Bummed

Bummed is the second album by English alternative rock band Happy Mondays, released in November 1988 on Factory Records. Produced by Martin Hannett, the album was recorded over six weeks in Driffield's Slaughterhouse recording studio. The sessions were noted for heavy drug use by the band and Hannett, particularly the rave drug ecstasy.[3]

Bummed
Studio album by
Happy Mondays
Released5 November 1988
RecordedAugust 1988
StudioSlaughterhouse (Driffield)
GenreMadchester,[1] psychedelic funk[2]
Length37:27
LabelFactory FACT 220
ProducerMartin Hannett
Happy Mondays chronology
Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)
(1987)		 Bummed
(1988)		 Madchester Rave On
(1989)
Singles from Bummed
  1. "Wrote for Luck"
    Released: October 1988
  2. "Lazyitis - One Armed Boxer"
    Released: May 1989

The album has received praise from critics at the time, and songs from the album became successful remixes during the Madchester era, including "Mad Cyril" and "Wrote for Luck."

Recording and production

Bummed was recorded in six weeks at the Slaughterhouse studio in Driffield.[3] The band's manager Nathan McGough stated that the group were heavily taking the rave drug ecstasy during the recording. Describing the drug's impact on the recording, McGough recollected: "There was a lot of ecstasy taken on a daily basis during the making of Bummed, we took two hundred E with us but they ran out after ten days so I had to go back to Manchester and collect another hundred. Bummed is definitely an E album, perhaps the first full album ever made on that drug".[3] Frontman Shaun Ryder also noted the influence of LSD and the 1970 film Performance on the sessions.[3] Producer Martin Hannett, known for his work with Joy Division and New Order, saturated the recording in effects such as reverb and echo.[4] The band provided the alcoholic Hannett with large amounts of ecstasy to keep him from drinking during the sessions.[4]

Referring to the origin of the album's name, the band's drummer Gary Whelan recalled that "'Bummed', was a saying at the time. Shaun used to say he was out all night and he bummed her all night long, a slang word for sex. I didn't even know what the album was called until it came out."[5]

Artwork and packaging

The sleeve for the album was designed by Central Station Design, a Mancunian design agency known for their hand-painted and collage-based album covers for the Happy Mondays and other Manchester-based acts. The front cover is a cropped portrait of Shaun Ryder, while the inner artwork of the vinyl release include two pictures of a nude female model.[6]

Remixes

Several of the songs on this album were later remixed. These included "Mad Cyril", "Wrote For Luck" and "Lazyitis". "Mad Cyril" was remixed into "Mad Cyril (Hello Girls Mix)", "Wrote For Luck" was remixed twice, firstly into "WFL" and then "Wrote For Luck (Think About The Future Mix)"; Vince Clarke remixed the former, Paul Oakenfold the latter. "Lazyitis" was remixed into "Lazyitis - One Armed Boxer" which featured Scottish singer Karl Denver on guest vocals. Paul Oakenfold would become vastly important to Happy Mondays when he produced their next album Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches.

In 2007, Warner released a double album collector's edition on 5 November 2007 (2007-11-05). This release collected the original 1988 album with a second disc of remixes from the era.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Chicago Tribune[7]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[8]
The Guardian[4]
Mojo[9]
NME9/10[10]
Q[11]

Q magazine awarded Bummed three stars out of five. The album, wrote Martin Aston, "continues the band's warped version of Northern Soul rhythms, with stabbing guitars and Hammond organs, wayward sequencers, a dislocated rhythm section and surly sardonic vocalist ... [The] only real failing is its lack of versatility, but it's Happy Mondays' stroppy spirit that counts most of all."[11] AllMusic praised Hannett's production as "all smeared colors and harsh edges," and wrote that "decadence has rarely sounded as dangerous as it did in the hands of the Mondays and this is where they reveled in that debauchery, pumping out stiff psychedelic funk as Ryder spat out rhymes of luck, lazyitis and fat lady wrestlers."[2]

In 2006, Q placed the album at #18 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".[12] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[13]

Track listing

Original release

All tracks are written by the Happy Mondays except 10 (Happy Mondays, Lennon–McCartney).

No.TitleLength
1."Country Song"3:24
2."Moving in With"3:36
3."Mad Cyril"4:36
4."Fat Lady Wrestlers"3:25
5."Performance"4:09
6."Brain Dead"3:10
7."Wrote for Luck"6:05
8."Bring a Friend"3:45
9."Do It Better"2:29
10."Lazy Itis"2:48
Total length:37:27

Notes

2007 collector's edition
Disc 1 bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Hallelujah"2:36
12."Holy Ghost"2:50
13."Clap Your Hands"3:30
14."Rave On" (Club Mix)5:38
15."Boom"2:58
16."Mad Cyril" (Hello Girls Mix)3:53
17."Wrote for Luck" (12" B-side)5:48
Disc 2
No.TitleLength
1."Wrote for Luck" (7" version)3:43
2."Hallelujah" (Club Mix)6:28
3."Wrote for Luck" (12" version)5:42
4."Hallelujah" (MacColl Mix)2:40
5."Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer)" (featuring Karl Denver)3:53
6."WFL" (Think About the Future)7:12
7."Hallelujah" (12" version)6:21
8."Kilamenjaro" (aka 'Rave On')6:17
9."WFL" (Vince Clarke 12" mix)6:12
10."Hallelujah" (Deadstock Mix)7:51

Credits

Notes
  1. The band members' instruments are not credited in the album's liner notes. Their primary instruments are listed based on their accounts of the album's recording and their de facto primary roles in the group.
  2. The additional members who took part in the recording sessions are not credited in the album's liner notes. They are listed based on the band members' and producers' accounts of the sessions.

References
  1. Wiseman-Trouse, N. (September 2008). Performing Class in British Popular Music. Springer.
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Bummed – Happy Mondays". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  3. Wray, Daniel Dylan (1 February 2016). "Driff-Raff: Happy Mondays, Bummed & Driffield". The Quietus. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  4. Petridis, Alexis (14 December 2007). "Happy Mondays, Bummed". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  5. Q #341, December 2014, p16
  6. "Happy Mondays - Bummed". discogs. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  7. Kot, Greg (10 August 1989). "Happy Mondays: Bummed (Elektra)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  8. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  9. Eccleston, Danny (October 2016). "Shaun's Show". Mojo. London (275): 47.
  10. Elan, Priya. "Happy Mondays: 'Bummed (Collectors' Edition)'". NME. London. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  11. Aston, Martin (February 1989). "Happy Mondays: Bummed". Q. London (29).
  12. "40 Best Albums of the '80s". Q. London (241). August 2006.
  13. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (7 February 2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 0-7893-1371-5.

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