Waterpistol (album)
Encyclopedia
Waterpistol is the second studio album by English alternative rock
band Shack
. The album was recorded in 1991, but its release was delayed due to a studio fire which destroyed the master tapes
. During the period between the album's recording and release, the band broke up and frontman Mick Head
became addicted to heroin. A back-up of the recordings, lost and recovered by producer
Chris Allison
, was released on Marina Records in 1995. Ultimately, Waterpistol was well received by critics. The album was reissue
d in 2007 in expanded form by The Red Flag Recording Company.
told NME
that Shack's second album would be less lyrically serious than Zilch and that the band's influences at the time were The Stone Roses
, Flowered Up
, and The Charlatans. He also stated:
The album was recorded in 1991 at Star Street Studio in London. Producer
Chris Allison had difficulty working with Mick, saying that "Mick could never finish anything. I’ve never worked with anyone like him, and I hope I never do again. But he’s a songwriting genius and one of the most gifted artists I’ve ever worked with." Allison said that Head was dependent on alcohol
to fuel his creativity, and recalled one incident of locking Head into the studio until he had completed recording five vocal takes.
Ian Lowey of Rough Guides
said that musically, the album was very similar to The Stone Roses, but rather than looking to 1960s psychedelia as that band had done, Shack drew influence from 1960s pop music. Stewart Mason of Allmusic also compared the album's sound to a more acoustic
-sounding version of the Stone Roses and The La's
, and noted similarities to the genres of jangle pop
and Britpop
.
called Shack's "classic rock'n'roll hard-luck tale". After the 1991 studio sessions during which the album was recorded, a fire destroyed Star Street Studio and the master tapes
; shortly afterward the band's label Ghetto Records went out of business. The remaining DAT tape
masters were accidentally left by producer Chris Allison in his hire car
while on vacation in the United States. Months after, Allison contacted the car rental company he had used, Alamo Rent a Car
, and tracked down the missing tapes. In the interim, Shack broke up after its bassist
left to join Cast
, and Mick sank into a state of depression
, heroin addiction, and usage of other drugs including MDMA.
Waterpistol was not released until October 1995 by Marina Records, an independent German label specializing in releases of UK musicians. A limited edition vinyl was released on 12 July 1999. The record sleeve is designed by Stefan Kassel in cooperation with Headcharge Hamburg and features the track list and a photo of a young boy smoking on the cover. The first pressing in 1995 included a photo of a motorcycle rider on the back of the booklet; on later pressings, this picture was exchanged with a photo of a couple lying in bed. The album was re-issued in September 2007 with different cover art
by The Red Flag Recording Company.
was highly positive. Comparing the album's delayed release to that of famous lost Beach Boys album Smile, it was written that "1995 sees the launch of one of 1991's best records, a tour-de-force of timeless pop songs that sound as fresh as anything new you’ll hear this year. [...] Fans of expertly played, emotional music have much cause for cheer [...] Waterpistol may never top the charts, and Shack may never play again, but at least this lost classic is now available." In 1999, NME claimed that Waterpistol was "an album fit to inspire a generation". Melody Maker
urged readers to buy the record by calling it "beautiful", while Music Week
labelled it "a tour-de-force of timeless pop songs" and "a lost classic". Allmusic's Stewart Mason wrote, "Waterpistol is one of those rare 'lost' albums that's actually as good or better than the hype suggests. This may actually be better than the more lauded H.M.S. Fable." Nick Southall of Stylus
called the album a collection of "wonderful, uplifting slices of post-Beatles
-Anthology
-revivalist guitar bliss". In a 2008 review, Chris Catchpole of Mojo
called it "very much a record rooted in the inner cities of a post-Thatcher
Britain".
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...
band Shack
Shack (band)
Shack are an English band formed in Liverpool in 1987. Originally Shack consisted of Mick Head , his brother John Head , Justin Smith and Mick Hurst.-The Pale Fountains:...
. The album was recorded in 1991, but its release was delayed due to a studio fire which destroyed the master tapes
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
. During the period between the album's recording and release, the band broke up and frontman Mick Head
Mick Head
Michael Head often called Mick Head, is an English musician. He is most famous as the lead singer and songwriter for Shack and The Strands, both of which also feature his younger brother John...
became addicted to heroin. A back-up of the recordings, lost and recovered by producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Chris Allison
Chris Allison
Chris Allison is a British record producer and founder/head of Sonic360 Records.He is primarily known for his work with The Wedding Present; however, he has also produced for Coldplay, The Beta Band and Plastilina Mosh....
, was released on Marina Records in 1995. Ultimately, Waterpistol was well received by critics. The album was reissue
Reissue
A reissue is the repeated issue of a published work. In common usage, it refers to an album which has been released at least once before and is released again, sometimes with alterations or additions....
d in 2007 in expanded form by The Red Flag Recording Company.
Recording and music
Shack's 1988 debut album, Zilch, was a commercial flop upon its release. Critical consensus was that Head's songwriting was promising but that the album's production was lacking. In 1990, frontman Mick HeadMick Head
Michael Head often called Mick Head, is an English musician. He is most famous as the lead singer and songwriter for Shack and The Strands, both of which also feature his younger brother John...
told 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...
that Shack's second album would be less lyrically serious than Zilch and that the band's influences at the time were The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
, Flowered Up
Flowered Up
-Career:The band was formed in mid-1989 by singer Liam Maher, along with his younger brother Joe . After a few changes in personnel, the settled line-up included Tim Dorney , Andy Jackson , and John Tuvey , with dancer Barry Mooncult adding to their live shows...
, and The Charlatans. He also stated:
The stuff I'm working on now is far more humorous ... The new LP's gonna have better stories on it. It's a great challenge to put a story into a three-minute pop song. It'll still be very melodic, though, but with a more straight guitary vibe than before. It's gonna be a great album when it's finished.
The album was recorded in 1991 at Star Street Studio in London. Producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Chris Allison had difficulty working with Mick, saying that "Mick could never finish anything. I’ve never worked with anyone like him, and I hope I never do again. But he’s a songwriting genius and one of the most gifted artists I’ve ever worked with." Allison said that Head was dependent on alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
to fuel his creativity, and recalled one incident of locking Head into the studio until he had completed recording five vocal takes.
Ian Lowey of Rough Guides
Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a travel guidebook and reference publisher, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide through the Penguin Group...
said that musically, the album was very similar to The Stone Roses, but rather than looking to 1960s psychedelia as that band had done, Shack drew influence from 1960s pop music. Stewart Mason of Allmusic also compared the album's sound to a more acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
-sounding version of the Stone Roses and The La's
The La's
The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group is most famous for their hit single "There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Badger in 1984 and Mavers joined soon after...
, and noted similarities to the genres of jangle pop
Jangle pop
Jangle pop is a genre of alternative rock from the mid-1980s that "marked a return to the chiming or jangly guitars and pop melodies of the '60s" bands such as The Byrds, with their electric twelve-string guitars and power pop song structures. Mid-1980s jangle pop was a non-mainstream "pop-based...
and 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...
.
Release
The release of Waterpistol was delayed due to several post-recording mishaps, contributing to what critic Dave Simpson of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
called Shack's "classic rock'n'roll hard-luck tale". After the 1991 studio sessions during which the album was recorded, a fire destroyed Star Street Studio and the master tapes
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
; shortly afterward the band's label Ghetto Records went out of business. The remaining DAT tape
Digital Audio Tape
Digital Audio Tape is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As...
masters were accidentally left by producer Chris Allison in his hire car
Car rental
A car rental or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time for a fee...
while on vacation in the United States. Months after, Allison contacted the car rental company he had used, Alamo Rent a Car
Alamo Rent A Car
Alamo Rent a Car is the third-largest car rental agency in the United States. Based in Clayton, Missouri, it has branches across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, parts of Africa, Europe, and Australia, and various Caribbean islands...
, and tracked down the missing tapes. In the interim, Shack broke up after its bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
left to join Cast
Cast (band)
Cast are an English rock band from Liverpool, formed in 1992 by John Power and Peter Wilkinson after Power left The La's and Wilkinson's former band Shack had split...
, and Mick sank into a state of depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, heroin addiction, and usage of other drugs including MDMA.
Waterpistol was not released until October 1995 by Marina Records, an independent German label specializing in releases of UK musicians. A limited edition vinyl was released on 12 July 1999. The record sleeve is designed by Stefan Kassel in cooperation with Headcharge Hamburg and features the track list and a photo of a young boy smoking on the cover. The first pressing in 1995 included a photo of a motorcycle rider on the back of the booklet; on later pressings, this picture was exchanged with a photo of a couple lying in bed. The album was re-issued in September 2007 with different cover art
Cover art
Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
by The Red Flag Recording Company.
Reception
A 1995 review in Music WeekMusic 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...
was highly positive. Comparing the album's delayed release to that of famous lost Beach Boys album Smile, it was written that "1995 sees the launch of one of 1991's best records, a tour-de-force of timeless pop songs that sound as fresh as anything new you’ll hear this year. [...] Fans of expertly played, emotional music have much cause for cheer [...] Waterpistol may never top the charts, and Shack may never play again, but at least this lost classic is now available." In 1999, NME claimed that Waterpistol was "an album fit to inspire a generation". 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...
urged readers to buy the record by calling it "beautiful", while 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...
labelled it "a tour-de-force of timeless pop songs" and "a lost classic". Allmusic's Stewart Mason wrote, "Waterpistol is one of those rare 'lost' albums that's actually as good or better than the hype suggests. This may actually be better than the more lauded H.M.S. Fable." Nick Southall of Stylus
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
called the album a collection of "wonderful, uplifting slices of post-Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
-Anthology
The Beatles Anthology
The Beatles Anthology is the name of a documentary series, a set of three double albums and a book focusing on the history of The Beatles. Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr all participated in the making and approval of the works, which are sometimes referred to collectively as the...
-revivalist guitar bliss". In a 2008 review, Chris Catchpole of Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
called it "very much a record rooted in the inner cities of a post-Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
Britain".