Product Misplacement (History of Margovya)

Product Misplacement
Studio album by Not So Socialist
Released	January 1, 2010
Recorded	2008-2009 at Unbelievable, Jeff! Studios, Remontadov, Viktoriyovskaya
Genre	Pop rock, alternative rock, R&B
Length	49:00
Label	Tidzhomov, Personality
Producer	Denis Tidzhomov, Not So Socialist
Not So Socialist chronology
The Russian Album (2009)	Product Misplacement (2010)	The Burberrys (2012)

Product Misplacement is the fifth studio album of by Margovyan rock band Not So Socialist. It was released in Margovya on January 1, 2010 and the rest of South America on January 5, 2010.

History

Rumors of a new Not So Socialist album began circulating after the release of the EP The Russian Album, and the band confirmed that an album has been made in a July 2009 interview. The album title was confirmed on September 1, 2009 in a promotional video for the new single, "Things I Hate About You". The single was released on September 15, 2009 in Margovya and September 17, 2009 in South America. The single's B-side is a cover of Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

The video for "Things I Hate About You" was released on Not So Socialist's official website three days before the single. The video features Tanya Kalinina, the lead vocalist for the song, singing in front of a white background, mixed in with clips of the band playing in front of the same white background.

The album was released on January 1, 2010 in Margovya and January 5 in the rest of South America. An estimated 150,000 copies were sold on release day in Margovya, and the album debuted at the top of the Margovyan charts, staying there for eleven weeks, a record for the band that would eventually be beaten by the 2014 release of the album Prisoners of Presumption.

The album cover is a stock photo of a crushed soda can, with the band name in red block letters on top and the album title in cursive red letters at the bottom.

Gavrina Kumilyova stated that the entire album is set to a narrative of failed love, with all songs in the album relating to the struggles of trying to maintain a relationship that was clearly not working and how hard it is to accept that relationships sometimes do end on a bad note.

On 22 January 2010, Not So Socialist played their first show for the "Advertise Wisely" Tour in Ikulsk, Margovya; their first live show in three years.

Videos for the eight singles released after "Things I Hate About You" were released on the band's official YouTube channel every two days before the release of the accompanying single.

Recording

The album was recorded in Margovya (Unbelievable, Jeff! Studios, Remontadov) and produced by Denis Tidzhomov and Not So Socialist. In addition to their songs, the band recorded covers of several Western songs which were included as hidden tracks and eventually additional tracks to their singles releases. The covers were also included as B-sides of the vinyls pressed by Tidzhomov Music Records.

Concept and music

Themes

The album, is based on the theme of failing and failed love, love that had gone through life's challenges and came out of it battered and bruised. Troubles always start with the little things, as the album's lead single "Things I Hate About You" attests, and as soon as that happens, anything can set off the avalanche that will bury what was once love underneath a thick layer of cold suspicion and distrust.

Product Misplacement is generally considered as one of the darker offerings by Not So Socialist as it deals with such sensitive content as failed love. Whereas their older albums featured light and sometimes inspirational tracks, Svetlana Lanuva had described Product Misplacement as "depression on a disc", and that it "shows how much the band has grown since their early years. When before they were cheering us up with their various renditions of pop rock, now they descend into the cavern of difficult emotions and open the floodgates on our tear ducts." Conrada Cortesova also stated in her review of the album that "whoever does not relate to this album, whether you're young or you're old, is basically dead inside, like singers who can't sing "Endless Love"."

Songs and lyrics

The album "revels in revealing all the things that make relationships fail, and the various crazy things that people can come up with just to try to salvage the relationship when in fact it had sunk and gone already." The album begins with the track "Things I Hate About You", which details the little things that can make one person begin to feel feelings other than love to their significant other. Betrayal is already bandied about in "Chocolate", and the following track "Lonely" details how betrayals can make the person who was betrayed feel like they're the only person in the world. "When I Knew It Was You" is an attempt at reconciliation between the two parties, but their relationship would never be the same again, as evidenced by "Something Has Changed". "Something Has Changed" serves as the turning point of the album, the climax in which it appears as if the relationship has finally been given a clean break.

"Hanging Out" picks up where "Something Has Changed" left off, with the former lovers encountering each other once again a few years after the break. The song revisits all the good things that had in the past, and "Together Forever" has the relationship being rekindled once again. Eventually, all the old troubles resurface in "Price of Beauty", and "Heart to Heart" is another earnest attempt to make right what once went wrong, although the advances are eventually rejected.

The final three tracks, "Please Be Mine", "Love Song", and "Why?" deal with the aftermath of the broken relationship. Pleas to be together once again are ignored, and the album ends with lamentations of how and why it all went wrong.

Release and artwork

The album artwork shows a crushed soda can on the front, and a plain white background at the back with the track listing in red. The band's name is written in red block letters at the top of the front cover, while the album's name is written in red cursive at the bottom. The inner part of the Digipak edition case shows a picture of the four members wearing football kit shirts, with the sponsors on the kits prominently displayed; the first of only two times that the band was featured in various photographic scenarios (The Burberrys was the second album to feature the band within the album art).

Reception

Critical response

Not So Socialist promoting Product Misplacement on The Svetlana Lanuva Show in 2010

Upon its release, the album received mixed to positive responses. Svetlana Lanuva gave the album a rating of four out of five stars, and, while sticking to her words that Products Misplacement was "depression on a disc", stated that "the middle of the album is jarring in its cheerfulness" and that "the middle three tracks [of the album] contrast so much with the rest of Product Misplacement that newcomers and even members of the band's faithful might be taken away from their mental image of what's going on." Nevertheless, she said that "despite the contrasts in the tracks, once the general message of the whole album sinks in, it can make even the most ice-cold people emotional."

Conrada Cortesova gave the album three out of five stars. She said, "Not So Socialist tried to outdo Falling Leaves with their latest album, and they succeeded, to a point. They've certainly matured since the days of the likes of The Promiscuous Album, and that was probably a better example of their experimentation than Product Misplacement. Still, they know what they're capable of, and they know where their boundaries are and how much they can push it. Product Misplacement may not be the best that they could offer, especially in comparison to Falling Leaves, but both newcomers and old-timers will find that they like it."

Commercial performance

The album sold 149,766 copies in Margovya on release day alone to debut at the number one spot on the Margovyan Top 100 Albums chart. It stayed at the top of the charts for a record eleven weeks, a record that would only be broken by another Not So Socialist album, Prisoners of Presumption. It was also top ten in several South American charts and reached number one hit in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. As of January 2016, the album has shipped 12.4 million copies throughout South America.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Not So Socialist except when noted otherwise.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	"Things I Hate About You"	T. N. Kalinina	3:33
2	"Chocolate"	L. V. Arigov	3:38
3	"Lonely"	Arigov	4:23
4	"When I Knew It Was You"	M. D. Atolova, R. D. Tidzhomov	3:18
5	"Something Has Changed"	Atolova	4:20
6	"Hanging Out"	G. V. Kumilyova	3:44
7	"Together Forever"	Kalinina	3:52
8	"Price of Beauty"	Kumilyova	3:15
9	"Heart to Heart" (Cover version)	Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, David Foster	5:23
10	"Please Be Mine"	Kalinina	3:10
11	"Love Song"	Kumilyova	5:36
12	"Why?"	Atolova	4:48

Deluxe edition

Four previously unreleased tracks originally recorded for Falling Leaves were included in the deluxe edition of Product Misplacement.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13	"Thanks For Being There"	Kalinina	4:00
14	"Drown This Heart"	Kumilyova	6:04
15	"Understand"	Atolova	4:20
16	"Say It Again"	Arigov	4:51

Deluxe edition total runtime: 1:08:15

Personnel

Not So Socialist

• Lev Arigov – lead vocals (tracks 2, 3 & 9), drums, backing vocals
• Maria Atolova – lead vocals (tracks 4, 5 & 12), keyboards, bass guitar
• Tanya Kalinina – lead vocals (tracks 1, 7 & 10), lead guitar
• Gavrina Kumilyova – lead vocals (tracks 6, 8 & 11), drums, rhythm guitar

Production

• Produced by Denis Tidzhomov