Back in 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", according to Rough Guides editor Peter Buckley.[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]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
The Guardian	[8]
Stylus Magazine	A[10]
Trouser Press	Favourable[11]

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-recording 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",[12] in January 1993.

The album was received well by critics but was commercially poor.[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.

1. "Back in Denim" – 3:59
2. "Fish and Chips" – 3:17
3. "Bubblehead" – 4:43
4. "Middle of the Road" – 4:12
5. "The Osmonds" – 8:08
6. "I Saw the Glitter on Your Face" – 3:34
7. "American Rock" – 6:26
8. "Livin' on the Streets" – 4:31
9. "Here Is My Song for Europe" – 3:41
10. "I'm Against the Eighties" – 7:20

Footnotes

Citations

Sources

Back in Denim at MusicBrainz (list of releases)