Release and Promotion
Moore chose the album's name from a list of band, album and song names he kept. The Office of Strategic Influence was a highly secret organization set up three weeks after the September 11 attacks. Part of its mission was to spread misinformation and plant false news items in the media in order to "influence the hearts and minds of the opposition." After The New York Times ran a story on the Office in February 2002, it was forced to shut, although many of its operations were later transferred to the Information Operations Task Force. "The funny thing about it was the government and administration was saying it's so embarrassing that they had to name it the 'Office of Strategic Influence,' we couldn't just put it in a room in the Pentagon and name it whatever the room number is," Moore said. "Someone decided to be really creative about it and name it what it really is."
The limited edition bonus CD features three bonus tracks on it. There are two cover songs: a cover of the Pink Floyd song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" performed by Moore and Portnoy, chosen because they both "love Pink Floyd", according to Portnoy, and a cover of the Neil Young song "New Mama" performed by Moore. The third track, entitled "The Thing That Never Was", is a seventeen-minute instrumental performed by Matheos and Portnoy, showing the original direction they intended to take the album in. The CD contains a 19-minute multimedia section, including two documentary-style videos shot during the album's recording, and a music video for the track "Horseshoes and B-52s" directed by Moore.
Matheos suggested using an altered version of the United States passport for the album's cover art. The differences are that the arrows are double-headed, the olive branch is wilted, and the eagle's wings have been clipped. Matheos, Moore and Portnoy decided against sending out promotional copies of the album before its release date in order to prevent an early Internet leak of it. The album was released in Europe on February 17, 2003.
Read more about this topic: Office Of Strategic Influence (album)
Famous quotes containing the words release and/or promotion:
“If I were to be taken hostage, I would not plead for release nor would I want my government to be blackmailed. I think certain government officials, industrialists and celebrated persons should make it clear they are prepared to be sacrificed if taken hostage. If that were done, what gain would there be for terrorists in taking hostages?”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“Parents can fail to cheer your successes as wildly as you expected, pointing out that you are sharing your Nobel Prize with a couple of other people, or that your Oscar was for supporting actress, not really for a starring role. More subtly, they can cheer your successes too wildly, forcing you into the awkward realization that your achievement of merely graduating or getting the promotion did not warrant the fireworks and brass band.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)