Sulk is the third album by Scottish New Wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 band Associates. It was released in May 1982, and reissued as a CD in 2000 with extra tracks. It stayed in the British album chart for 20 weeks, reaching number 10.

Original UK release

• "Grecian 2000" and "Australia" are listed in the wrong order on the 2000 reissue.

US release

The album was issued in the USA on October 4, 1982 in a hugely different format. The album was sequenced differently, with many of the tracks on the UK release replaced by different tracks. The US Sulk version had removed Bapdelabap, Nude Spoons, the intro and outro instrumentals (Arrogance Gave Him Up & nothinginsomethingparticular), replaced the original 5.32 Club Country with a 4.03 edit, added the non album single 18 Carat Love Affair/ Love Hangover, stuck on two tracks from the Fourth Drawer Down album and then completely changed the running order. In addition the first two tracks were remixed by Mark Arthurworrey. This version was also released on CD by WEA in Europe in 1988.

Singles

1. "Party Fears Two" (Feb 1982)

   UK chart position: 9

2. "Club Country" (May 1982)

   UK chart position: 13

3. "18 Carat Love Affair"/"Love Hangover" (double A-side) (August 1982)

   UK chart position: 21

Only the first two singles appeared on the original vinyl album.

Recording

The Associates:

• Billy Mackenzie
  Billy Mackenzie
  William MacArthur "Billy" Mackenzie was a Scottish singer, with a distinctive falsetto voice best known as a member of The Associates.- Biography :...
  
   - Vocals
• Michael Dempsey
  Michael Dempsey
  Michael Dempsey is a bassist from England, who has performed as a member of several post-punk and New Wave bands including The Cure and Associates.-Early years:...
  
   - Bass
• Alan Rankine
  Alan Rankine
  Alan Rankine played keyboards, and guitars, for the rock band, Associates, which he co-founded with Billy Mackenzie in the late 1970s....
  
   - Guitar, Keyboards, Other Instruments
• John Murphy
  John Murphy (musician)
  John Murphy , sometimes credited as "Jonh Murphy", is an Australian drummer, percussionist and multi-instrumental session musician who has played in numerous Australian and British post-punk, ambient and industrial music groups...
  
   - Drums

Other Personnel:

• Martha Ladly
  Martha Ladly
  Martha Ladly, AOCA RGD MCSD is a Canadian academic, designer and musician. She is currently Associate Professor of interaction design, at OCAD University. Ladly has also had a long career as a musician and achieved international fame as part of Canadian New Wave band Martha & the Muffins...
  
   - Backing Vocals, Keyboards on 9, 11 and 12
• Steve Goulding
  Steve Goulding
  Steve Goulding is an English drummer, best known for his memberships with Graham Parker and The Rumour, The Associates, Poi Dog Pondering and The Mekons. With the Associates he had a UK #9 hit single with "Party Fears Two"...
  
   - Drums on "Love Hangover" (Uncredited)
• Mike Hedges
  Mike Hedges
  -Career:Mike Hedges started as a tape-op at Morgan Studios in London in the late 1970s. Having graduated to engineer, he went freelance in 1981 and became an engineer/producer....
  
   - Producer

Recorded at Playground Studios

There are numerous stories about the recording sessions for this album, some of which are true. For instance, Mackenzie allegedly proposed that he and Alan Rankine

Alan Rankine

Alan Rankine played keyboards, and guitars, for the rock band, Associates, which he co-founded with Billy Mackenzie in the late 1970s....

arrive with fish tied to their lapels, for "creative enhancement"; hired drums were filled with water, destroying them; and the studio was once decorated with helium-filled balloons.