9 (Damien Rice album)

Damien Rice had originally intended to record only one album, O, but he ended up releasing 9 at the insistence of his record company. He later said in an interview: "Now I regret that, because I would take half the songs that are on 9 off. I just don't think it's as good a record as it could be".^[1]

"Elephant" was originally titled "The Blower's Daughter Part 2". "The Blower's Daughter" is a song on Rice's first album O.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	64/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
The Guardian	[4]
The Independent	[5]
The New York Times[6]	n/a
Okayplayer	[7]
Pitchfork Media	(1.9/10)[8]
Q	[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Slant Magazine	[11]

The album was released to mixed critical and fan reaction. NME gave the album 4/10, describing it as "IKEA rock". Hot Press wrote "If Rice really was a nervous wounded-wing, there's no way he'd skirt as close to Nick Drake comparisons as he does on 'The Animals Are Gone'", and, in a reference to the 'noise' preceding the first track, "there's another noise that can be made out faintly but distinctly – the sound of the Grays, LaMontagnes, Johnsons and the Blunts of this world breaking their pencil tips on their jotters in sheer envy and frustration."

Both Mojo and Q gave the album 4/5. The Sunday Times made it their 'Album of the Week'. It was People's Critic Choice in November 2006.

The album reached number 4 in the UK Albums Chart.^[12] In the US, it was on the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks, peaking on its debut at number 22.^{[citation needed]}