''Jollification'' is the third album by English rock band

the Lightning Seeds The Lightning Seeds (also known as Lightning Seeds) are an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1989 by Ian Broudie (vocals, guitar, producer), formerly of the bands Big in Japan, Care, and Original Mirrors. Originally a studio-based so ...

. All songs were written by

Ian Broudie Ian Zachary Broudie (born 4 August 1958) is an English musician and singer-songwriter from Liverpool. After emerging from the post-punk scene in Liverpool in the late 1970s as a member of Big in Japan, Broudie went on to produce albums (somet ...

, with contributions on some tracks from

Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard ( ; born 18 June 1961) is an English singer noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice. She came to prominence as half of the duo Yazoo (also known as Yaz), but has since mainly worked as a solo artist. Her ...

Ian McNabb Robert Ian McNabb (born 3 November 1960) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Previously the frontman of The Icicle Works, McNabb has since embarked on a solo career and performed with Ringo Starr, Neil Young/Crazy Horse, Mike Scott ...

and Terry Hall. Four tracks from the album were released as singles in the UK: "Lucky You", "Marvellous", "Change" and "Perfect". It peaked at number 12 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, and gained

platinum certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in December 1995.

Background

In 1989

began recording alone under the name Lightning Seeds and achieved success with the

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

and

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

hit "

Pure Pure may refer to: Computing * A pure function * A pure virtual function * PureSystems, a family of computer systems introduced by IBM in 2012 * Pure Software, a company founded in 1991 by Reed Hastings to support the Purify tool * Pure-FTPd, F ...

", from the album ''

Cloudcuckooland Cloud cuckoo land is a state of absurdly, over-optimistic fantasy or an unrealistically idealistic state of mind where everything appears to be perfect. Someone who is said to "live in cloud cuckoo land" is a person who thinks that things that ...

'', which reached the UK Top 20. The same year "Joy" and "All I Want" were also released but failed to make an impression. "Pure" had some success in the United States

Billboard Top 40 The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

, reaching No. 32. Both "Pure" and "All I Want" also reached the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

top 10. In 1991 Broudie returned to song-writing and moved labels from Rough Trade to

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

Writing and recording

By the end of 1993, Broudie had completed the third Lightning Seeds album ''Jollification'', which included contributions from Terry Hall, Simon Rogers,

and

. A promotional tour began in August 1994 with their line-up consisting of, guitarist

Paul Hemmings Paul Jeremy Hemmings is an English musician and photographer. Hemmings is a supporter of Everton F.C Career He played with The La's, Mike Badger and The Onset and Ian Broudie and the Lightning Seeds. He is also a partner in Liverpool's indepe ...

, drummer

Chris Sharrock Chris Sharrock (born 30 May 1964) is an English drummer, hailing from Bebington, Cheshire (now Merseyside), England. He has been a member of the Icicle Works, the La's, the Wild Swans, World Party, the Lightning Seeds, Robbie Williams's live ...

, bassist Martyn Campbell and keyboardist Ali Kane. The tour benefited from the success of the second single from the album "Change", which reached No. 13 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, becoming Lightning Seeds' second UK top twenty hit. The album ''Jollification'' became a critical success and the other singles taken from this album ("Lucky You", "Marvellous" and "Perfect") all made noticeable impact.

Mark Farrow Mark Farrow was named Designer of the Year in the Creative Review Peer Poll in 2004, voting him ‘the most important graphic designer working today’. His career began in the early 1980s designing experimental sleeves and posters for Factory Recor ...

's album cover featured the use of

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

to create an enormous

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

and depicting seeds with superimposed human faces.

Release and reception

''Jollification'' was released in the UK on 5 September 1994 and in the US on 20 December 1994. Jason Damas for AllMusic felt that the album is "occasionally too produced", but called it Broudie's "strongest batch of songs yet".

Track listing

All songs written by

(except where stated). # "Perfect" – 3:28 # "Lucky You" – 4:20 (Broudie, Terry Hall) # "Open Goals" (sample by

Aaron Neville Aaron Joseph Neville (born January 24, 1941) is a retired American R&B and soul singer. He has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits in the United States, including three that reached number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. ...

, George Porter Jr.,

Joseph Modeliste Joseph "Ziggy" Modeliste (born December 28, 1948), also known as Zigaboo, is an American drummer best known as a founding member of the funk band the Meters. He is widely considered an innovator in the funk genre and New Orleans style drumming. ...

Leo Nocentelli Leo Nocentelli (born June 15, 1946) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the funk band The Meters. He wrote the original versions of several funk classics such as " Cissy Strut" and "Hey P ...

) - 3:49 # "Change" – 4:03 # "Why Why Why" – 4:14 # "Marvellous" – 5:31 # "Feeling Lazy" – 3:55 (Broudie,

) # "My Best Day" – 5:00 (Broudie,

) # "Punch & Judy" – 3:17 # "Telling Tales" – 2:52 "Open Goals" contains a sample from "Look-Ka Py Py" as recorded by The Meters.

Personnel

;The Lightning Seeds *

– vocals, all instruments, producer *

Simon Rogers Simon Rogers is an English musician, record producer and composer who has been a member of The Fall, and The Lightning Seeds. Biography In 1976, Rogers entered the Royal College of Music, London, later becoming an associate (ARCM) and winni ...

– all instruments, producer ;Production *

Cenzo Townshend Vincenzo Capellini Townshend (born 28 October 1963) is an English record producer, mixer, and audio engineer, and has worked with artists and bands including the Rolling Stones, a-ha, Kaiser Chiefs, U2, Snow Patrol, Florence and the Machin ...

– engineer * David Bascombe – mixing *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

– mastering ;Additional musicians * Clive Layton – Hammond organ, piano * Marina Van-Rooy – vocals on "Why Why Why" *

– vocals on "My Best Day", backing vocals * Terry Hall – backing vocals *

– backing vocals * Carl Brown – backing vocals *

Simon Fowler Simon Geoffrey Fowler (born 25 May 1965 in Meriden, Warwickshire) is an English singer and acoustic guitarist, best known as the frontman of Ocean Colour Scene. The Fanatics Simon Fowler commenced his music career as the lead singer and songwr ...

– backing vocals ;Other personnel *

– design * Debra Burley – co-ordination *Andy Earl - photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Certifications

* United Kingdom ( BPI): Silver (1 July 1995), Gold (1 August 1995), Platinum (1 December 1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jollification (Album) 1994 albums The Lightning Seeds albums Albums produced by Ian Broudie Epic Records albums