,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[18]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Was a Lover"	Kyp Malone, Dave Sitek	4:21
2.	"Hours"	Tunde Adebimpe	3:55
3.	"Province"	Malone, Sitek	4:37
4.	"Playhouses"	Malone	5:11
5.	"Wolf Like Me"	Adebimpe	4:39
6.	"A Method"	Adebimpe	4:25
7.	"Let the Devil In"	Malone	4:27
8.	"Dirtywhirl"	Adebimpe	4:15
9.	"Blues from Down Here"	Malone	5:17
10.	"Tonight"	Adebimpe	6:53
11.	"Wash the Day"	Malone, Sitek, Adebimpe	8:08

• "Let the Devil In" includes extended samples from Lou Reed's 1975 noise album Metal Machine Music during the verses.

US reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
26.	"Untitled"		1:44
27.	"Snakes and Martyrs"	Malone	4:07
28.	"Hours" (El-P remix)	Adebimpe	4:26
29.	"Things You Can Do"	Adebimpe, Sitek	5:26

• Tracks 12 to 25 are untitled silent tracks. Track 12 runs for 0:16 while tracks 13 to 25 run for 0:17. Track 26 consists of ambient audio.

Personnel

TV on the Radio

• Tunde Adebimpe – vocals (all tracks), percussion (6), choir (7)
• Jaleel Bunton – drums (1–5, 8, 9, 11), piano (2), guitar (2, 5, 10), percussion (6, 10), choir (7), Rhodes (8)
• Kyp Malone – vocals (1, 3–11), bass (5, 7), guitar (5, 7, 9)
• Dave Sitek – guitars (1, 3–5, 9, 11), bass (1, 3, 9), samples (1, 5–9), flute (2), sampler (3, 4), keys (3, 6), synth (5, 6, 8, 9, 11), magic (10)
• Gerard Smith – piano (1, 3), organ (2), bass (2, 8), choir (7), guitar (8), electric sitar (11)

Additional personnel

• Kazu Makino – vocals (2)
• Jeremy Wilms – cello (2)
• David Bowie – vocals (3)
• Omega "C Taylor" Moon – vocals (4)
• Katrina Ford – vocals (5, 7, 9)
• Martin Perna – baritone saxophone (5), horns (9)
• Aaron Aites – choir (7)
• Dragons of Zynth: Akwetey & Aku Orraca-Tetteh, Devang Arvind Shah – choir, percussion (7)
• Shanina Robinson – vocals (9)
• Stuart D. Bogie – bass harmonica, bass clarinet (9)
• Chris Taylor – horns (9), clarinet (10), horn arrangement (9)

Charts

Chart performance for Return to Cookie Mountain

Chart (2006)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[19]	50
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20]	52
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[21]	55
French Albums (SNEP)[22]	60
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23]	61
Italian Albums (FIMI)[24]	44
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[25]	56
UK Albums (OCC)[26]	90
US Billboard 200[27]	41