Change Giver
Encyclopedia
Change Giver is the debut album
by British
rock
band Shed Seven
, released via Polydor Records
on September 5, 1994. It was produced by Jessica Corcoran and was issued during the formative year of the britpop
movement—a scene which dominated British
alternative
music in the mid-1990s.
The album was a moderate chart success in the UK, peaking at number 16 in the UK Albums Chart
upon release, while three of the four singles taken from the album charted in the UK Top 40.
, due to the "violent" nature of attendees at their gigs. They soon focused their attention on London
, playing a handful of live shows in the city's smaller venues—including both the Rock Garden and Bull and Gate—to audiences featuring key members of the British
music business, such as BBC Radio 1
DJ Steve Lamacq
. In September 1993, they were voted the third best live band at London's Inner City Festival—the first time an unsigned act had placed in the top three—and appeared on BBC Radio 5
's Hit The North programme. In the same month they also performed at Manchester
's In The City
music festival, where they were awarded third place in the convention's Best Unsigned Band contest. Their performance at the festival generated some national exposure, gaining them one of what would become a number of complimentary live reviews in the NME
, with the magazine simply stating; "They are brilliant".
, and eventually opted to sign a six-album major label deal with Polydor Records
in October 1993. A support slot for the Inspiral Carpets
soon followed, along with joint headline gigs with bands such as Compulsion
and Elastica
, as they were labelled "thrashy punk newcomers" and were associated with the short-lived New Wave of New Wave
scene. Yet, by the time Change Giver was released five months later, they were seen in the British music press as being part of a vibrant, new movement in British music, spearheaded by acts like Suede
, a band who had personally invited Shed Seven to open their gig at Blackpool
's Tower Ballroom on February 11, 1994. Writing for The Guardian
a month after the release of Change Giver, Caroline Sullivan summarised Shed Seven's role in the emergent scene, which was initially dubbed "lad-rock" and would later come to be known as britpop
; "With Oasis achieving a number one album and Shed Seven being praised everywhere, the good old unambiguous British guitar band could be making a comeback. Like Oasis, this York band are defiantly heterosexual, and brimming with what in a previous day would have been called arrogance, and is now known as 'attitude'."
, many of whose writers had championed the band's cause from an early stage, declared them one of "the UK's brightest hopes", whilst The Independent
claimed that they were "perhaps the spunkiest new British band". Along with further positive reviews of their live shows, much of the press attention received by the band drew musical comparisons with The Smiths
, a band who both Witter and Banks cited as making a "big influence" on them in their youth.
Although they were seen to be musically relevant, Shed Seven were not beyond reproach as they were also met with a certain amount of discord in the British music press. Alongside the praise heaped on their live performances, came a wave of non-musical criticism aimed at the "foolish" things they said, their haircuts and unfashionable dress sense, through to their band and singer's names. In a piece titled "Pretenders to the throne", charting British rock music's challengers to the crown then-held by Blur
, The Guardian posed the question: "do they really expect to make it big with a singer called Rick Witter?". By the time the record was finally issued in the UK in early September, both critical and public opinion on the band was somewhat devisive. As noted in Change Givers Melody Maker review; "Everybody has an opinion on Shed Seven (...) It's love 'em or hate 'em time!".
and Shed Seven emerged. The two bands—who had played on the same bill in London
and were touring France
together as part of a small series of shows organised by a French magazine—were seen as contemporaneous rivals and had become embroiled in a war of words via sections of the British music press. The feud was heightened by a comment from Noel Gallagher
in an August 1994 issue of Melody Maker
magazine. Due to this growing rivalry, along with the positive response which had greeted the release of their debut double A side single "Mark"/"Casino Girl", the fledgling band were seen to have set themselves a high standard to live up to. Although Change Giver did receive some positive attention, featuring in a number of music publications end-of-year polls, it failed to gain the same scale of universal critical approval as that of Definitely Maybe
, and was unable to match the unit sales of the then-record breaking debut album.
The first song completed during the initial sessions in late-1993 was the band's debut single "Mark", with what would be the follow-up single, "Dolphin", recorded in the Spring of 1994. "Dolphin" was the earliest song written by the band to be included on the album and, when issued as a single in June 1994, it would be the only single release from Change Giver that Banks was not involved in writing. Although the band's third single, "Speakeasy", went on to become their highest charting release from the album, it was initially composed with the intention for it to be included as a b-side on a future single release. The song was written in-studio towards the end of the album sessions over the course of a day, and recorded the day after. Noting the group's decision to record the track so quickly after it was written, Banks explained that this was done "just to get it down straight away without thinking about whether it was good or not".
in October 1994, described the group as "roguishly disarming youth popsters" who, despite having "a bravado whiff of ridiculous self assurance that's straight out of Blur's 1992 patent", had something worthwhile to offer with the release of their debut album. She went on to note the band's Britishness
, and found similarities with The Smiths
in their music: "At the heart of Shed Seven's appeal is their memorable way with a glucose-centred pop tune (many sweat at it but few can actually pull it off) in songs like 'Mark' and 'Dolphin'. Plus, there's the ghost of The Smiths in the Sheddoes chiming chords, putting in a friendly, but not too overwhelming, appearance." Ian Gittins of Melody Maker
also noted a similarity with The Smiths, via a "tenuous link" found in the lyrics written by Shed Seven's frontman, Rick Witter
, who he thought had "an ear for Morrissey-esque homely homilies". He described the album as "spasmodically exciting and uplifting", but found it to be too orthodox a record overall to be able to "term it a 'classic'". He also drew comparisons with both Radiohead
and Oasis
, and highlighted "Dirty Soul" and "Long Time Dead" as the album's standout tracks: "Viewed as a chipper, cocky collection of brassy northern pop songs, Change Giver scores a resounding... seven out of 10. 'Dirty Soul', the opener, is the kind of choppy, fuzzy rollercoaster ride Shed Seven are good at and 'Long Time Dead' is a supremely catchy angst fest à la 'Creep'".
Q magazine
's Martin Aston noted that Shed Seven had "enjoyed an arresting development to date", when reviewing Change Giver in October 1994. He remarked on the group's knack of "covering different bases" throughout the record, and surmised that they "neatly mirror the original mod tendency to expand in the direction of acid rock". Singling out "Dolphin" as one of the album's highlights, he labelled the song "a memorably chunky slice of Northern pop scruff", and went on to claim that "Speakeasy" was "even better". The latter track was also praised by Select magazine's Roy Wilkinson
, who stated that "the inclusion of a song as poutingly self-confident as 'Speakeasy' shows that Shed Seven can cut the mustard". He chose the deftness of "Ocean Pie" and the "I Am the Resurrection
"-esque "On An Island With You" as other notable tracks, but found most of the songs on the record to have more in common with the sound of "Dolphin"—a track which he described as a "clanking half-tune". Deeming the album's shortcomings to be "no felony" when considering the band's youthful age, Wilkinson concluded that there was "enough here to show they could soon make a record to dwarf this one." Craig McLean of Vox magazine
thought that Change Giver managed to "transcend" the connotations with Oasis and the New Wave of New Wave scene which faced Shed Seven prior to the record's release. He compared "Dolphin" to the "tom-tom frothiness" of the Jack Rubies, noted a Byrds-like vocal interplay in "Speakeasy", and declared that the album "rides off into the sunset with the eight-minute riff-a-thon 'On An Island With You'." Music Week
gave Change Giver a four out of five rating, and stated that it comprised "tight ensemble playing and a soul-tinged, mod-pop cool that is built to last."
on May 16. On June 9, they played at the Heineken Music Festival at Avenham Park
, Preston, along with Inspiral Carpets
and Baby Chaos. They featured on the bill of 1994's Reading music festival
on August 27, performing a set on the Melody Maker Stage headlined by Madder Rose
. In November 1994, they embarked on a seven-date tour of France, beginning in Lille
at the Aeronef on November 2 and ending at the Festival Be Bop'n Roll in Le Mans
on November 10. The tour was part of a small series of shows organised by Les Inrockuptibles
magazine, and featured a number of other British acts, including Echobelly
and Gene
. In February 1995, they returned to France to perform an eight-date tour with support from Dodgy
, and the following Summer they appeared at some of the UK's largest music festivals, including Glastonbury
, where they played on the NME Stage on June 23, T in the Park
on August 6, and again at Reading, where they performed on the Main Stage on August 26.
on 23 June 1994. On September 27, they returned to BBC Radio where they had first featured as an unsigned band a year earlier, this time performing a full band four-song set as part of The Mark Radcliffe Show
. On 23 June 1995, highlights of the band's performance at Glastonbury Festival, along with Sinéad O'Connor
and Dodgy
, were shown as part of Channel 4
's coverage of the event.
, Paul Banks also conceded that although the two bands' careers had run parallel during the months running up to and following the release of their respective debut albums, when the Oasis "phenomenon" took off, ultimately, Shed Seven were unable to compete.
(words)/Shed Seven
(music), unless otherwise noted.
in its release year, peaking at number 16 on 17 September 1994. The album re-entered the chart in 1998, this time peaking at number 124 and remaining there for a sole week.
, stalling at number 77 in March 1994. The following three releases—"Dolphin", "Speakeasy" and "Ocean Pie"—fared much better, beginning a run of fourteen consecutive UK Top 40 singles for the group. Each of the three songs entered the chart at number 33 or higher, with their then-biggest hit, "Speakeasy", reaching number 24 in August 1994.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Shed Seven
Shed Seven
Shed Seven are an English indie rock band from York and were one of the groups which contributed to the Britpop music scene that evolved during the 1990s, yet never received the degree of mainstream success achieved by bands such as Oasis and Blur...
, released via Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
on September 5, 1994. It was produced by Jessica Corcoran and was issued during the formative year of the britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
movement—a scene which dominated British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
alternative
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
music in the mid-1990s.
The album was a moderate chart success in the UK, peaking at number 16 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
upon release, while three of the four singles taken from the album charted in the UK Top 40.
Unsigned
Formed in 1990, Shed Seven quickly gained a reputation for their live performances, having been banned from playing in a number of local music venues in their hometown of YorkYork
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, due to the "violent" nature of attendees at their gigs. They soon focused their attention on London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, playing a handful of live shows in the city's smaller venues—including both the Rock Garden and Bull and Gate—to audiences featuring key members of the British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
music business, such as BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
DJ Steve Lamacq
Steve Lamacq
Steve Lamacq , sometimes known by his nicknames Lammo or "The Cat" is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio stations BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2.-Early career:He was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire...
. In September 1993, they were voted the third best live band at London's Inner City Festival—the first time an unsigned act had placed in the top three—and appeared on BBC Radio 5
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
's Hit The North programme. In the same month they also performed at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
's In The City
In The City (festival)
In The City is an annual music industry conference and festival founded by the late Tony Wilson, formerly of Factory Records and Granada Television, and his partner Yvette Livesey....
music festival, where they were awarded third place in the convention's Best Unsigned Band contest. Their performance at the festival generated some national exposure, gaining them one of what would become a number of complimentary live reviews in the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, with the magazine simply stating; "They are brilliant".
Scene associations
Following the positive response to their In The City showcase performance, Shed Seven found themselves amid a record label bidding warBidding war
Bidding War is a card game typically involving two players. A radical variation of the classic game War, the result is not predetermined and a good player can win consistently....
, and eventually opted to sign a six-album major label deal with Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
in October 1993. A support slot for the Inspiral Carpets
Inspiral Carpets
Inspiral Carpets are an alternative rock band from Oldham in Greater Manchester, England formed by Graham Lambert and Stephen Holt in 1983. The band is named after a clothing shop on their Oldham estate...
soon followed, along with joint headline gigs with bands such as Compulsion
Compulsion (band)
Compulsion was an Irish punk band. They formed in the 1990 by Josephmary and Sid Rainey as Thee Amazing Colossal Men. They signed a recording contract with Virgin Records, but after winning a lawsuit against their record label, they became 'Compulsion' in 1992...
and Elastica
Elastica
Elastica were an English alternative rock band that played punk rock-influenced music. They were best known for their 1995 album Elastica, which produced singles that charted in the US and the UK.-History:...
, as they were labelled "thrashy punk newcomers" and were associated with the short-lived New Wave of New Wave
New wave of new wave
The New Wave of New Wave was a term coined by music journalists to describe a sub-genre of the British alternative rock scene in the early 90s, in which bands displayed punk, post-punk and New Wave influences, particlularly from bands such as The Clash, Blondie, Wire, and The Stranglers. The band...
scene. Yet, by the time Change Giver was released five months later, they were seen in the British music press as being part of a vibrant, new movement in British music, spearheaded by acts like Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...
, a band who had personally invited Shed Seven to open their gig at Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
's Tower Ballroom on February 11, 1994. Writing for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
a month after the release of Change Giver, Caroline Sullivan summarised Shed Seven's role in the emergent scene, which was initially dubbed "lad-rock" and would later come to be known as britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
; "With Oasis achieving a number one album and Shed Seven being praised everywhere, the good old unambiguous British guitar band could be making a comeback. Like Oasis, this York band are defiantly heterosexual, and brimming with what in a previous day would have been called arrogance, and is now known as 'attitude'."
Praise and criticism
Shed Seven enjoyed a copious amount of praise for their music in the run up to the release of Change Giver. In March 1994, NME claimed that they were "worthy carriers of the baton that's passed through the hands of the Buzzcocks, The Smiths and The Stone Roses", and The Guardian named them "this week's Next Big Things" in late-October, highlighting the group as an alternative to the "musical thuggery" of other bands. Melody MakerMelody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
, many of whose writers had championed the band's cause from an early stage, declared them one of "the UK's brightest hopes", whilst The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
claimed that they were "perhaps the spunkiest new British band". Along with further positive reviews of their live shows, much of the press attention received by the band drew musical comparisons with The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, a band who both Witter and Banks cited as making a "big influence" on them in their youth.
Although they were seen to be musically relevant, Shed Seven were not beyond reproach as they were also met with a certain amount of discord in the British music press. Alongside the praise heaped on their live performances, came a wave of non-musical criticism aimed at the "foolish" things they said, their haircuts and unfashionable dress sense, through to their band and singer's names. In a piece titled "Pretenders to the throne", charting British rock music's challengers to the crown then-held by Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
, The Guardian posed the question: "do they really expect to make it big with a singer called Rick Witter?". By the time the record was finally issued in the UK in early September, both critical and public opinion on the band was somewhat devisive. As noted in Change Givers Melody Maker review; "Everybody has an opinion on Shed Seven (...) It's love 'em or hate 'em time!".
Feud with Oasis
As the release of Change Giver grew nearer, animosity between OasisOasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
and Shed Seven emerged. The two bands—who had played on the same bill in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and were touring France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
together as part of a small series of shows organised by a French magazine—were seen as contemporaneous rivals and had become embroiled in a war of words via sections of the British music press. The feud was heightened by a comment from Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
in an August 1994 issue of Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
magazine. Due to this growing rivalry, along with the positive response which had greeted the release of their debut double A side single "Mark"/"Casino Girl", the fledgling band were seen to have set themselves a high standard to live up to. Although Change Giver did receive some positive attention, featuring in a number of music publications end-of-year polls, it failed to gain the same scale of universal critical approval as that of Definitely Maybe
Definitely Maybe
Definitely Maybe is the debut album by English rock band Oasis, released in August 1994. It was an immediate commercial and critical success in the UK, having followed on the heels of singles "Supersonic", "Shakermaker" and "Live Forever"....
, and was unable to match the unit sales of the then-record breaking debut album.
Recording
Having signed a record deal with Polydor in the Autumn of 1993, just six weeks later the band members had left their regular jobs and headed to London's Greenhouse Studio to begin recording sessions for their debut release. Commenting on these early sessions in July 1999, guitarist Paul Banks revealed that they were slightly overwhelmed by their first experience of recording in a professional studio;We'd been signed in October 1993 and it was all a bit of a shock really. We were in a studio called the Greenhouse in London, just recording for the first time. We didn't really have a clue, we were a bit mesmerised. Looking back at it now, we were quite young and naive.
The first song completed during the initial sessions in late-1993 was the band's debut single "Mark", with what would be the follow-up single, "Dolphin", recorded in the Spring of 1994. "Dolphin" was the earliest song written by the band to be included on the album and, when issued as a single in June 1994, it would be the only single release from Change Giver that Banks was not involved in writing. Although the band's third single, "Speakeasy", went on to become their highest charting release from the album, it was initially composed with the intention for it to be included as a b-side on a future single release. The song was written in-studio towards the end of the album sessions over the course of a day, and recorded the day after. Noting the group's decision to record the track so quickly after it was written, Banks explained that this was done "just to get it down straight away without thinking about whether it was good or not".
Critical reception
Change Giver received mixed to positive reviews upon release, with some critics finding it to be a respectable debut album for a young, upcoming band, but that it mainly served as an indication that the group were capable of bettering it in future releases. Angela Lewis, writing for The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
in October 1994, described the group as "roguishly disarming youth popsters" who, despite having "a bravado whiff of ridiculous self assurance that's straight out of Blur's 1992 patent", had something worthwhile to offer with the release of their debut album. She went on to note the band's Britishness
Britishness
Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics, and is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British culture—such as habits, behaviours...
, and found similarities with The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
in their music: "At the heart of Shed Seven's appeal is their memorable way with a glucose-centred pop tune (many sweat at it but few can actually pull it off) in songs like 'Mark' and 'Dolphin'. Plus, there's the ghost of The Smiths in the Sheddoes chiming chords, putting in a friendly, but not too overwhelming, appearance." Ian Gittins of Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
also noted a similarity with The Smiths, via a "tenuous link" found in the lyrics written by Shed Seven's frontman, Rick Witter
Rick Witter
Rick Witter is a singer, songwriter and frontman of the York-based Britpop band, Shed Seven.He was educated at Huntington School, York.-Professional career:...
, who he thought had "an ear for Morrissey-esque homely homilies". He described the album as "spasmodically exciting and uplifting", but found it to be too orthodox a record overall to be able to "term it a 'classic'". He also drew comparisons with both Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
and Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
, and highlighted "Dirty Soul" and "Long Time Dead" as the album's standout tracks: "Viewed as a chipper, cocky collection of brassy northern pop songs, Change Giver scores a resounding... seven out of 10. 'Dirty Soul', the opener, is the kind of choppy, fuzzy rollercoaster ride Shed Seven are good at and 'Long Time Dead' is a supremely catchy angst fest à la 'Creep'".
Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
's Martin Aston noted that Shed Seven had "enjoyed an arresting development to date", when reviewing Change Giver in October 1994. He remarked on the group's knack of "covering different bases" throughout the record, and surmised that they "neatly mirror the original mod tendency to expand in the direction of acid rock". Singling out "Dolphin" as one of the album's highlights, he labelled the song "a memorably chunky slice of Northern pop scruff", and went on to claim that "Speakeasy" was "even better". The latter track was also praised by Select magazine's Roy Wilkinson
Roy Wilkinson
Roy Wilkinson is a British music journalist and band manager.As a journalist he is best known for his work in Sounds, Select and Q, but has contributed to various other publications. Considered an authority on the Pixies, he appears in their 2002 documentary Gouge, available on the 2004 Pixies DVD...
, who stated that "the inclusion of a song as poutingly self-confident as 'Speakeasy' shows that Shed Seven can cut the mustard". He chose the deftness of "Ocean Pie" and the "I Am the Resurrection
I Am the Resurrection
I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey is a tribute album to guitarist John Fahey released in 2006. The album's title is taken from the title of the third track of his album The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death.-History:...
"-esque "On An Island With You" as other notable tracks, but found most of the songs on the record to have more in common with the sound of "Dolphin"—a track which he described as a "clanking half-tune". Deeming the album's shortcomings to be "no felony" when considering the band's youthful age, Wilkinson concluded that there was "enough here to show they could soon make a record to dwarf this one." Craig McLean of Vox magazine
Vox (magazine)
Vox was a British music magazine, first issued in October 1990. It was published by IPC Media, and was later billed as a monthly sister-magazine to IPC's music weekly, the NME....
thought that Change Giver managed to "transcend" the connotations with Oasis and the New Wave of New Wave scene which faced Shed Seven prior to the record's release. He compared "Dolphin" to the "tom-tom frothiness" of the Jack Rubies, noted a Byrds-like vocal interplay in "Speakeasy", and declared that the album "rides off into the sunset with the eight-minute riff-a-thon 'On An Island With You'." Music Week
Music Week
Music Week is a trade paper for the UK record industry.Founded in 1959 as Record Retailer, it was relaunched on 18 March 1972 as Music Week . On 17 January 1981 the title was again changed, owing to the increasing importance of sell-through videos, to Music & Video Week...
gave Change Giver a four out of five rating, and stated that it comprised "tight ensemble playing and a soul-tinged, mod-pop cool that is built to last."
Accolades
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melody Maker Melody Maker Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody... |
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
Best 40 Albums of the Year | 1994 | 38 |
| NME NME The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles... |
United Kingdom | Top 50 Albums of the Year | 1994 | 29 |
| Rocksound | France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Best 50 Albums of the Year | 1994 | 46 |
| Select | United Kingdom | Best 50 Albums of the Year | 1994 | 48 |
Tours and festivals
Shed Seven undertook four UK tours throughout 1994 in support of the album and its singles, including a student-organised gig at St. Cuthbert's Roman Catholic School in RochdaleRochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
on May 16. On June 9, they played at the Heineken Music Festival at Avenham Park
Avenham Park
Avenham Park is a public park in Avenham, close to the centre of Preston in Lancashire in the northwest of England, and managed by Preston City Council.The park is located in Preston's Conservation area and leads down to the banks of the River Ribble...
, Preston, along with Inspiral Carpets
Inspiral Carpets
Inspiral Carpets are an alternative rock band from Oldham in Greater Manchester, England formed by Graham Lambert and Stephen Holt in 1983. The band is named after a clothing shop on their Oldham estate...
and Baby Chaos. They featured on the bill of 1994's Reading music festival
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
on August 27, performing a set on the Melody Maker Stage headlined by Madder Rose
Madder Rose
Madder Rose was a New York City-based alternative rock band who recorded in the 1990s. The band was fronted by Mary Lorson, who shared songwriting duties with guitarist Billy Coté. The two singer/songwriters continued their collaboration, Cote as guest producer on Lorson's three discs with Saint...
. In November 1994, they embarked on a seven-date tour of France, beginning in Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
at the Aeronef on November 2 and ending at the Festival Be Bop'n Roll in Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
on November 10. The tour was part of a small series of shows organised by Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. The name is a play on "Les Incorruptibles", the French title of the American television series The Untouchables...
magazine, and featured a number of other British acts, including Echobelly
Echobelly
Echobelly were a Britpop band, debuting in 1994 with their album Everyone's Got One. They were often compared to Blondie and were influenced by Morrissey, who himself was a fan of the group....
and Gene
Gene (band)
Gene were an English alternative rock quartet that rose to prominence in the mid 1990s. Formed in 1993, they were popularly labelled as a Britpop band and often drew comparisons to The Smiths because of their Morrissey-esque lead singer, Martin Rossiter. Gene's music was influenced by The Jam, The...
. In February 1995, they returned to France to perform an eight-date tour with support from Dodgy
Dodgy
Dodgy are an English power pop rock trio, that rose to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s, who are best known for their hits "Staying Out for the Summer", "If You're Thinking of Me", and "Good Enough"...
, and the following Summer they appeared at some of the UK's largest music festivals, including Glastonbury
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
, where they played on the NME Stage on June 23, T in the Park
T in the Park
T in the Park is a major British music festival that has been held annually since 1994. It is named after its main sponsor, the brewing company Tennents. It was originally held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire but since 1997 has been held at a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire...
on August 6, and again at Reading, where they performed on the Main Stage on August 26.
TV and Radio
Following the release of the album's second single "Dolphin"—which sold 15,000 copies in its first week—the band made their debut appearance at Top of the PopsTop of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
on 23 June 1994. On September 27, they returned to BBC Radio where they had first featured as an unsigned band a year earlier, this time performing a full band four-song set as part of The Mark Radcliffe Show
Mark Radcliffe
Mark Radcliffe is an English broadcaster who has worked in various roles for the BBC since the 1980s and remains one of Britain's most recognised DJs. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music, where he hosts an afternoon show five times a week alongside Stuart Maconie, called...
. On 23 June 1995, highlights of the band's performance at Glastonbury Festival, along with Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
and Dodgy
Dodgy
Dodgy are an English power pop rock trio, that rose to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s, who are best known for their hits "Staying Out for the Summer", "If You're Thinking of Me", and "Good Enough"...
, were shown as part of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's coverage of the event.
Aftermath
Following the release of Change Giver, Shed Seven spent much of 1995 out of the media spotlight. Between November 1994 and January 1996, they released just one single — "Where Have You Been Tonight?" in April 1995. By 1996, the band, and the album, were retrospectively seen to have lost out to Oasis in the race for britpop supremacy. Writing for The Guardian 2 in November 1996, Caroline Sullivan remarked, "a couple of years ago, when the outcome of the Britpop race was uncertain, the Sheds certainly gave the Gallaghers a run for their money. Noel was troubled enough to ask in late 1994, 'If we're the new Beatles, where are The Rolling Stones? It's not going to be fucking Shed Seven.' It indisputably wasn't Shed Seven." In a 1996 issue of Guitarist magazineGuitarist (magazine)
Guitarist is a monthly music making magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. The magazine features reviews of newly released guitars, amplifiers and other equipment, plus interviews with guitar players, features on the guitar industry, news articles, and features on playing...
, Paul Banks also conceded that although the two bands' careers had run parallel during the months running up to and following the release of their respective debut albums, when the Oasis "phenomenon" took off, ultimately, Shed Seven were unable to compete.
Track listing
All tracks written by Rick WitterRick Witter
Rick Witter is a singer, songwriter and frontman of the York-based Britpop band, Shed Seven.He was educated at Huntington School, York.-Professional career:...
(words)/Shed Seven
Shed Seven
Shed Seven are an English indie rock band from York and were one of the groups which contributed to the Britpop music scene that evolved during the 1990s, yet never received the degree of mainstream success achieved by bands such as Oasis and Blur...
(music), unless otherwise noted.
- Tracks 5 and 9 are alternate versions to the single release issued in March 1994.
Personnel
Shed Seven
|
Technical personnel
|
Album
Change Giver spent a total of two weeks in the UK Albums ChartUK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
in its release year, peaking at number 16 on 17 September 1994. The album re-entered the chart in 1998, this time peaking at number 124 and remaining there for a sole week.
| Chart (1994) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart | 16 |
| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
| UK Albums Chart | 124 |
Singles
Shed Seven's debut single, "Mark"/"Casino Girl", occupied the lower reaches of the UK Singles ChartUK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, stalling at number 77 in March 1994. The following three releases—"Dolphin", "Speakeasy" and "Ocean Pie"—fared much better, beginning a run of fourteen consecutive UK Top 40 singles for the group. Each of the three songs entered the chart at number 33 or higher, with their then-biggest hit, "Speakeasy", reaching number 24 in August 1994.
| Year | Title | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "Mark"/"Casino Girl" | UK Singles Chart | 77 |
| 1994 | "Dolphin" | UK Singles Chart | 28 |
| 1994 | "Speakeasy" | UK Singles Chart | 24 |
| 1994 | "Ocean Pie" | UK Singles Chart | 33 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog No. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | September 5, 1994 | Polydor Records Polydor Records Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone... |
LP Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove... CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... MC Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel... |
523615-1 523615-2 523615-4 |
| Japan | October 26, 1994 | Polydor K.K. | CD | POCP-1455 |
| US | August 29, 1995 | Polydor Records | Promo CD Promotional recording A promotional recording, or promo, is an audio or video recording distributed for free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available... CD |
69712 4063 2 ADV 124063 |