Attack of the Grey Lantern is the debut album by English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Mansun

Mansun

Mansun were an English alternative rock band formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone. The band broke up in May 2003....

 released in February 1997 via Parlophone

Parlophone

Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...

. The album spent a total of 19 weeks on the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

, peaking at number one.

Background

According to Mansun

Mansun

Mansun were an English alternative rock band formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone. The band broke up in May 2003....

's Kleptomania

Kleptomania (album)

-Disc two:-Disc three:-Personnel:Disc One Credits* All songs written by Paul Draper* Produced by Richard Rainey and Paul Draper* Engineered by Cenzo Townshend, except tracks 9 and 10 engineered by Barney Chase.Disc Two Credits...

liner notes, frontman Paul Draper states that "Take It Easy, Chicken" was their first song and the band really did not know how to play their instruments, let alone play as a band, when DJs Steve Lamacq

Steve Lamacq

Steve Lamacq , sometimes known by his nicknames Lammo or "The Cat" is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio stations BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2.-Early career:He was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire...

 and John Peel

John Peel

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

 started to play the song on BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

. Through 1996 and 1997, Mansun

Mansun

Mansun were an English alternative rock band formed in Chester in 1995. The band comprised vocalist/rhythm guitarist Paul Draper, bassist Stove King, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dominic Chad, and drummer Andie Rathbone. The band broke up in May 2003....

 released "Egg Shaped Fred" (which was re-recorded for the album to include new drummer Andie Rathbone

Andie Rathbone

Andrew Rathbone is an English drummer and former member of the rock band Mansun.Rathbone was the third and final drummer in Mansun, brought in after the band had "internal conflict" with the previous two...

), "Stripper Vicar", "She Makes My Nose Bleed" and "Taxloss" (styled Taxlo$$). "Wide Open Space" became a dance anthem after being remix

Remix

A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

ed by DJ

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 and producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 Paul Oakenfold

Paul Oakenfold

Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...

 under the production alias Perfecto. This remix was included on Oakenfold's compilation Resident: Two Years of Oakenfold at Cream, as an indicator of being one of the most played songs at major UK nightclub Cream

Cream (nightclub)

Cream, based at the Nation nightclub in Liverpool, is one of the best-known night clubs in the UK. Cream began life as a weekly house music night at Nation, and ran in this format for 10 years, from October 1992 to June 2002...

, as well as in nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

s around the world, over the 1997-1999 period.

"Taxloss" alludes melodically and lyrically to The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

' song "Taxman

Taxman

"Taxman" is a song written by George Harrison released as the opening track on The Beatles' 1966 album Revolver. Its lyrics attack the high levels of progressive tax taken by the British Labour government of Harold Wilson.-Composition:...

", and also to the rhythmic feel of "Tomorrow Never Knows

Tomorrow Never Knows

"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the final track of The Beatles' 1966 studio album Revolver but the first to be recorded. Credited as a Lennon–McCartney song, it was written primarily by John Lennon...

", as well as "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool

Long Haired Lover from Liverpool

"Long Haired Lover From Liverpool" is a pop song by Jimmy Osmond.Written by Christopher Kingsley and produced by Mike Curb and Perry Botkin Jr, "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" was a UK number one single for Jimmy Osmond...

" by Little Jimmy Osmond. The video notoriously featured the band throwing £25,000 in five pound notes onto the main concourse of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Liverpool Street station

Liverpool Street station

Liverpool Street railway station, also known as London Liverpool Street or simply Liverpool Street, is both a central London railway terminus and a connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, England...

 during rush hour

Rush hour

A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...

 and watching the ensuing chaos.http://natts.com/mansun/mansun.html

Concept album

While Mansun's singer and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, Paul Draper, admits that Attack of the Grey Lantern is not a fully fledged concept album, it was his intention for it to be one, until he "ran out of steam", labelling the LP "half a concept album – a con album". The majority of the record is centred around the concept of a superhero, known as "The Grey Lantern", in the guise of Draper himself. Throughout the album, the hero encounters a number of immoral inhabitants in a fictional English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 village.

Well, The Grey Lantern is like a comic-book hero — the album is about this village of people with really disgusting morals and the Grey Lantern sorts them out. I suppose the Grey Lantern's me. I wouldn't have a cape, but there are definitely characters on the record — Albert Taxloss, Chad, Dark Mavis. At the end of the album it all gets resolved and you find Mavis is actually the Stripper Vicar.

At the time of release, Draper hinted at a possible album sequel, titled "The Return Of The Grey Lantern". For its American release, the album's running order was re-sequenced, a move which some felt compromised the intended concept, as the song "Stripper Vicar" was replaced with "Take It Easy, Chicken."

Release

When Attack of the Grey Lantern was released in February 1997, it charted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

. The album was preceded by four singles, the first of which "Egg Shaped Fred" was released a year prior. "Egg Shaped Fred" was Mansun's début single for Parlophone Records and made #37 in the UK. The following three singles ("Stripper Vicar", "Wide Open Space

Wide Open Space (song)

"Wide Open Space" is a song by Chester rock band Mansun, released as a single on 25 November 1996. The song was the lead track of Four EP. The single's success led to alternate versions appearing on four of the next five Mansun singles. These versions were one live, one acoustic, and two remixes,...

", "She Makes My Nose Bleed

She Makes My Nose Bleed

"She Makes My Nose Bleed" is a song by UK band Mansun. It was released as a single in 1997 from the group's debut album, Attack of the Grey Lantern...

") all made the top forty each improving of the previous singles' chart position. The final single released from the album was "Taxloss" which followed the album in April 1997 and made #15. In the US, Mansun enjoyed their only chart success with "Wide Open Space" reaching the modest position of #25 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks

Modern Rock Tracks

Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

 chart.

Critical reception

Accolades

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Melody Maker Melody Maker Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...	United Kingdom	Best 50 Albums of the Year	1997	12
NME NME The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...	United Kingdom	Best 50 Albums of the Year	1997	44
Q Q (magazine) Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...	United Kingdom	Best 50 Albums of the Year	1997	*
The Guardian The Guardian The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...	United Kingdom	Best 10 Pop CD's of the Year	1997	*

* denotes an unranked list.

UK edition

US edition

CD1

1. The Chad Who Loved Me
2. Mansun's Only Love Song
3. Taxloss
4. You, Who Do You Hate?
5. Wide Open Space
6. Stripper Vicar
7. Disgusting
8. She Makes My Nose Bleed
9. Naked Twister
10. Egg Shaped Fred
11. Dark Mavis + An Open Letter to the Lyrical Trainspotter (Secret track)

CD2

1. Egg Shaped Fred (Alternative Version)
2. Ski Jump Nose
3. Lemonade Secret Drinker
4. Thief + Secret track
5. Take It Easy Chicken
6. Drastic Sturgeon
7. The Greatest Pain
8. Moronica
9. The Edge
10. Duchess
11. No One Knows Us
12. Things Keep Falling off Buildings
13. Rebel Without a Quilt
14. Vision Impaired
15. Skin Up Pin Up
16. The Gods of Not Very Much
17. Moronica (Acoustic)
18. Lemonade Secret Drinker (Acoustic)
19. The Most to Gain
20. Flourella

CD3

1. She Makes My Nose Bleed (Acoustic)
2. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
3. Live Open Space
4. Drastic Sturgeon (Live)
5. Grey Lantern
6. Impending Collapse of It All
7. Ski Jump Nose (Live)
8. Wide Open Space (Acoustic)
9. Closed for Business
10. K.I.Double.S.I.N.G.
11. Everyone Must Win
12. The World's Still Open
13. Dark Mavis (Acoustic)
14. Stripper Vicar (Live)
15. Egg Shaped Fred (Acoustic)
16. Impending Collapse Of It All (Acoustic)
17. Ski Jump Nose (Acoustic)
18. (I'm in a) Wide Open Space (Remix performed by Greg Downey & Mansun)

Japanese mini-album

Japan-Only EP "Stripper Vicar" – 4:05 "An Open Letter to a Lyrical Trainspotter" – 4:01 "No One Knows Us" – 3:41 "The Edge" – 3:14 "The Duchess" – 4:28 "Take It Easy, Chicken" – 4:31 "Drastic Sturgeon" – 3:24 "Moronica" – 4:33 Tracks 1–5 taken from Three EP. Tracks 6–8 taken from Two EP.

Japanese Two EP "Taxloss" – 4:27 [Edit] "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" – 4:39 "Live Open Space" – 4:43 "Drastic Sturgeon (Live)" – 3:17

One EP

UK & Japan CD "Egg Shaped Fred" – 3:53 [Different Version] "Ski Jump Nose" – 3:42 "Lemonade Secret Drinker" – 3:46 "Thief" 5:18 [+ Hidden Bonus Track – 1:47]

Cassette & 7" "Egg Shaped Fred" – 3:53 "Ski Jump Nose" – 3:42 "Lemonade Secret Drinker" – 3:46 "Thief" – 3:02

• Released 25th March 1996: UK Singles Chart: #37.

Two EP

CD, Cassette & 7"

1. "Take It Easy, Chicken" - 4:30
2. "Drastic Sturgeon" - 3:23
3. "The Greatest Pain" - 3:51
4. "Moronica" - 4:32
   • Released 3rd June 1996: UK Singles Chart: #32.

Three EP

CD1 "Stripper Vicar" – 4:05 "The Edge" – 3:14 "The Duchess" – 4:28

CD2 "Stripper Vicar" – 4:05 "An Open Letter to a Lyrical Trainspotter" – 4:01 "No One Knows Us" – 3:41 "Things Keep Falling Off Buildings" – 4:19

7" Limited Edition "Stripper Vicar" – 4:05 "No One Knows Us" – 3:41

• Released 9th September 1996: UK Singles Chart: #19.

Four EP

CD1 "Wide Open Space" – 4:32 "Rebel Without a Quilt" – 4:09 "Vision Impaired" – 2:39 "Skin Up Pin Up" – 3:40

CD2 Limited Edition "Wide Open Space" – 4:32 "The Gods of Not Very Much" – 4:39 "Moronica (Acoustic Version)" – 3:14 "Lemonade Secret Drinker (Acoustic Version)" – 2:47

7" Limited Edition "Wide Open Space" – 4:32 "Rebel Without a Quilt" – 4:09

• Released 25th November 1996: UK Singles Chart: #15, US Modern Rock Chart: #25.

Five EP

CD1 "She Makes My Nose Bleed" – 3:55 "The Most to Gain" – 2:20 "Flourella" – 4:27 "She Makes My Nose Bleed (Acoustic)" – 3:32

CD2 "She Makes My Nose Bleed" – 3:55 "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" – 4:39 "Live Open Space" – 4:43 "Drastic Sturgeon (Live)" – 3:17

7" Limited Edition "She Makes My Nose Bleed" – 3:55 "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" – 4:39

• Released 3rd February 1997: UK Singles Chart: #9.

Six EP

CD1 "Taxloss" – 7:02 "Grey Lantern" – 2:04 "Taxloss (Lisa Marie Experience Remix)" – 6:10

CD2 "Taxloss" – 4:27 [Edit] "The Impending Collapse of It All" – 4:04 "Ski Jump Nose (Live)" – 6:31 "Wide Open Space (Acoustic)" – 4:16

Remixes 12" "Taxloss (John 'OO' Fleming Remix)" – 8:12 "Taxloss" – 7:02 [Album Version] "Taxloss (Lisa Marie Experience Remix)" – 6:10 "Taxloss (Gaudi Remix)" (?.??)

• Released 28th April 1997: UK Singles Chart: #15.

Personnel

Mansun

• Dominic Chad
  Dominic Chad
  Dominic Chad is an English rock guitarist and former member of the rock band Mansun.He reportedly changed his name by deed poll to Dominic Brian Chad in 1998, due to his fixation with the now deceased Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones.Chad is an arranger and songwriter, having co-written...
  
   – lead guitar
  Lead guitar
  Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
  
  , piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , backing vocals, synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  
• Stove
  Stove King
  Stove King is an English bassist and former member of the rock band, Mansun....
  
   – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Andie Rathbone – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Paul Draper – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s, piano, synthesizer, production
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  

Technical personnel

• Stefan Giradet – string arrangement
• Cliff Norrell – mixing
  Audio mixing (recorded music)
  In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
  
  
• Mike Hunter – recording
  Sound recording and reproduction
  Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
  
  , engineer
  Audio engineering
  An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
  
  
• Ian Caple – recording
• Mark Stent
  Mark Stent
  Mark 'Spike' Stent is a British record producer, and audio engineer who has worked with The KLF, Björk, Keane, Depeche Mode, Muse, Erasure, Hard-Fi, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews, No Doubt/Gwen Stefani, CSS, Beth Orton,...
  
   – mixing, additional recording, additional production
• Ronnie Stone – recording, engineer