The Happiest Man Alive

The Happiest Man Alive was the fourth of five albums of home-made recordings, released by Stephen Jones under the name Baby Bird in 1996.

The Happiest Man Alive
Studio album by
Baby Bird
Released1 April 1996
Recorded1990s
GenreLo-fi/Indie
Length60:09
LabelBaby Bird Recordings
ProducerStephen Jones
Baby Bird chronology
Fatherhood
(1995)		 The Happiest Man Alive
(1996)		 Dying Happy
(1996)

It was originally a limited edition release, but is now available as part of the 2002 CD box set The Original Lo-Fi. The album includes a version of the song "Candy Girl", subsequently a UK top-ten hit for Jones' band Babybird (written as one word).

Liner notes

All songs recorded on a 4-track tape recorder no bigger than a VCR. No Casio keyboards, no bellows-operated jazz synthesisers, no calor gas amplifiers have been used in these recordings. My attitude to resourcefulness-dictated-by-poverty never quite ran to stretching elastic bands over a washing-up bowl; though this technique, however tempting, is probably closer in spirit to Baby Bird than to musicianship.

The Happiest Man Alive is quality control on the grandest scale imaginable.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

"...an oblique sadist of spectacular talent. The Happiest Man Alive has an entire central nervous system of its own. It's a Frankenstein's monster of an album, gruesome and miraculous, stitched together from what would appear to be fragments of a dozen different psyches lodged inside one head." - Melody Maker

Track listing

All tracks written and composed by Stephen Jones.

  1. "Razorblade Shower" – 4:06
  2. "Sundial in a Tunnel" – 2:52
  3. "Little White Man" – 2:24
  4. "Halfway Up the Hill" – 4:36
  5. "Horsesugar" – 2:49
  6. "Please Don't Be Famous" – 3:30
  7. "Louise" – 2:31
  8. "Seagullably" – 2:54
  9. "Copper Feel" – 3:27
  10. "Dead in Love" – 3:50
  11. "Candy Girl" – 3:46
  12. "Gunfingers" – 2:45
  13. "Married" – 0:11
  14. "I Took a Drug" – 4:56 (not listed on the CD)
  15. "In the Country" – 2:47
  16. "Planecrash Xmas" – 3:14
  17. "This Beautiful Disease" – 4:08
  18. "You'll Get a Slap" – 3:16
  19. "In The Morning" – 2:12

Personnel
  • Stephen Jones – Instruments, Artwork
  • Colin Bradley – Tarted-Up-by
  • DED Associates – Artwork
  • D. Jones – Model

References
  1. The Happiest Man Alive (Review) at AllMusic. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
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