| Elastica | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1994 | |||
| Studio | Konk (London) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 38:08 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer |
| |||
| Elastica chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Elastica | ||||
| ||||
Elastica is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Elastica. It was released on March 1995 through Deceptive Records in the UK and DCG/Geffen Records internationally. [2] The album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. [3] This is the only album to feature the original line-up, and guitarist Donna Matthews.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ [5] |
| The Guardian | [6] |
| NME | 9/10 [7] |
| Pitchfork | 8.5/10 [8] |
| Q |  [9] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [11] |
| Spin | 9/10 [12] |
| The Village Voice | A− [13] |
Elastica was well-received critically. The Los Angeles Times opined that "the smart, sassy savagings of losers and poseurs are a refreshing advance from grunge's gloomy self-absorption." [14] The Independent concluded that "it is, yes, new new wave, and sometimes too close to old new wave: 'Vaseline' is Blondie and 'Waking Up' the Stranglers." [15] Select ranked the album at number 9 in its list of the "50 albums of the year". [16] In the U.S., the album was ranked as the sixth best album of the year by Mike Boehm in the Los Angeles Times , [17] and the album was also highly rated by Rolling Stone ,[ citation needed ] Spin [18] and The Village Voice .[ citation needed ]
In their retrospective review, AllMusic praised the album, writing "what makes Elastica such an intoxicating record is not only the way the 16 songs speed by in 40 minutes, but that they're nearly all classics" and that "hardly any new wave band made records this consistently rocking and melodic". [4] BBC Music wrote "As albums that fall off a genre's radar go, Elastica's eponymous debut ranks high", calling it "a neglected gem" and the "blueprint for what Britpop should sound like". [3]
Elastica hit number one on the UK Albums Chart, [19] becoming, at the time, the fastest-selling debut since Oasis' Definitely Maybe the previous year. [20] [21] The record also did well in the US, climbing to a peak of number 66 on the Billboard 200 after 11 weeks on the chart. [22] Two months after its release, it had sold over 59,000 units in the US according to Nielsen Soundscan. [23] By the end of 1995 it had sold approximately 1 million copies worldwide according to Billboard . [24] Around half of these sales were in America where it was certified as gold in December 1995. [25] By April 2000, sales in the UK were estimated by the band's Deceptive label at 270,000 copies. [26]
In 2013, NME called it the 191st greatest album of all time. [27] The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [28] In 2014, American LGBT magazine Metro Weekly ranked the album at number 38 in its list of the "50 Best Alternative Albums of the 90s". [29] In 2017, Pitchfork listed the album at number six in its list "The 50 Best Britpop Albums". [30]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Line Up" | Frischmann, Elastica | 3:15 |
| 2. | "Annie" | Matthews, Jane Oliver, Elastica | 1:15 |
| 3. | "Connection" | Frischmann, Elastica | 2:22 |
| 4. | "Car Song" | Frischmann, Elastica | 2:24 |
| 5. | "Smile" | Frischmann, Matthews, Elastica | 1:40 |
| 6. | "Hold Me Now" | Frischmann, Matthews, Elastica | 2:33 |
| 7. | "S.O.F.T." | Frischmann, Elastica | 3:59 |
| 8. | "Indian Song" | Frischmann, Elastica | 2:48 |
| 9. | "Blue" | Matthews, Elastica | 2:23 |
| 10. | "All-Nighter" | Frischmann, Elastica | 1:31 |
| 11. | "Waking Up" | The Stranglers, Frischmann, Elastica | 3:16 |
| 12. | "2:1" | Matthews, Elastica | 2:31 |
| 13. | "Vaseline" | Frischmann, Elastica | 1:20 |
| 14. | "Never Here" | Frischmann, Elastica | 4:27 |
| 15. | "Stutter" | Frischmann, Elastica | 2:23 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Line Up" | Frischmann, Elastica | 3:15 |
| 2. | "Annie" | Matthews, Jane Oliver, Elastica | 1:15 |
| 3. | "Connection" | Frischmann, Elastica | 2:22 |
| 4. | "Car Song" | Frischmann, Elastica | 2:24 |
| 5. | "Smile" | Frischmann, Matthews, Elastica | 1:40 |
| 6. | "Hold Me Now" | Frischmann, Matthews, Elastica | 2:33 |
| 7. | "S.O.F.T." | Frischmann, Elastica | 3:59 |
| 8. | "Indian Song" | Frischmann, Elastica | 2:48 |
| 9. | "Blue" | Matthews, Elastica | 2:23 |
| 10. | "All-Nighter" | Frischmann, Elastica | 1:31 |
| 11. | "Waking Up" | The Stranglers, Frischmann, Elastica | 3:16 |
| 12. | "2:1" | Matthews, Elastica | 2:31 |
| 13. | "See That Animal" | Brett Anderson, Frischmann, Elastica | 2:23 |
| 14. | "Stutter" | Frischmann, Elastica | 2:23 |
| 15. | "Never Here" | Frischmann, Elastica | 4:27 |
| 16. | "Vaseline" | Frischmann, Elastica | 1:20 |
Elastica
Additional personnel
Production
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada) [36] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) [37] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| United States (RIAA) [25] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, in reaction to the darker lyrical themes and soundscapes of the US-led grunge music and the UK's own shoegaze music scene. The movement brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the larger British popular cultural movement, Cool Britannia, which evoked the Swinging Sixties and the British guitar pop of that decade.
Blur are an English rock band formed in London in 1988. The band consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bass guitarist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Their debut album, Leisure (1991), incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegaze. Following a stylistic change influenced by English guitar pop groups such as the Kinks, the Beatles and XTC, Blur released the albums Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a widely publicised chart battle with rival band Oasis in 1995 dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".
Definitely Maybe is the debut studio album by the English rock band Oasis, released by Creation Records on 29 August 1994. The album features Noel Gallagher on lead guitar, backing vocals and as chief songwriter, Liam Gallagher on lead vocals, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs on rhythm guitar, Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan on bass guitar and Tony McCaroll on drums.
The Bends is the second studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. It was produced by John Leckie, with extra production by Radiohead, Nigel Godrich and Jim Warren. The Bends combines guitar songs and ballads, with more restrained arrangements and cryptic lyrics than Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey (1993).
Parklife is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994 on Food Records. After moderate sales for their previous album Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife returned Blur to prominence in the UK, helped by its four hit singles: "Girls & Boys", "End of a Century", "Parklife" and "To the End".
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? is the second studio album by the English rock band Oasis. Released on 2 October 1995 by Creation Records, it was produced by Owen Morris and the group's lead guitarist and chief songwriter Noel Gallagher. The structure and arrangement style of the album was a significant departure from the band's previous album, Definitely Maybe (1994). Gallagher's compositions were more focused in balladry and placed more emphasis on "huge" choruses, with the string arrangements and more varied instrumentation contrasting with the rawness of the group's debut album. Morning Glory was the group's first album with drummer Alan White, who replaced Tony McCarroll.
Different Class is the fifth studio album by English rock band Pulp, released on 30 October 1995 by Island Records.
The Great Escape is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Blur. It was released on 11 September 1995 on Food and Virgin Records. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and charted in the top 10 in more than ten countries around the world. Less than a year after the album was released, it was certified triple platinum in the UK. The album received near-universal acclaim on release.
13 is the sixth studio album by the English alternative rock band Blur, released on 15 March 1999. Continuing the stylistic shift away from the Britpop sound of the band's early career, 13 explores experimental, psychedelic and electronic music.
Sleeper are an English rock band formed in London in 1992. The group had eight UK top 40 hit singles and three UK top 10 albums during the 1990s. Their music was also featured in the soundtrack of the pop cultural hit movie Trainspotting. The band split up in 1998, but reunited in 2017.
"High and Dry" and "Planet Telex" are songs by the English rock band Radiohead. They were released as a double-A side single from Radiohead's second album, The Bends (1995), on 27 February 1995.
Justine Elinor Frischmann is an English artist and retired musician. She was the lead singer of the Britpop band Elastica after forming Suede, before retiring from the music industry and pursuing a career as an artist.
"Connection" is a song by Britpop group Elastica. It was originally released on 10 October 1994 as a single and included on their self-titled debut album in 1995. The song debuted and peaked at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and became one of the few Britpop songs to gain popularity in North America, reaching number 53 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and number nine on the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart. In an interview with Zane Lowe, Damon Albarn mentions playing the synthesizer intro on a Yamaha QY10 handheld sequencer.
"Stutter" is the debut single by the Britpop group Elastica and was written by lead singer Justine Frischmann. It was originally released as a single in the UK in November 1993 and in the US in September 1994. The song was later included on the band's 1995 self-titled debut album. The single, which received positive reviews from critics, charted in the US and Canada.
"Common People" is a song by English alternative rock band Pulp, released in May 1995 by Island Records as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Different Class (1995). It reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming a defining track of the Britpop movement as well as Pulp's signature song. In 2014, BBC Radio 6 Music listeners voted it their favourite Britpop song in an online poll. In a 2015 Rolling Stone readers' poll it was voted the greatest Britpop song.
Elastica were an English rock band formed in London in 1992 by ex-Suede members Justine Frischmann and Justin Welch. The band was stylistically influenced by punk rock, post-punk and new wave music. The band's members changed several times, with Frischmann and Welch being the only members who remained in Elastica from its formation to its dissolution.
"Back for Good" is a song by English band Take That from their third studio album, Nobody Else (1995). Released on March 27, 1995 by RCA and Arista, it was written by lead singer Gary Barlow, who also co-produced it with Chris Porter. The song topped the UK Singles Chart whilst also charting at number one in 31 countries, as well as reaching the top 10 in many others. Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton directed the song's music video. At the 1996 Brit Awards, "Back for Good" won the Brit Award for British Single of the Year. In 2003, Q Magazine ranked the song at number 910 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever" and in a UK poll in 2012, it was voted number 11 on the ITV special The Nation's Favourite Number One Single.
"Girls & Boys" is a song by English rock band Blur, released in March 1994 by Food Records as the lead single from the group's third studio album, Parklife (1994). The frontman of Blur, Damon Albarn wrote the song's lyrics with bandmembers Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree, while Stephen Street produced it.
"This Is How We Do It" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter Montell Jordan. It was released by Def Jam Recordings on February 6, 1995, as the lead single from his debut studio album of the same name (1995). The single was Def Jam's first R&B release, and is Jordan's signature song.
Grand Prix is the fifth album by Scottish alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub, released in May 1995 via Creation Records.
