Away from the Sun (2002)

Away from the Sun is the second studio album by the American rock band 3 Doors Down, released by Universal Records on November 12, 2002. Three of its four singles—"When I'm Gone", "Here Without You", and "Away from the Sun"—entered the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at numbers four, five, and 62, respectively. The album received quadruple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 4, 2006.

Background and production

The Away from the Sun recording sessions took place during the summer of 2002 with producer and engineer Rick Parashar at London Bridge Studio in Seattle, Washington. Alex Lifeson, guitarist for the Canadian rock band Rush, performed live with 3 Doors Down in Biloxi, Mississippi during the premiere party for Away from the Sun. The album has sold eight million copies worldwide, including over four million in the US alone.

A two-disc Limited Edition version of the album was released in 2002 with a bonus DVD that included live video footage of the band, a behind-the-scenes "Making of" video about the album, 5.1 audio recordings of the songs "Dangerous Game" and "When I'm Gone", and the music videos "Kryptonite," "Loser," "Duck and Run," and "Be Like That" from the band's 2000 debut album The Better Life.

In September 2023, vocalist Brad Arnold said about Away from the Sun:I think it will always be my favorite record of ours that we made. There were just a lot of emotions I had that were ready to come out.

He also added that: There are more of my adult feelings and emotions in Away from the Sun than there was on The Better Life. I was only twenty-three when we wrote [the former album], but I had already seen and done a lot. Whereas with The Better Life, I wrote those songs when I was a kid; I was literally a kid, I was sixteen when I wrote "Kryptonite".

Away from the Sun was our first record we wrote as a band ... "a professional band". The first record, I didn't really have a place that I could put my finger on where I wrote all those songs together.

DualDisc version

Away from the Sun was included among a group of 15 DualDisc releases that were test marketed in two cities: Boston, Massachusetts and Seattle, Washington. The test market DualDisc version of the album is rare. In 2005, the DualDisc version was reissued in a more widely distributed version. The original test market version differs from this common version in both packaging elements and in the design of the back of the inlay card.

The DualDisc has the standard CD album on one side and a DVD-Audio/DVD-Video on the second side. The DVD-Audio portion contains the entire album in advanced resolution 5.1 PCM surround sound and 2.0 PCM stereo. The PCM audio was recorded at 96 kHz and 24bit for both audio tracks, but the 5.1 audio track is at 13,824 kbit/s and the 2.0 audio track is at 4,608 kbit/s. Special features for the DVD-Audio include the band's biography, a photo gallery, and lyrics for all the tracks except "This Time". The DVD-Video portion contains the entire album in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound and 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo. The DVD side also features the music video for the single "The Road I'm On" directed by The Malloys.

2023 Deluxe Edition

Away from the Sun: Deluxe Edition, a remastered version of the album with ten bonus tracks, was released on August 11, 2023. The extra songs include early studio recordings of "Dangerous Game," "Dead Love," and "Wasted Me," a live early recording of "When I'm Gone," a demo version of "Here Without You," a cover of "That Smell" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (from the U.S. "The Road I'm On" single), "Living a Lie" (from the Australian and European versions of the "When I'm Gone" single), the previously released bonus tracks "This Time" and "Pop Song," a re-recorded version of the band's 1997 demo track "Man in My Mind" titled "Something in My Mind," and the exclusive song "Long Day."

Music videos

"When I'm Gone" (two versions)

"The Road I'm On"

"Here Without You"

"Away from the Sun"

"Pop Song"

Personnel

• 3 Doors Down
• Brad Arnold – vocals
• Matt Roberts – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Chris Henderson – guitar, backing vocals
• Todd Harrell – bass guitar
• Additional musicians
• Josh Freese – drums
• David Campbell – strings
• Rick Hopkins – Hammond B3
• Matthew Burgess – percussion
• Production
• Zach Blackstone – assistant
• David Campbell – string arrangements, orchestral arrangement, string conductor, concertmaster
• Sandy Brummels – creative director
• Steve Churchyard – engineer
• Joel Derouin – concertmaster
• Ted Jensen – mastering

David Hathaway – butterfly image (courtesy of NASA/NSSTC)

• Suzie Katayama – orchestra manager
• Dean Maher – engineer, digital editing, mixing assistant
• George Marino – mastering
• Frank Ockenfels – photography
• Geoff Ott – engineer, digital editing, overdub engineer
• Rick Parashar – producer, engineer, digital editing
• Bill Richards – product manager
• Paul Silveira – mixing assistant
• Honchol Sin – assistant engineer, assistant
• Gordon Sran – assistant, overdub assistant
• Randy Staub – mixing
• Tom Sweeney – assistant engineer, assistant
• Latif Tayour – assistant engineer, assistant, overdub assistant