Back in Denim | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 11 November 1992 | |||
Recorded | May 1990–July 1992 | |||
Studio | Bark, RAK, Abbey Road, London | |||
Genre | Glam rock, pop | |||
Length | 49:51 | |||
Label | Boy's Own Recordings | |||
Producer | John Leckie, Brian O'Shaughnessy | |||
Denim chronology | ||||
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Back in Denim is the debut album by British rock band Denim.
British rock band Felt broke-up in 1989, [1] while frontman Lawrence had been living in Brighton. [2] Finding Brighton to be unpleasant, [2] he moved to New York in early 1990. [3] Lawrence soon started to reminisce about his childhood in the 1970s. [2] He proceeded to visit a pawn shop and buy a guitar, which he would use to compose Back in Denim. [2] He eventually grew homesick and soon moved to London. [3] Lawrence formed Denim with a variety of "session men and ageing glitter-rockers", several of whom were members of The Glitter Band. [4] Lawrence had been receiving calls from major labels, [2] but decided to sign with dance-oriented record label Boy's Own Recordings, who had signed a distribution deal with London Records. [3] His decision to sign with them was based on his notion that "rock music was finished, and DJs could get our records into the charts." [2]
While Felt's albums were recorded with a minuscule budget for small independent labels, Lawrence had "the chance to make the album I'd always wanted" for a major label. [3] Between May 1990 and July 1992, Back in Denim was recorded and mixed with producer John Leckie. [3] [nb 1] At one point, Lawrence was banned from the studio and had pushed Leckie to breaking point, which resulted in him exclaiming: "I've worked with Phil Spector and John Lennon and Syd Barrett, but I can't take this any more. You're madder than any of them." [3] Eventually, before threatening to disown the recordings, he finished the proceedings with Brian O'Shaughnessy. [3] The amount of money that went into making the album had made Boy's Own Recordings go bankrupt. [2]
The album's sound has been described as glam rock [6] [7] and pop. [8] Tim Sendra of AllMusic claimed that for Back in Denim, Lawrence "channeled his love of simple punk, huge hooks, novelty songs, and slagging everyone". [1] Mojo review Roy Wilkinson commented that the album's "wistful examination of Britain and knowing adoption of pop styles from other eras" laid the groundwork for Britpop. [3] The album was complete with "glam and pop hooks machined to perfection with the best in 1990s recording science". [3] "Middle of the Road" features a sample of Middle of the Road's version of " Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep". [1]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Stylus Magazine | A [10] |
It was released in November 1992 [3] on Boy's Own Recordings. [9] London Records wanted to release the album's title track as a single, but Lawrence requested to re-record the song's chorus, to which London Records cut funding for further studio time. [3] "Middle of the Road" was released as a single, with the B-sides "Ape Hangers", "Robin's Nest", and an instrumental version of "Ape Hangers" titled "The Great Grape Ape-Hangers", [11] in January 1993.
The album was received well by critics but was commercially poor. [12] Trouser Press wrote that "Denim is so well-made and sublimely thought through that even indefensible perversity suits it fine." [13]
In retrospect, Lawrence commented "The tills were closed. [...] This was my masterpiece and I would fight to death to get it right. If that meant it was going to end up selling 25 copies, then that was the way it had to be." [3] The album was reissued in May 2006 on West Midland's Records, a subsidiary of Cherry Red. Norwegian band Turbonegro covered "Back in Denim" as a bonus track at 2007 album Retox.
In 2017, Pitchfork ranked Back in Denim at number 50 in their list of "The 50 Best Britpop Albums". [14]
All songs written by Lawrence.
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Back in Denim at MusicBrainz (list of releases)