Some Friendly

Updated on Oct 07, 2024

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Released October 23, 1990 Length 47:54 Artist The Charlatans Label Beggars Banquet		Recorded 1990 Producer Chris Nagle Release date 8 September 1990

Studio The Windings in Wrexham, Wales Some Friendly (1990) Between 10th and 11th (1992) Genres Madchester, Alternative rock Similar Tellin' Stories, Up to Our Hips, Between 10th and 11th, Us and Us Only, You Cross My Path

The charlatans you re not very well

Some Friendly is the debut album by British alternative rock band The Charlatans, released in 1990.

Recorded at The Windings near Wrexham, Wales in 1990, the sessions proved somewhat fraught - the band fell out with the owners of the studio; "it was one of those studio bust-ups ... Rob and Martin were up to their old tricks, smashing stuff up and that" said singer Tim Burgess later.

However, lack of songs proved to be the major problem. Having been together for less than a year, the band hadn't had the opportunity to stockpile songs. The album suffered as a result, featuring a few tracks that "had to go on there just to make up the numbers" (Burgess again).

The band also felt that some songs (especially "White Shirt" and "Polar Bear") were overproduced, with the bass being lost in the mix and that the whole album sounded rather 'thin'.

Both "The Only One I Know" and "Then" provided the Charlatans with hit singles, peaking at #9 and #12 respectively in the pop charts. In the UK the record went straight in at #1 in the album charts.

Track listing

The original vinyl release of Some Friendly did not include "The Only One I Know", as it was the band's wish to take only one single from each album.

2010 Deluxe edition

A two disc Remastered Deluxe Edition of the album was released on 17 May 2010. The track listing for this release included a remastered version of the original album as well as a disc of outtakes, radio sessions and B-sides.

All tracks written by Baker, Blunt, Brookes, Burgess, Collins; except where noted.

Note

Tracks 1-3 on the bonus disc were originally released on the single The Only One I Know; Tracks 11-12 appeared on the single Then; Tracks 15, 16, 18 and a shorter version of Track 17 appeared on the EP Over Rising. "Opportunity Three" is a remix of "Opportunity" from the original album. "Some Friendly" is an early version of "You're Not Very Well".

Note

For contractual reasons, the digital release of this reissue omits the BBC session recordings: however, it adds four additional versions which were omitted from the CD at the band's request:

Personnel

Tim Burgess – vocals, harmonica

John Baker – guitars

Rob Collins – Mellotron, organ, piano, backing vocals

Martin Blunt – bass

Jon Brookes – drums

Charts

Album

Single

Songs

1You're Not Very Well3:31
2White Shirt3:26
3The Only One I Know3:58

References

Some Friendly Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA