...Yes Please! is the fourth studio album by British band Happy Mondays, released in 1992. It was their final album recorded on the Factory Records label; the album's high recording costs and commercial failure would end up driving the record label bankrupt just two months after its release.
Sound
It is reasoned by many, including Shaun Ryder in his autobiography, that one of the reasons for the album's failure was the change of producer between the third album, 1990's Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches and this one. Paul Oakenfold, the third album's producer, was unavailable to produce Yes Please! The new production team, consisting ofTalking Heads and Tom Tom Club veterans Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, drastically changed the band's sound from that of the previous album. Whilst before, Happy Mondays' sound had been grounded in a fusion of rock and acid house music, here it was replaced in favor of Caribbean-influenced synthpop more in line with Frantz and Weymouth's portfolios. While the band had previously enjoyed almost universal critical approval for their Madchester music, the change of sound on this album—specifically to a genre that had fallen out of critical and public favor in the wake of alternative rock's 1991 commercial breakthrough—garnered significant critical backlash against the band that was reflected by low sales. According to Peter Hook of Factory Records' other most popular band, New Order, Yes Please! sold only a thousand copies. The album was included in Pitchforks 2010 list of "ten career-killing albums" of the 1990s.
The band, along with their families, went to Barbados to record the album. It was recorded in the studio at Eddy Grant's house, where they bumped into Mick Jagger on a few occasions, who was staying nearby. The trip did not go as planned; although the band were sent there so that Shaun Ryder and his brother would not take heroin, they ended up taking crack cocaine. Shaun Ryder did bring enough methadone to last him for four weeks, but inadvertently smashed the case at Manchester Airport. After running out of money, they then took extreme measures such as selling the furniture from Grant's studio and creating "crack dens" out of sun-loungers in Eddy's own swimming pool. Bez ended up breaking his arm after overturning a hire car, while Shaun had failed to write any lyrics. When the band returned to the UK, Shaun got hold of the master tapes for the album, threatening to destroy them if Tony Wilson and Factory Records did not pay him for them. When Factory did finally get hold of them, the recordings contained no vocals, which meant the whole exercise was a waste of time and money for Factory. Shortly after the album was finally released, Factory Records was officially declared bankrupt. On a more humorous, but bizarre note, Shaun attempted to "kidnap legendary guitarist Johnny Marr to join them on their excursion to Barbados." Marr says he was a member of Happy Mondays for "about 25 minutes".
Cowboy Dave
The final song of the album, "Cowboy Dave", was written in reference to Dave Rowbotham, former guitarist of The Durutti Column who was murdered in 1991. The lyrics alluded to the group's suspicions about the circumstances of his death.
