release date: Aug. 7, 1995
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: Danny Saber, Stephen Lironi, Shaun Ryder
label: Radioactive Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights:
1. "Reverend Black Grape" (4 / 5) -
2. "In the Name of the Father" (4 / 5) (live on Later) -
3. "Tramazi Parti" (live on Later) -
4. "Kelly's Heroes" (official video 1 - official video 2) -
5. "Yeah Yeah Brother" -
6. "A Big Day in the North" -
8. "Submarine" -
9. "Shake Your Money"
Studio album debut by the Northern English quintet Black Grape released on the small independent American label Radioactive. The band was formed in 1993 on initiative of vocalist Shaun Ryder and dancer Bez [aka Mark Berry] shortly after the disbandment of the Happy Mondays. Together with vocalist Paul "Kermit" Leveridge (of Ruthless Rap Assassins), guitarist Paul "Wags" Wagstaff (Paris Angel), and drummer Ged Lynch (Ruthless Rap Assassins) they constitute Black Grape. However, this quintet nearly only contains two performing instrumentalists. Bez is credited on "vibes" but is commonly known as a dancer - at times equiped with maracas. Apart from sharing vocal role, Paul Leveridge is credited as co-songwriter on half of the ten songs, whereas Ryder is songwriter and composer of all tracks, and apart from that, no one else from the band are credited the music on this album. Instead the music basically seems manufactured, organised and arranged by the producer-trio of Saber, Lironi and Ryder. Co-producer Danny Saber is a multi-instrumentalist and here, he is credited on guitar, bass and keyboards as well as for programming. He is also sound engineer and co-composer of four tracks. Other co-producer Stephen Lironi (guitarist & drummer of Altered Images) is credited on guitar and keyboards, and he is co-composer of two songs. Apart from that, other instrumentalists feature on some of the songs but it's quite evident that it's an album driven by Ryder and two multi-instrumentalists, and the perception of a band effort is merely a manufactured official image.
Naturally, the music shares traits with that of Happy Mondays. Some suggest it sounds more like the natural progression from Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990) than the recent final album by The Mondays, but with Shaun Ryder as the dominant figure - as both songwriter, composer, co-producer and vocalist - it's no wonder that it reminds people of his former band. Unfairly, Shaun is at times reduced to an original and creative songwriter with a highly distinctive vocal, but he's more than just that. Initially, he played the guitar with his younger brother Paul playing bass, and from the beginning of The Mondays, he shared composer-role with the rest of the band, which both underlines his ear for music structure as well as his role in Black Grape. Without Shaun there would've been no Happy Mondays and no Black Grape. Musically, the album comes out as a new original conglomerate of styles. It's alt. dance and indie pop in a bolder electronic shape than that of The Mondays, and it mixes elements from neo-psychedelia, funk and soul. A few of the songs, e.g. "A Big Day in the North", "Shake Well Before Opening" and "Yeah Yeah Brother" (actually written for the ...Yes Please album) more strongly continues the style of The Happy Mondays with an acid house-tone but the overall sensation is that of a coherent whole of more uptempo funky alt. dance.
The title is almost like the answer to Pills 'n' Thrills... saying it's (probably) better to stay away from substance abuse. And the strong psychedelic colours of the front cover showing a pop art photo of the infamous terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (aka Carlos the Jackal) follows closely in the footsteps of covers for Ryder's former band.
Music critics welcomed the album and it went straight to number #1 on the UK chart list. It was preceded by the the single release of track #1 peaking at #9, and the album was followed by two singles, tracks #2 and #4, respectively peaking at #8, and #17 in the UK.
I vividly recall the album as something I considered an improvement to the Happy Mondays. In retrospect, it hasn't faded all that much and still carries a certain amount of quality.
It may not be as significant as Pills 'n' Thrills... but I find it better as more poignant, better structured, showcasing better hooks, and then it's just one of my favourites of the nineties and therefore recommended.
