''Speed Ballads'' is the second album by the band

Republica Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. The height of their popularity spanned from 1996 to 1999. The current line-up consists of Saffron (vocals), Tim Dorney (keyboards), Johnny Male (guitar), Conor Lawrence (drums). T ...

. Released in 1998, the album was the follow-up to Republica's self-titled debut album.

Release

''Speed Ballads'' reached #37 on the

UK Album Charts 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 ...

. The album never received release in the United States. On 22 April 2023 -

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

- the album was released on vinyl for the first time, with a run of 1,000 copies.

Singles

The album spawned only one single, "From Rush Hour With Love." It achieved modest success, peaking at number 20 on the UK Singles chart, but spending only three weeks on the chart. The follow-up single, "Try Everything," received only limited release, due to the bankruptcy and closure of

Deconstruction Records Deconstruction Records is a British record label founded in 1987 by Pete Hadfield and Keith Blackhurst, together with Mike Pickering of M People. According to ''DJ Magazine'' it is "best remembered for marrying underground credibility and dive ...

, the group's label.

Critical reception

The album was met with mixed reviews from contemporary music critics.

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 databa ...

's Jason Damas felt that the album "exhibits some remarkable growth" over its predecessor, calling the album "far more diverse" and highlighting "Try Everything," "From Rush Hour with Love," and "Fading of the Man" as choice cuts.

Track listing

B-Sides

There are known to be five B-sides from the ''Speed Ballads'' era. # "World Ends in the Morning" (from the "From Rush Hour with Love" CD single) # "Clone My Soul" (from the "From Rush Hour with Love" CD single) # "House Special" (from the "From Rush Hour with Love" 7" Vinyl single) # "Fading of the Man" (From the "Try Everything" CD1 promo single) # "From Rush Hour with Love" estside Story(From the "Try Everything" CD1 promo single) # "Ready to Go" ive from Cardiff(From the "Try Everything" CD2 promo single) # "Drop Dead Gorgeous" ive from Cardiff(From the "Try Everything" CD2 promo single)

Personnel

Republica *

Saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in ...

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 withou ...

*Tim Dorney -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, programming, mixing *Jonny Male -

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 strin ...

s Additional musicians *Pete Riley - drums ;Technical *

Ian Stanley Ian Christopher Stanley (born 28 February 1957) is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He was previously a member of the English band Tears for Fears for most of the 1980s, and played a key role in the making of their multi-plat ...

- producer *Andy Gray - producer, mixing *

Clive Langer Clive Langer (born 19 June 1954 in Hampstead, London, England) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Alan Winstanley. He composed the music for the films '' Still Crazy'' and '' ...

- producer, mixing *

Alan Winstanley Alan Kenneth Winstanley (born 2 November 1952) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Clive Langer. His early career during the mid-1970s was as an audio engineer, working on albu ...

- producer, mixing *

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 ...

- producer *Bob Kraushaar - mixing *

Gary Langan Gary Michael Langan (born 19 April 1956) is an English engineer, record producer, mixer and musician. Biography His career started at age 18 when he worked as an assistant engineer at Sarm East Studios, learning the craft from Gary Lyons and M ...

- mixing *

Ross Cullum Ross Cullum (born 1957 in Fulham, London, England) is an English composer, record producer, songwriter, mixer, A&R and music industry consultant. Career Cullum became an assistant at George Martin's AIR Studios, where he worked on recordings by ...

- mixing *

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 ...

- mixing *Brian Pugsley - additional engineering *

Jon Astley Jon Astley is a British record producer who has also recorded and released two albums as a singer-songwriter in the late 1980s. His most commercially successful song was "Jane's Getting Serious", later popularized by a Heinz ketchup television ...

- mastering *Mike Diver - photography, manipulation *Big Active Ltd. - design

References

External links

''Speed Ballads''
at

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(streamed copy where licensed) {{Authority control 1998 albums Albums produced by Alan Winstanley Albums produced by Clive Langer Albums produced by Ian Broudie Albums produced by Ian Stanley Republica albums Bertelsmann Music Group albums