| Little Kix | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 14 August 2000 | |||
| Recorded | 2000 | |||
| Studio | Astoria on the River Thames | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 52:14 | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Producer | Hugh Padgham, Michael Hunter | |||
| Mansun chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Little Kix | ||||
| ||||
Little Kix is the third album by English alternative rock band Mansun, released on 14 August 2000 and was the band's last studio album to be completed and released before their dissolution in 2003. It was promoted by three singles, and peaked at #12 on the UK Albums Chart. [2]
The album was recorded aboard the Astoria, a boat that housed a recording studio owned by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and marked a departure from the band's previous way recording in that bandleader Draper had been removed from his position of producer by the record company and was replaced by Hugh Padgham, formerly a producer for Phil Collins, XTC and the Police, to ensure more "independent local radio friendly" sound. [3] Draper also stated that the working method was greatly different from his work on the former two albums: "Little Kix was the only album I had to make demos for, the rest I just made up as I went along". [4]
Record label interference extended further than the choice of producer, with Parlophone imposing several limitations that Draper felt restricted their creativity: "[W]e were battered into being a pop group with 'Little Kix'... We were told absolutely definitively 'You are not allowed to have any prog rock elements in the album', so that's why the album fades in and it's one second longer than Dark Side of the Moon , just to piss the record company off (laughs)". [5] In the liner notes of Legacy: The Best of Mansun Draper provided an example of the dysfunction that existed between the band and its label that centred on the track "Fool". After reading a book on song writing by Jimmy Webb he claimed it "inspired me to write an ironic song that is now my least favourite Mansun track. Bowie intro, comical chorus lyrics and guess what? The label wanted it as a fucking single! I couldn’t believe it". [6]
Draper credits the album's gestation process as part of what ultimately led to the end of the band: "What's left is an odd story, people have spoken to me about writing books about it, I don't think I'll ever go on the record and tell the true story, there are one or two people that know. At the end of the day people always say bands split over musical differences but they never do. It's all to do with money and drugs and all sorts of shit." [5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [7] |
| Leonard's Lair | [8] |
| NME | (3/10) [9] |
| Pitchfork | (6.8/10) [10] |
| Select | [11] |
Little Kix was released in August 2000. Early album titles include Magnetic Poetry and The Trouble with Relationships. [12] Little Kix did not match the popularity of the group's previous albums and reflected a continuing decline in commercial fortunes for the group. It peaked at #12 [2] on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Silver [13] by the BPI.
Three singles were released from the album. The first, "I Can Only Disappoint U" became one of the group's most successful singles peaking at #8 [2] on the UK Singles Chart in the run up to the album's release. "Electric Man", the second single was released in November and peaked at #23. [2] The final single "Fool" charted at #28. [2]
Dean Carlson of Allmusic observed in negative review, "a new, lovelorn Mansun is shown stripped of their highly divisive costuming of old -- and their bare bodies are ugly. It's this album's simpler approach that shows them naked and floppy without their previous new romantic/prog-rock garments to hide their failings." [14]
Leonard's Lair gave a positive review on the album, saying that it was "a return to former glories" as they felt Six was "a prog-rock album which even early Genesis fans might have called self indulgent." but felt that the album "doesn't contain anything as fantastic as 'Legacy' or 'Stripper Vicar' but certainly has its fair share of great moments." and concluded,"Mansun sometimes fly a little too high with ideas above their station but more often than not they deserve to get away with it thanks to superb musicianship and sheer spirit." [15]
NME gave a scathing review saying "If ‘Attack Of The Grey Lantern’ was a trip and ‘Six’ was a panic attack, then ‘Little Kix’ is cold turkey. Mature, mainstream and utterly predictable, the band that once promised us the world have delivered yet more lame, cripplingly self-referential, puffed-up, headache-inducing, late-Manics-style retro indie-pomp. From vital to utterly redundant in just three albums. What an horrendous cockup." [16]
Pitchfork observed the departure of glam rock and progressive influence that featured on their previous albums saying. "This is almost shifting onto another plane of music. But that's not to say the shift is dramatic enough for comparisons to become meaningless. The band has expressed a taste for the Bee Gees, ABBA, and mid-'80s Prince, and this record is probably the result of such affinities." but was critical of the lyrics saying "The album's largest detractor lies with its lyrics. The complete lack of irony prevents it from reaching its potential as a genuinely satisfying production... Everything is so amazingly darling and clichéd." [17]
All tracks are written by Paul Draper; except as indicated
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Butterfly (A New Beginning)" | Draper, Dominic Chad | 5:52 |
| 2. | "I Can Only Disappoint U" | Draper, Chad | 4:47 |
| 3. | "Comes as No Surprise" | 4:01 | |
| 4. | "Electric Man" | 5:21 | |
| 5. | "Love Is..." | 4:37 | |
| 6. | "Soundtrack 4 2 Lovers" | Draper, Chad | 4:11 |
| 7. | "Forgive Me" | 4:44 | |
| 8. | "Until the Next Life" | 4:49 | |
| 9. | "Fool" | 4:17 | |
| 10. | "We Are the Boys" | 4:25 | |
| 11. | "Goodbye" | 5:10 | |
| Total length: | 52:14 | ||
|
|
|
|
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Japanese Oricon Album Chart [18] | 47 |
| Scottish Albums Chart [19] | 13 |
| UK Album Chart [20] | 12 |
The Fake Sound of Progress is the debut studio album by the Welsh rock band Lostprophets, originally released on 27 November 2000 through Visible Noise. The album would be released in 2001 by Columbia Records and was met with stronger sales numbers around the world. This is the only album to feature DJ Stepzak although he was only in the original version, and the first album to have Jamie Oliver although he was only in the remastered version.
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.
0898 Beautiful South, also referred to as 0898, is the third studio album by English band the Beautiful South. After the success of their previous work over 1989–1991, the band hired prolific record producer Jon Kelly and recorded the album at AIR Studios in London. The album contains a more "muscular" yet sometimes more sombre sound than their previous albums, although still entirely retains lyricist Paul Heaton's witty and bitter lyrical style. The album "deals in fragile melodies and harmonies, soulful but low-key instrumentation, and lyrics full of subtle social commentary and humour." The album title refers to the 0898 premium rate dialling code associated with sex hotlines in the UK at the time.
Six is the second album by English alternative rock band Mansun, released in September 1998 via Parlophone. It was released in the UK and Europe on 7 September 1998, and in the US on 20 April 1999, with an alternative running order, different artwork, and the re-recorded single version of the title track. In an interview prior to the release of Six, Paul Draper stated that the "interlude" "Witness to a Murder " was included to separate the album into two parts as a tribute to old-style vinyl albums.
Kleptomania is the fourth and final album by English rock band Mansun, released posthumously in September 2004, following the band's split, as a triple album. The first CD features the material that was to form the basis of the band's next album, which was originally going to be self-titled, and the other 2 CDs feature EP tracks, outtakes and demos.
Attack of the Grey Lantern is the debut album by English alternative rock band Mansun released on 17 February 1997 via Parlophone. The album spent a total of 19 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number one.
Paul Edward Draper is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer, formerly the frontman of the rock band Mansun.
Pull the Pin is the sixth studio album by Welsh rock band Stereophonics, released by V2 in the UK on 12 October 2007. A Stereophonics newsletter released the Pull the Pin album artwork to subscribers. The cover was also shown to Myspace users that had added the band in a bulletin.
"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 alternative versions appearing on four of the next five Mansun singles. These versions were one live, one acoustic, and two remixes, the first and most popular by Perfecto, and a NRG version by The Trouser Enthusiasts. A completely different version credited to longtime engineer Mike Hunter was included as a hidden bonus track on their compilation Kleptomania. The song also appears on The Sound of Gran Turismo, a soundtrack album based on Gran Turismo.
"She Makes My Nose Bleed" is a song by the English alternative rock band Mansun. The song was written by band-leader Paul Draper. It was recorded and produced by Draper with additional production by Mark 'Spike' Stent during sessions for the group's début studio album. The song was one of four demoed by the group in 1995 that helped the group secure a publishing contract with Polygram Music Publishing. The song was released as the fourth single in early 1997 from the group's debut album, Attack of the Grey Lantern. The single was a big commercial success for the group breaking them into the UK Top Ten for the first time with a peak of #9.
"I Can Only Disappoint U" is a song by the English alternative rock band Mansun. The song was written by band-leader Paul Draper with lead guitarist Dominic Chad. It was recorded and produced by Hugh Padgham and co-producer Michael Hunter during sessions for the group's third studio album. The song was released as the first single in 2000 from the group's third album, Little Kix. The song went on to become their fourth and final top ten hit in the UK peaking at #8. A progressive house/trance remix by Paul Oakenfold preceded the release of the single during the summer of 2000.
Everything Everything are an English art rock band from Manchester that formed in late 2007. Noted for their eclectic sound and complex, avant-garde-inspired lyrics, the band has released seven albums to date — Man Alive (2010),Arc (2013),Get to Heaven (2015),A Fever Dream (2017),Re-Animator (2020), Raw Data Feel (2022) and Mountainhead (2024) — and has been widely critically acclaimed. Their work has twice been shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize and has received five nominations for Ivor Novello Awards.
Post-Britpop is an alternative rock subgenre and is the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following Britpop, when the media were identifying a "new generation" or "second wave" of guitar bands influenced by acts like Oasis and Blur, but with less overt British concerns in their lyrics and making more use of American rock and indie influences, as well as experimental music. Bands in the post-Britpop era that had been established acts, but gained greater prominence after the decline of Britpop, such as Radiohead and the Verve, and new acts such as Travis, Keane, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics, Feeder, and particularly Coldplay, achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The following is a comprehensive discography of the English alternative rock band Mansun.
Cupid Deluxe is the second album by Dev Hynes as Blood Orange, and is the follow-up to 2011's Coastal Grooves. The album was released on 18 November 2013 in the UK, and was available worldwide a week earlier on iTunes on 12 November 2013.
"Negative" is a song by the English alternative rock band Mansun. The song was written by Paul Draper, Dominic Chad, Stove and Andie Rathbone. It was recorded and produced by Paul Draper and Mark 'Spike' Stent during sessions for the group's second studio album. The song was released as the third single in 1998 from the group's second album, Six. Despite being one of the album's more traditional songs the single peaked low at #27 on the UK Singles Chart, breaking the group's run of seven consecutive top twenty singles.
"Electric Man" is a song by the English alternative rock band Mansun. The song was written by band-leader Paul Draper. It was recorded and produced by Hugh Padgham with co-producer Michael Hunter during sessions for the group's third studio album. The song was released as the second single in 2000 from the group's third album, Little Kix. The single disappointed commercially reaching the modest peak of #23 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Fool" is a song by the English alternative rock band Mansun. The song was written by band-leader Paul Draper. It was recorded and produced by Hugh Padgham with co-producer Michael Hunter during sessions for the group's third studio album. The song was released as the third and final single in early 2001 from the group's third album, Little Kix. The single disappointed commercially reaching the low peak of #28 on the UK Singles Chart during the typically quiet post-Christmas singles market.
Catherine Anne Davies, better known by the stage name the Anchoress, is a Welsh-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and author.
Spooky Action is the debut solo album by English singer songwriter and ex-Mansun frontman Paul Draper, released on 11 August 2017. It entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 19 and peaked at No. 3 on the UK Independent Albums Chart.
