The Menace

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The Menace
Studio album by Elastica
Released	April 3 2000
Recorded	November 1996, September-October 1999, Bad Earth and Eastcote Studios, London
Genre	Britpop
Length	38:39
Label	Deceptive Records/Atlantic Records
Producer	Marc Waterman, Elastica, Alan Moulder, Bruce Lampcov
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Elastica chronology
6 Track EP (1999) The Menace (2000) The Radio One Sessions (2001)

The Menace, released in 2000, is Elastica's second full-length album.

After the release of their eponymous debut record in 1995, the band started touring and in the process started partying ferociously and dabbling in drugs. The first attempt to record their second work was in France and Ireland at the end of 1996, but internal problems caused the departure of members (including vocalist/guitarist Donna Matthews and bassist Annie Holland) and the temporary dissolution of the group.

Leader Justine Frischmann, who had recently broken up with boyfriend Damon Albarn of Blur, started to work on Brian Eno-influenced mood music with flatmate Loz Hardy of Kingmaker, resulting on tracks like "Miami Nice" and "My Sex", which ended up on the album. Frischmann reconnected with Annie Holland in early 1999 and formed a new line-up of the band, including keyboardist/vocalist Mew, formerly of Heave, guitarist Paul Jones (Lineoleum's former member) and keyboardist Dave Bush, formerly of The Fall.

The band listened to previous recordings of the material and decided to re-do it all in four weeks, in September 1999. Bush's ex-bandmate Mark E. Smith participated in the writing and recording process of two songs in the album ("How He Wrote Elastica Man" -- a pun on the Fall's "How I Wrote Elastic Man" -- and "KB"). The album also features two early sessions with Donna Matthews ("Image Change" and "How He Wrote Elastica Man") and a Trio cover, "Da Da Da", featuring the keyboards of Damon Albarn, under the name Norman Balda.

The cover photo was taken by then-visual artist and posterior singer M.I.A., who was also in charge of directing the video for "Mad Dog".

[edit] Track listing

1. "Mad Dog God Dam" (Elastica)
2. "Generator" (Elastica)
3. "How He Wrote Elastica Man" (Elastica/Mark E. Smith/Julia Nagle)
4. "Image Change" (Donna Matthews/Elastica)
5. "Your Arse My Place" (Elastica)
6. "Human" (Donna Matthews/Elastica/Gilbert/Gotobed/Lewis/Newman)
7. "Nothing Stays The Same" (Donna Matthews/Elastica)
8. "Miami Nice" (Elastica/Loz Hardy)
9. "Love Like Ours" (Donna Matthews/Elastica)
10. "KB" (Elastica/Smith/Nagle)
11. "My Sex" (Elastica/Loz Hardy)
12. "The Way I Like It" (Elastica)
13. "Da Da Da" (Krawinkel/Remmler)

[edit] Personnel

• Elastica - Performer, Arranger, Producer
  • Justine Frischmann - Vocals, Guitar, Programming, Toy Keyboard, Photography
  • Mew - Keyboards, Vocals
  • Paul Jones - Guitar
  • Annie Holland - Bass
  • Dave Bush - Keyboards, Programming
  • Justin Welch - Drums
• Donna Matthews - Vocals, Guitar (tracks 3, 4)
• Mark E. Smith - Vocals (track 3)
• Sheila Chipperfield - Bass (track 4)
• M. Box - Bass (track 11)
• Norman Balda - Keyboards (track 13)
• Marc Waterman - Producer
• Alan Moulder - Producer (track 4)
• Bruce Lampcov - Producer (track 11)
• N. Stuart - Photography
• D. Titlow - Photography
• Maya Arulpragasam - Cover Photo
• Steve Lamacq - A&R

[edit] Miscellanea

• "Mad Dog God Dam" is the result of Justine Frischmann's first stint at programming on Cubase.
• "Your Arse My Place" is a twisted 12-bar-blues which was made for the sake of a filler at a John Peel's BBC session recording.
• "The Way I Like It" was written for Damon Albarn.