''Baby's Got a Gun'' is the third and final

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

the Only Ones The Only Ones were an English rock band formed in London in 1976, whose original band members are Peter Perrett, Alan Mair, John Perry and Mike Kellie, they first disbanded in 1982. They were associated with punk rock, yet straddled the music ...

, released in 1980 by

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

in Europe and on

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

in America and Japan. After the lack of commercial success with their previous studio album ''

Even Serpents Shine ''Even Serpents Shine'' is the second studio album by English power pop band The Only Ones, released in 1979 by Columbia Records. It was produced by Peter Perrett and Alan Mair. The album was re-released in the United Kingdom in 2009 on Sony ...

'' (1979), the Only Ones decided that it was time for a slight change of pace in their career. In an attempt to give their music a more contemporary sound, they joined forces with

Colin Thurston Colin Thurston (13 July 1947 – 15 January 2007) was an English recording engineer and record producer. Born in Brentford, Middlesex, Thurston played in bands in London before he "bluffed his way" into audio engineering.Pierre Perrone (24 ...

, an in-demand producer famed for having co-engineered

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's '' "Heroes"'' and

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

's '' Lust for Life'' (both 1977).

Nicholas Pegg Nicholas Pegg is a British actor, writer and director. Educated at Nottingham High School and graduating with a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Pegg subsequently trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Acti ...

(2000). ''The Complete David Bowie'': pp.383-384 Guesting on the album would be Penetration's lead vocalist

Pauline Murray Pauline Murray (born 8 March 1958) is best known as the lead vocalist of the punk rock band Penetration, originally formed in 1976. Early years Pauline Murray was born on 8 March 1958 in Waterhouses, County Durham, England, and her parents late ...

, who sang a duet with

Peter Perrett Peter Albert Neil Perrett (born 8 April 1952) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He is the singer, rhythm guitarist and principal songwriter for the rock band the Only Ones. Prior to forming the Only Ones, who were ...

on "Fools", and provided backing vocals for "Me and My Shadow". The album was re-released on CD in Europe in 2009 on

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. The original album is digitally remastered from the original half-inch mix tapes with three additional tracks.

Critical reception

In his consumer guide for

the Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a B+ and commented that "Prepunk and for that matter prepub,

may well have been an only one and he fits in now only because this is such a tolerant and/or commercially desperate time. He's not '

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...

', of course – on record, at least, power's got nothing to do with it." In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, critic Mark Deming gave the album three out of five stars and wrote that "''Baby's Got a Gun'' is clearly the weakest of the Only Ones' three original albums, but for all its faults there's plenty here that testifies to the band's strengths; "Why Don't You Kill Yourself", "Strange Mouth", and "The Big Sleep" are splendid songs that show the band still had the goods and "Trouble in the World" and "The Happy Pilgrim" confirm they could reach for a poppier sound without losing their personality in the process."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from ''Baby's Got a Gun'' liner notes. The Only Ones *

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and background

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

;

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s * John Perry – guitars;

grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

;

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

Alan Mair Alan Mair is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. Mair's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as the co-founder and bass guitarist for the English rock band the Only Ones, co-producing ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

s; lead vocals on "My Way Out of Here" *

Mike Kellie Michael Alexander Kellie (24 March 1947 – 18 January 2017) was an English musician, composer and record producer. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Kellie was a member of the rock bands the V.I.P.s, Spooky Tooth and the Only ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Session musicians *

– co-lead vocals on "Fools";

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

on "Me and My Shadow" *Barrie Evans –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

;

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Koulla Kakoulli Koulla Kakoulli ( gr, Κούλα Κακουλλή) (September 1961 – 2 or 3 August 2018) was a British musician, dominatrix and bodybuilder. Born in Forest Hill in London, she died in Brighton in August 2018. Background As a musician, she sang ...

– backing vocals Production *

– producer;

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

*The Only Ones – producer *Robert Ash – vocal engineer *Kevin Metcalfe –

mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distr ...

References

External links

* 1980 albums The Only Ones albums Albums produced by Colin Thurston Epic Records albums {{1980s-punk-album-stub