''Sell Me a God'' is the 1989 debut album by the British
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
band
Eat.
Prior to the album's release, the band members had all been homeless, with a few of them
squatting
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
at
London King's Cross railway station
King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the List of busiest railway stations in ...
.
[
]
Production
The music on ''Sell Me a God'' encompasses a variety of styles, including blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, hip hop and funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
[
]
Release and reception
The album reached #10 on the UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...
.[ Doug Brod, writing for '']Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...
'', described the album as a "most impressive debut", writing that the diverse influences on the album "created an instantly familiar record that ultimately sounds like no one else".The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' described it as an "impressive" debut.The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American rock band popular during the mid- to late-1960s. Founded in New York City in 1965 by lead singer/songwriter John Sebastian and guitarist Zal Yanovsky, the band is widely known for a number of hits, including ...
.[
]
Track listing
All tracks composed by Eat
# "Tombstone" – 2:53
# "Electric City" – 4:02
# "Fatman" – 4:50
# "Stories" – 2:42
# "Walking Man" – 3:51
# "Skin" – 4:43
# "Red Moon" – 5:49 (bonus track on CD and MC release)
# "Insect Head" – 5:24
# "Body Bag" – 5:04
# "Things I Need" – 4:14
# "Judgement Train" – 4:12
# "Gyrate" – 6:06 (bonus track on CD and MC release)
# " Summer in the City" – 3:30 (bonus track on CD and MC release)
# "Mr & Mrs Smack" – 5:03
Personnel
* Tim Sewell – bass guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals
* Pete Howard
Peter Howard is an English rock drummer. He was a member of the Clash from 1983 until 1986.
Career
The Clash (1983–86)
Howard joined the Clash in spring 1983. Drummer Topper Headon had been fired the previous year – shortly before the ...
– drums, percussion
* Max Noble – guitar, percussion
* Paul Noble – guitar, percussion, backing vocals
* Ange Dolittle – vocals, harmonica
ReferencesThe Aural Dustbin review
Allmusic album review
{{Authority control
1989 debut albums
Eat (band) albums
Fiction Records albums