''It Doesn't Matter Anymore'' is the debut album by
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
Britpop
Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...
band
The Supernaturals
The Supernaturals are a guitar-based indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band signed to Parlophone in 1996, and had a string of singles which were taken from their three albums and four EPs. Other members included Mark Guthrie, Derek ...
on the
Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...
label. It reached number 9 on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
in 1997, and spawned four top 40 singles on the
UK Singles Chart.
Production
''It Doesn't Matter Anymore'' was recorded at several studios: Jacobs,
Eden,
Trident
A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...
, Chapel,
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 201 ...
, and
Riverside. Pete Smith served as producer on every track, except for "Pie in the Sky", which was produced by the band. Many of the songs were engineered by different people: Jim Brumby ("Please Be Gentle with Me" and "Prepare to Land"), Ben Darlow ("Smile", "Glimpse of the Light", "Lazy Lover", "Dung Beetle", "I Don't Think So", and "Trees"), Barry Hammond ("Love Has Passed Away", "The Day Before Yesterday's Man", and "Trees"), Jason Clift ("Stammer"), and Duncan Cameron ("Pie in the Sky"). Smith mixed most of the songs with Darlow as the mix engineer at Nomis, except "Lazy Lover" and "Dung Beetle", which were mixed at Swanyard. The band mixed "Pie in the Sky" with Cameron as the mix engineer at Riverside.
[
]
Music and lyrics
"Please Be Gentle With Me" had previously been released on ''Let It Bleat'' in a different arrangement, with less pronounced bass, and growling dog sound effects.
Early jam versions of "Dung Beetle" and "The Day Before Yesterday's Man" had previously been released on ''Dark Star'', in a more improvised style.
The song "Stammer" had previously been known in 1993 as "Her Majesty".
"Pie in the Sky" features a trumpet solo by Robert Henderson of A Band Called Quinn and The Bathers.
The title song of the album was not included on the track list, but was instead released on the follow-up album ''A Tune a Day''.
The song "Love Has Passed Away" contains a reference to the Blondie song '' (I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear''.
Release
Music videos were released for 5 or the songs, mostly directed by Hammer & Tongs and Barry Maguire. The band appeared on popular TV and radio shows at the time, as well as several national and international tours.
"The Day Before Yesterday's Man" was used in the TV series ''Teachers
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
'', and the film ''Shooting Fish
''Shooting Fish'' is a 1997 British romantic crime comedy film directed by Stefan Schwartz and co-written with Richard Holmes, starring Dan Futterman and Stuart Townsend as two con men with Kate Beckinsale as their unwilling assistant. The ...
''. The song was also selected to appear on a CMJ New Music Monthly
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...
highlights disc for the American market. The live performance of the song from Glastonbury 1997 was released on a BBC CD entitled ''Mud For It''.
The song "Smile" was the theme tune for bank Smile.co.uk's TV advertisements, and was re-recorded for use as the main theme of the Australian Nine Network
Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
idents in 2008, and was also parodied in episode 5 of ''Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
'' Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights'', sometimes shortened to ''Phoenix Nights'', is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The show is a spin-off from the "In the Cl ...
''. It has more recently been used in adverts for Arnold Clark Automobiles. In 2001, the single cover artwork for "Smile" was used by Anya Hindmarch
Dame Anya Susannah Hindmarch, (; born 7 May 1968) is an English fashion accessories designer who founded an eponymous company, of which she is CEO. Hindmarch published her first book, ''If In Doubt Wash Your Hair'' in May 2021, a ''The Sunda ...
on a fashion umbrella.
Several songs were also included on compilations such as Shine and The Best... Album in the World...Ever!.
A covermounted CD with the June 1997 issue of Select magazine
''Select'' was a United Kingdom music magazine of the 1990s. It was known for covering the indie rock and Britpop genres, but featured a wide array of music. In 2003, ''The Guardian'' called ''Select'' "the magazine that not only coined the wor ...
features a rerecorded version of "I Don't Think So". An Xfm
Radio X is a British national commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...
compilation album ''Gimme Shelter'' featured the song "Pie in the Sky".
Critical reception
The album received good reviews (8/10 in the NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
and 4/5 in Q). It was described as "one of the finest Britpop records of 1997. Filled with beautiful pop melodies" by Virgin Radio, who went on to say that it was "an incredibly accomplished and compelling debut".
The song "Smile" was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...
in 1998 for best contemporary song. In 2005 it was included in VH2's list of the best indie songs of all time. The UK release achieved a chart position of 23, however, the Japanese release (ザ・スーパーナチュラルズ 『スマイル』) was a bigger success with both sales and airplay, staying on the chart for 13 weeks.
Track listing
Writing credits per booklet.[
]
Personnel
Personnel per booklet.
Chart positions
References
{{Authority control
1997 debut albums
The Supernaturals albums
Parlophone albums
EMI Records albums
Albums recorded at Trident Studios