It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah
| It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Black Grape | ||||
| Released | 10 October 1995 | |||
| Genre | Alternative dance, Britpop | |||
| Length | 46:16 | |||
| Label | Radioactive Records | |||
| Producer | Danny Saber, Stephen Lironi, Shaun Ryder, Gary Kurfirst (exec.) | |||
| Black Grape chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau |  [2] |
It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah is the first album by British band Black Grape. Released in 1995, the album was a critical and commercial success, particularly in the UK, where is topped the UK Album Charts for two weeks [3] and yielded two Top 10 hit singles and a third Top 20 hit.
The album was seen as something of a triumphant comeback for both Shaun Ryder and Bez, who had suffered from a decline in popularity and interest in their former band, the Madchester and pre-Britpop indie dance/rock innovators, the Happy Mondays. It's Great... represented what some considered an evolution of the Happy Mondays sound on their 1990 album Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, with a stronger hip hop influence, down mostly to the rapping of Kermit, formerly of the band The Ruthless Rap Assassins. Radioactive Records released three singles from the album, all of which were commercial and critical successes in the UK. "Reverend Black Grape" was released first and reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart and was followed by "In The Name of the Father", which eclipsed the first single, reaching number 8 in the same chart. A third single, "Kelly's Heroes" also charted within the Top 20 UK Singles Chart, at number 17.[3]
According to Ryder, the album title refers sarcastically to being free of mood-altering substances.[4] The album art features a famous photograph of infamous international terrorist Carlos the Jackal colored in pop art style, and was inspiration for Issue 2 of the Image Comics series, Phonogram.
The opening lines of 'In the Name of the Father' are quoted in the novel The Demented Lands by Alan Warner.
The song "A Big Day In the North" was used as the opening song in the 1995 scifi movie Virtuosity with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.
The song "Yeah Yeah Brother" featured in the film The Devil Wears Prada (2006). The line "It's Frothy Man" in the song is partly a reference to advertising the 1970s soft drink Cresta.[5]
Throughout the album there are lyrical references to The Beatles.
The album was certified platinum by the BPI on 1 April 1996 and got nominated for the Mercury Prize, which lost to Pulp's Different Class.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Shaun Ryder and Danny Saber, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Reverend Black Grape" (Ryder) | 5:12 |
| 2. | "In the Name of the Father" | 4:21 |
| 3. | "Tramazi Parti" (Ryder, Stephen Lironi, Paul Levedge) | 4:45 |
| 4. | "Kelly's Heroes" | 4:22 |
| 5. | "Yeah Yeah Brother" | 4:10 |
| 6. | "A Big Day in the North" | 4:10 |
| 7. | "Shake Well Before Opening" | 5:40 |
| 8. | "Submarine" (Ryder) | 3:50 |
| 9. | "Shake Your Money" | 4:13 |
| 10. | "Little Bob" | 5:33 |
Charts
Album – BPI (UK)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | UK Album Chart | 1 |
Singles – BPI (UK)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | "Reverend Black Grape" | UK Singles Chart | 9 |
| 1995 | "In The Name of the Father" | UK Singles Chart | 8 |
| 1995 | "Kelly's Heroes" | UK Singles Chart | 17 |
Personnel
Adapted from the It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah liner notes.[6]
- Shaun Ryder - vocals
- Kermit - vocals
- Psycho - vocals
- Helen Vigneau - backing vocals
- Paul "Wags" Wagstaff - guitar
- Anthony Guarderas - bass
- Ged Lynch - drums, percussion
- Danny Saber - guitars, bass, keyboards, hammond organ, programming, mixing, engineering, production
- Stephen Lironi - keyboards, hammond organ, slide guitar, programming, production
- Martin Slattery - saxophone
- Michael Scherchen - programming, engineering
- Bez - vibes/dance
- Phil Ault, Ewan Davis - additional engineering
- Tom Lord-Alge - mixing
- Ted Jensen - mastering
| Preceded by I Should Coco by Supergrass |
UK number one album 19 August 1995 – 1 September 1995 |
Succeeded by Said and Done by Boyzone |
References
- ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah - Black Grape". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: Black Grape". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
- 1 2 "Official Charts - Black Grape". Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Thompson, Ben (1 October 1995). "The Interview: Shaun Ryder, Pop Star Talks to Ben Thompson". The Independent.
- ↑ Sample Cresta ad on YouTube
- ↑ It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah (liner notes). Black Grape. Radioactive Records. 1995.