POLLelujah, it's a Happy Mondays albums poll!

Bummed it is.

I still listen to Pills... every now and again, so I'll go with that one.

Pills, easy.

i love Bummed, but it's definitely Pills...

"Pills'n'Thrills'n'Bellyaches". He may have done great stuff for others, but getting rid of Martin Hannett as a producer still did Happy Mondays good.

I love Pills... too, but Bummed really benefits from Hannett's production, I think. It sounds a bit like the Velvet Underground playing Can covers with a drugged-up Mark E smith on vocals, and is therefore amazing.

i'd vote for the u.s.-only hallelujah ep if i could, which hit them right at the midpoint between bummed and pills. absent that, it's a hard call for me between those two albums. love 'em both.

I wondered about including that and the Madchester Rave On EP, but then didn't because it muddies the waters. The latter would run Bummed close for me.

xpost: but wasn't that EP just basically a bunch of remixes of the title track with maybe one or two extra tracks?

Discogs shows that their discography which was suitably chaotic. This was the first record I ever owned:
http://www.discogs.com/Happy-Mondays-Wrote-For-Luck/release/12753

wasn't that EP just basically a bunch of remixes of the title track with maybe one or two extra tracks?

it's really the madchester ep plus some remixes, but the remixes are great.

1. Hallelujah (MacColl Mix)
2. Clap Your Hands
3. Holy Ghost
4. Rave On
5. Hallelujah (Club Mix)
6. Rave On (Club Mix)
7. W.F.L. (Think About The Future Mix)

That W.F.L. remix was by Vince Clarke I think?

Squirrel & G-man is so underrated - great basslines (little matchstick owen!), good lyrics, subtle production.

Has *anyone* heard Uncle Dysfunktional?

This allmusic review makes it sound listenable, at least:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:anfpxzw5ldse

meh. first couple tracks are okay-ish, and then it decends. i'm a massive mondays fan and i couldn't listen to it more than a few times.

It's not really the Mondays, as any fule kno.

Bummed takes this. Love Pills, but the production is a bit too shiny, Step On is a bit too forced-in-for-commercial-reasons, and general radio overplaying of the Pills singles at the time let Bummed be more of a discrete, cohesive listen for me.

Although: I love the rigidness of the drum programming on God's Cop for what it is, but if they'd either used real drums with a big feel (Great When You're Straight style) or just a boomy 808, that alone could probably take Pills over the line.

Yeah, sure I could vote for Pills, which might even win. But I'm going for Squirrel & G. Man because no one fucking gives it any attention and I happen to remember when it first came out and they sounded like a right mad knock-off of The Fall and they ruled even THEN folks. They had a pretty goddamn unique sound right at the starting gates.

Also, John Cale produced it, and even though I'm rather a fanatic for Martin Hannett otherwise, I think Bummed was a tragic case of the wrong band for him to produce at the wrong time.

Wrong time I can see, but wrong band? What makes you say that?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Oh I didn't tell everyone that I voted Bummed cos of its rich, thick gloopiness plus the presence of "Mad Cyril" plus the absence of "Step On FFS Get a Grip You Cocks".

I actually went to a listening session for the press just prior to Yes, Please (also in attendance: Michael Azerrad). We only got to say hi to S.Ryder, because he was evidently in no shape to chat with the press. Instead, we got to sit down and have a chin-wag with producers Tina Weymouth & Chris Frantz ... which was bizarre.

Oh I meant to add that Yes Please is close to being as goods as Pills and gets unfairly slated by people who don't listen to it.

It's not terrible, but c'mon.... it's leagues beneath Pills...

Srsly as someone who lived the Mondays at the time...Pills' peaks are probly higher but it has 3 or 4 duff tracks whereas YP soars lower but more consistently.

I beg to differ, but I'm not gonna fight you on that point. I have beers to drink.

http://www.artscandinavia.dk/KROYER/HipHip.Hurra_Kunstnerfest_pa_Skagen._1888.jpg

Disagreeing is what makes us strong.

Bummed, easily.

Happy Mondays made a reunion album two years ago??? This is the first I've heard about it!

It's just Shaun and the drummer and a bunch of session dudes. (Maybe not even the drummer, I've not seen a copy.)

Dennis and Fucking Lois

I have been listening to a lot of HM lately. <3.

Went with Bummed as I predicted. Great record!

I beg to differ, but I'm not gonna fight you on that point. I have beers to drink.

^^^real talk, I think this needs to be my new mantra.

not really

yeah, really

Bummed for me. Sneering, swaggering lyrics and grimy, drunken rhythms - all dope smoke and hallucinogen mirrors. I've been listening to Olive Oil from 24hr Party People a lot recently, too.

i hate myself for saying it, but pills 'n' thrills - Bummed is an extremely close second though.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Okay, that's a bit of a surprise after all the love for Bummed on this thread.

How in fuck's name did I miss this thread? Would have voted for Pills ... anyway.

I'm listening to Bummed now as consolation!

I would have voted Squirrel and G-Man - which I suspect is the Mondays album for people who don't really like the Mondays (ie. like me).

Why anyone would vote for Unkle or Yes Please is beyond me...

"Yes Please" is fine.

I *could* have voted for it, for purely personal pleasure reasons.

Hmm, so I looked last night, and it turns out I don't own Bummed. I think I may pick it up, since I like Pills and Thrills…

Here's my ranking in order...

1. Bummed
2. Yes Please
3. Squirrel and G-Man etc
4. Pills and Thrills
xx Live - doesn't count
xx Uncle Dysfunctional - not heard.

Basically, all four are great. Anyone noticed they all are 10-tracks each?

And the best track?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCCn9nlIrzk

http://thequietus.com/articles/19636-happy-mondays-bummed

Shaun would come in with papers that he’d written and you’d loop a three or four minute section of these grooves that had overdubs. Then he would sit, crossed-legged on the floor, with headphones on and listen to that for an hour before he’d do anything. And then sometimes he’d get up and start experimenting with some lines. All the time he was doing this, Bez would be in the room with him, dancing. All the time. I don’t remember Shaun ever doing anything without Bez being there. Over a period of hours Shaun would settle on a set of lyrics that worked for him and then Martin would be on the talk back and then something would get laid down.

Squirrel & G-man is so underrated - great basslines (little matchstick owen!), good lyrics, subtle production.

OTM, bass playing rules on that album.

I go back to Shaun Ryder for one last word, trying to squeeze one further snippet of information, of any kind, about his time in Driffield, to which he responds, “Banging a few of those girls that worked as waitresses [in the pub – The Norseman] and having parties every night, I can’t remember the recording process at all. I just can’t fucking remember us doing one thing in that place, really. Sorry.”

sounds about right. I just got done writing a little piece on this album myself, this is exactly how I imagined the recording sessions going. such a strange album, I've heard it two dozen times and still find myself surprised at how disjointed and surreal some of it is. the 2-disc version from 2009 is essential, maybe you don't need 6 versions of WFL or 5 of Hallelujah but there's so much good stuff in there

Those 2CD editions are hard to find for less than £20 or so.

Exactly 30 years ago this week, the video for 'Wrote For Luck' by Happy Mondays was filmed. My new piece for @ilovemcr on the filming. Out of a whole bunch of chaos, a brilliant 3 minutes 20 seconds of video emerged... The whole story here; https://t.co/0VaaLIYgrN

— Dave Haslam (@Mr_Dave_Haslam) October 18, 2018

We haven't polled Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches yet?

The "Wrote for Luck" video I recall was played on Night Network, it was the original single mix and Shaun Ryder mimingish. I don't know where that one lives, apart from my save tape VHS in the loft.

Didn't so much change my mind as confirm what I wanted to hear/see/do...

yeah bee, i noticed that a few years ago. i don't have the clout around here to be starting a poll with such significance but ofc i would be into the idea.

As it happens: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/happy-mondays-pills-n-thrills-and-bellyaches/

...yes, please!!!