"Please Be Gentle With Me" had previously been released on Let It Bleat in a different arrangement, with less pronounced bass, and growling dog sound effects. Early jam versions of "Dung Beetle" and "The Day Before Yesterday's Man" had previously been released on Dark Star, in a more improvised style. The song "Stammer" had previously been known in 1993 as "Her Majesty". "Pie in the Sky" features a trumpet solo by Robert Henderson of A Band Called Quinn and The Bathers. The title song of the album was not included on the track list, but was instead released on the follow-up album A Tune a Day. The song "Love Has Passed Away" contains a reference to the Blondie song Presence, Dear.
Release
Music videos were released for 5 or the songs, mostly directed by Hammer & Tongs and Barry Maguire. The band appeared on popular TV and radio shows at the time, as well as several national and international tours. "The Day Before Yesterday's Man" was used in the TV series , and the film Shooting Fish. The song was also selected to appear on a CMJ New Music Monthly highlights disc for the American market. The live performance of the song from Glastonbury 1997 was released on a BBC CD entitled Mud For It. The song "Smile" was the theme tune for bank Smile.co.uk's TV advertisements, and was re-recorded for use as the main theme of the Australian Nine Network idents in 2008, and was also parodied in episode 5 of Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights. It has more recently been used in adverts for Arnold Clark Automobiles. In 2001, the single cover artwork for "Smile" was used by Anya Hindmarch on a fashion umbrella. Several songs were also included on compilations such as Shine and The Best... Album in the World...Ever!. A covermounted CD with the June 1997 issue of Select magazine features a rerecorded version of "I Don't Think So". An Xfm compilation album Gimme Shelter featured the song "Pie in the Sky".
Critical reception
The album received good reviews. It was described as "one of the finest britpop records of 1997. Filled with beautiful pop melodies" by Virgin Radio, who went on to say that it was "an incredibly accomplished and compelling debut". The song "Smile" was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in 1998 for best contemporary song. In 2005 it was included in VH2's list of the best indie songs of all time. The UK release achieved a chart position of 23, however, the Japanese release was a bigger success with both sales and airplay, staying on the chart for 13 weeks.
Track listing
All songs written by James McColl and other band members.
