Yes Please!
Encyclopedia
Yes Please! was the last studio album that the British
band Happy Mondays
recorded before leaving Factory Records
. Generally seen as their poorest work, it was released in 1992 and was produced by Chris Frantz
and Tina Weymouth
of Talking Heads
. The album is most famous for sinking independent label Factory Records
, having cost too much to record.
and this one. Paul Oakenfold
, that album's producer was unavailable to produce Yes Please! The new production team, Chris Frantz
and Tina Weymouth
, drastically changed the band's sound from that of the previous album. Whilst before the Happy Mondays sound had been grounded in a fusion of Rock
and Acid House
music, here it was changed to a rather more out-of-date style of '80s Synth Pop combined with Caribbean
influences. With grunge
-rock becoming more mainstream at the time, particularly through Nirvana
, the Mondays sound was seen as becoming increasingly out of date.
While the band had previously enjoyed almost universal critical approval
for their music
, the change of sound on this album garnered a huge critical backlash against the band. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine
writes of the album: "In the hands of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, the group's music loses much of its distinctive, thuggish edginess, as well as its reliance on current dance trends, becoming faceless, undistinguished dance-pop sludge." Even more cruelly, the now-defunct UK music paper Melody Maker
dismissed the album with a two-word review: "No thanks."
to record the album. It was recorded in the studio at Eddy Grant
's house where they bumped into Mick Jagger
on a few occasions, who was staying nearby. This trip was nothing short of a disaster; although the band were sent there so that Shaun Ryder
and his brother did not take heroin, they ended up taking crack cocaine
. Shaun Ryder
did bring enough methadone to last him for 4 weeks, but inadvertently smashed the case at Manchester Airport. After running out of money, they then took extreme measures such as selling the furniture from Eddy Grant
's studio (to fund the drugs), creating "crack dens" out of sun-loungers in Eddy's own swimming pool. Bez ended up breaking his arm after overturning a hire car, while Shaun had failed to write any lyrics.
When the band returned to the UK, Shaun got hold of the master tapes for the album, threatening to destroy them if Tony Wilson
and Factory Records
did not cough up any money for them. When Factory records did finally get hold of them (for £50), the recordings contained no vocals (since Shaun failed to write any lyrics while in Barbados.), which meant the whole exercise was a waste of time and money for Factory. Shortly after the album was finally released, Factory records was officially declared bankrupt.
On a more humorous, but bizarre note, Shaun attempted to "kidnap" legendary guitarist Johnny Marr
to join them on their excursion to Barbados. Marr says he was a member of Happy Mondays for "about 25 minutes."
, former guitarist of The Durutti Column
who was killed in 1991.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
band Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...
recorded before leaving Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...
. Generally seen as their poorest work, it was released in 1992 and was produced by Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz is an American musician and record producer. He was the drummer for both Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club.-Career:...
and Tina Weymouth
Tina Weymouth
Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
of Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
. The album is most famous for sinking independent label Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...
, having cost too much to record.
Sound
It is reasoned by many that one of the reasons for the album's failure was the change of producer between 1990s Pills 'n' Thrills and BellyachesPills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches was the third album by British band Happy Mondays. It was released in 1990 and was produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne at Eden Studios in London....
and this one. 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...
, that album's producer was unavailable to produce Yes Please! The new production team, Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz is an American musician and record producer. He was the drummer for both Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club.-Career:...
and Tina Weymouth
Tina Weymouth
Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
, drastically changed the band's sound from that of the previous album. Whilst before the Happy Mondays sound had been grounded in a fusion of 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...
and Acid House
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
music, here it was changed to a rather more out-of-date style of '80s Synth Pop combined with Caribbean
Caribbean music
The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...
influences. With grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
-rock becoming more mainstream at the time, particularly through Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, the Mondays sound was seen as becoming increasingly out of date.
While the band had previously enjoyed almost universal critical approval
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
for their music
Madchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
, the change of sound on this album garnered a huge critical backlash against the band. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
writes of the album: "In the hands of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, the group's music loses much of its distinctive, thuggish edginess, as well as its reliance on current dance trends, becoming faceless, undistinguished dance-pop sludge." Even more cruelly, the now-defunct UK music paper 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...
dismissed the album with a two-word review: "No thanks."
Recording in Barbados
The band along with their families went to BarbadosBarbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
to record the album. It was recorded in the studio at Eddy Grant
Eddy Grant
Edmond Montague "Eddy" Grant is a musician, born in Plaisance, Guyana.- Life and career :When he was still a young boy, his parents emigrated to London, UK, where he settled. He lived in Kentish Town and went to school at the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern at Tufnell Park...
's house where they bumped into Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
on a few occasions, who was staying nearby. This trip was nothing short of a disaster; although the band were sent there so that Shaun Ryder
Shaun Ryder
Shaun William Ryder, aka X, is an English musician, occasional newspaper columnist, actor, author, singer-songwriter and television personality, best known as lead singer for Happy Mondays and Black Grape – and more recently as the runner-up of the 2010 version of the British TV Show I'm a...
and his brother did not take heroin, they ended up taking crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
. Shaun Ryder
Shaun Ryder
Shaun William Ryder, aka X, is an English musician, occasional newspaper columnist, actor, author, singer-songwriter and television personality, best known as lead singer for Happy Mondays and Black Grape – and more recently as the runner-up of the 2010 version of the British TV Show I'm a...
did bring enough methadone to last him for 4 weeks, but inadvertently smashed the case at Manchester Airport. After running out of money, they then took extreme measures such as selling the furniture from Eddy Grant
Eddy Grant
Edmond Montague "Eddy" Grant is a musician, born in Plaisance, Guyana.- Life and career :When he was still a young boy, his parents emigrated to London, UK, where he settled. He lived in Kentish Town and went to school at the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern at Tufnell Park...
's studio (to fund the drugs), creating "crack dens" out of sun-loungers in Eddy's own swimming pool. Bez ended up breaking his arm after overturning a hire car, while Shaun had failed to write any lyrics.
When the band returned to the UK, Shaun got hold of the master tapes for the album, threatening to destroy them if Tony Wilson
Tony Wilson
Anthony Howard Wilson, commonly known as Tony Wilson , was an English record label owner, radio presenter, TV show host, nightclub manager, impresario and journalist for Granada Television and the BBC....
and Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...
did not cough up any money for them. When Factory records did finally get hold of them (for £50), the recordings contained no vocals (since Shaun failed to write any lyrics while in Barbados.), which meant the whole exercise was a waste of time and money for Factory. Shortly after the album was finally released, Factory records was officially declared bankrupt.
On a more humorous, but bizarre note, Shaun attempted to "kidnap" legendary guitarist Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
to join them on their excursion to Barbados. Marr says he was a member of Happy Mondays for "about 25 minutes."
Cowboy Dave
The final song of the album, "Cowboy Dave", was written in reference to Dave RowbothamDave Rowbotham
Dave Rowbotham was a rock musician who played guitar and bass with different Manchester bands in the 1970s and the 1980s, and as studio musician.-Biography:...
, former guitarist of The Durutti Column
The Durutti Column
The Durutti Column are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England. The band is an ongoing project of guitarist Vini Reilly who is often accompanied by drummer Bruce Mitchell. Other current members are Keir Stewart and Reilly's girlfriend Poppy Morgan...
who was killed in 1991.
Track listing
All tracks written by Happy Mondays.- "Stinkin' Thinkin'" – 4:17
- "Monkey in the Family" – 4:41
- "Sunshine & Love" – 4:46
- "Dustman" – 3:44
- "Angel" – 5:51
- "Cut 'em loose Bruce" – 4:26
- "Theme from Netto" – 4:13
- "Love Child" – 5:12
- "Total Ringo" – 3:38
- "Cowboy Dave" – 7:43
Personnel
- Chris Frantz - Producer
- Tina Weymouth - Producer
- Steven StanleySteven StanleySteven J. C. Stanley , is a Jamaican audio engineer, record producer and keyboardist who has worked in the reggae, dub and rock music genres since 1975, most notably with Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and Black Uhuru....
- Mixing - Mark Roule - Recording
- Simon Machan - Programming and Sampling
- Scott Hull - Editing
- Paul RyderPaul RyderPaul Ryder is the former bass player and a founding member of the Manchester band Happy Mondays. He was an active member of the band from its inception in 1983 through to 2000 and was often credited for giving the band their trademark groove upon which some of their biggest hits were built...
- Bass Guitar - Shaun RyderShaun RyderShaun William Ryder, aka X, is an English musician, occasional newspaper columnist, actor, author, singer-songwriter and television personality, best known as lead singer for Happy Mondays and Black Grape – and more recently as the runner-up of the 2010 version of the British TV Show I'm a...
- Vocals - Mark Day - Guitars
- Bez - Bez
- RowettaRowettaRowetta Idah , also known as Rowetta or Rowetta Satchell, is an English singer. She was originally a backing vocalist for the Happy Mondays, recording and touring with the band from 1991-2000...
- Backing Vocals - Gary Whelan - Drums
- Paul Davis - Keyboards
- Bruce Martin - Percussion
- Kermit - Additional Vocals on "Cut 'em loose Bruce"