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Track Listings
| 1. Kinky Afro |
| 2. God's Cop |
| 3. Donovan |
| 4. Grandbag's Funeral |
| 5. Loose Fit |
| 6. Dennis And Lois |
| 7. Bob's Yer Uncle |
| 8. Step On |
| 9. Holiday |
| 10. Harmony |
Product Description
Review
In the two years since Bummed, the Happy Mondays had embraced dance culture. Every movement needs its high-water mark, and their third album, Pills'n'Thrills And Bellyaches was Madchester's Tewkesbury. Although The Stone Roses debut is more retrospectively adored (astonishing as it still sounds like an album of Freddie and the Dreamers' B-sides), Pills'n'Thrills And Bellyaches at the time felt like nothing you'd ever heard before; except it was absolutely everything you'd heard before; exceptionally undemanding chord structures; grinding beats; shambolic monotony – but the dance nuances of producers Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne and the influence of E as well as Shaun Ryder’s witty dystopian lyrics made the album a very serious work indeed.
Pills'n'Thrills And Bellyaches was trailed by two singles, the student disco favourite "Step On" (a cover of the 1972 hit by John Kongos) and "Kinky Afro" - probably their greatest moment – a sort of Sly and the Family Skunk. But these are not the only pleasures: "God's Cop", opens with chaotic, out of tune slide guitar and develops into a rambunctious lyrical attack on the then-Manchester Police Chief James Anderton, over a loping drum loop from "Shack Up" by Banbarra, complete with Paul Davis' synth stabs and full on vocals from Rowetta; "Donovan," Ryder's lyrical appropriation of his future father-in-law's "Sunshine Superman." Again, Oakenfold and Osborne's deftness of touch is highlighted; it is a languid, accordion-driven groove suddenly undermined by the trademark Mondays hobnails two minutes in.
Pills'n'Thrills and Bellyaches all gets a bit much toward the end, but no matter, what a hoot it is on the way there. It was obvious that this simply couldn't be sustained; one album later the group had acrimoniously imploded in a cloud of class As, Factory collapsing and their own extreme "Lazyitis." --Daryl Easlea
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A revolutionary album from a massively underrated band.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches (Audio CD)
This album was once described as sounding like Bernard Manning reciting Phillip Larkin poetry in a Ibiza nightclub. Thats a pretty good description, but its also one of the most inspirational and original rock records ever made. The Happy Mondays were probably the last of the truly great rock bands. Part of their appeal was their authenticity. They were real people, they didn't write songs about what they thought 'normal' people did, they were doing it. 'Pills 'n' Thrills' hasn't dated in the 10 years since it release, in fact it actually sounds more modern than a lot contemporary music. 'Kinky Afro' sets the tone for this sleazy roller-coaster ride, with the fantastic line 'Son I'm 30, I only went with your mother cos she's dirty', and just gets better and better. Clocking in at just under 44 minutes this album covers so much musically and takes you to so many places it really is breath taking. Its such a shame there aren't any rock bands making records as good as this any more. Buy it now!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A revolutionary album from a massively underrated band.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches (Audio CD)
This album was once described as sounding like Bernard Manning reciting Phillip Larkin poetry in a Ibiza nightclub. Thats a pretty good description, but its also one of the most inspirational and original rock records ever made. The Happy Mondays were probably the last of the truly great rock bands. Part of their appeal was their authenticity. They were real people, they didn't write songs about what they thought 'normal' people did, they were doing it. 'Pills 'n' Thrills' hasn't dated in the 10 years since it release, in fact it actually sounds more modern than a lot of contemporary music. 'Kinky Afro' sets the tone for this sleazy roller-coaster ride, with the fantastic line 'Son I'm 30, I only went with your mother cos she's dirty', and just gets better and better. Clocking in at just under 44 minutes this album covers so much musically and takes you to so many places it really is breath taking. Its such a shame there aren't any rock bands making records as good as this any more. Buy it now!
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh, happy days!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches (Audio CD)
Ah, it's the heady days of autumn 1990 - baggy trousers, funny hats, this funny new thing called dance music still settling in. Ministry still doesn't exist and it ain't mainstream - but THESE guys bring the rock, mix it with the dance and create a complete classic. Really, you need the vinyl version to get this album - because that cover is such an intricate mish-mash of things cheesy but bright, American and British, tongue-in-cheek but with some kind of point to make. I never quite got what that point was, but with phrases like "Twisting my melons" and "Ain't gonna wear no skin tights today" bouncing around the tracks, you don't really NEED to make any sense of it. Jump around and enjoy: if you were there, you should re-buy it's worth buying this just to remind yourself of different (not better or worse, just different and FUN) times.
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