You Wash... I'll Dry

Background

Following the commercial failure of Floy Joy's 1986 album Weak in the Presence of Beauty, both vocalist Desi Campbell and Shaun Ward went separate ways. However, by 1990, Campbell and Ward worked under the name Everyday People as a trio. After living in America for a while, both returned to Yorkshire, filled with enthusiasm, and joined with local guitarist, Lloyd Richards. The newly established record label SBK Records were sharpest to react and signed the band.

The band flew out to Bearsville, New York and recorded an entire album without sample or sequence. In a 1990 interview with the group, Ward stated "It was the same studio in which the Isley brothers cut all their big records, which made it quite special for us." For the album, the band decided to work with producer Stewart Levine, as they opted for an organic sound. In the same 1990 interview, Campbell noted "We'd had enough experience with producers and would really have preferred to do it ourselves. But Stewart didn't want to change a thing. He told us at the beginning that all he wanted to do was enhance what we already had, and that's exactly how it turned out. After listening to some other guy, who said he hoped we didn't mind if he changed the odd chorus here and there it was great relief!" Ward had commented "The biggest relief for us was the relaxation Stewart engendered in the studio. In England you get the feeling of fear: Look guys were spending £1000 a day here, so lets get it done. Stewart wasn't like that at all. As long as we got something down on tape by the end of the day, he was happy. It never felt like work at any time." All songs on the album were original songs written by the group, although "Second Nature" featured a co-writing credit to Ward's brother Michael Ward as well.

The You Wash... I'll Dry album was released in 1990 via SBK Records. It was not a commercial success, except in Germany, where the album peaked at #26. During the year, the band toured Europe extensively, however the minor success caused the band to dissolve.

The album spawned a total of five singles. The first was "Headline News" which gained some minor interest where it peaked at #99 in the UK, #83 in the Netherlands and #53 in Germany. "I Guess It Doesn't Matter" followed as the second single and was the band's most successful release. The song peaked at #93 in the UK, #24 in Switzerland and #34 in Germany. Both singles "Place in the Sun" and "This Kind of Woman" followed but failed to make any national impact across Europe. The band's final single "Second Nature" managed to peak at #54 in Germany.

Release

The album was issued on vinyl and CD across Europe. The CD version was purposely issued for the UK and Europe, whilst the LP across Europe in places such as Germany, Italy and Spain.

Personnel