The Polyester Embassy

The Polyester Embassy
Studio album by Madison Avenue
Released	2 October 2000 (2000-10-02) (Australia)
Genre	House
Label	Vicious Grooves, C2Records
Producer	Andrew Van Dorsselaer Cheyne Coates
Alternate cover
North American edition
Singles from The Polyester Embassy
"Don't Call Me Baby" Released: 1 October 1999 "Who the Hell Are You" Released: 18 July 2000 "Everything You Need" Released: 12 October 2000 "Reminiscing" Released: 5 March 2001

The Polyester Embassy is the debut studio album by Australian band Madison Avenue, released in Australia on 2 October 2000 (see 2000 in music) by Vicious Grooves.

Background

Before joining Madison Avenue, Cheyne Coates was working as a choreographer and singer in Melbourne. Coates met producer and writer Andy Van Dorsselaer (aka Andy Van) in a dance club. Van was the founder of the Vicious Vinyl record label and had remix credits for Tina Arena and CDB. Van Dorsselaer had won an ARIA award for his production work on "Coma" by Pendulum.^[1]

The duo started working together mainly as writers and producers in 1998. Madison Avenue recorded their first song, "Fly", featuring Kellie Wolfgram as the vocalist. However, Coates sang on the group's breakthrough single "Don't Call Me Baby", as Van Dorsselaer preferred her version, even though the song was initially used as the guide track for Wolfgram.^[1]

The duo continued to work on their debut album through 2000, which was eventually released on 2 October 2000, eleven months after "Don't Call Me Baby". Coates spoke out about her time in the band and the process of making The Polyester Embassy, as well as their unreleased second album, after the band's split in 2003, saying that the duo was poorly organized and late in delivering material, blaming it on them being quickly thrust into the spotlight after the success "Don't Call Me Baby".^[2]

"I think the problem was that no one was in control, it was just a mess. We were always on the back foot, we were always late in delivering everything. When it's your first time around, you don't have a clue. But it was a good learning curve. We didn't even have a manager in the beginning so we were dealing with record companies ourselves, which is a bad idea."^[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]

Tim Sheridan from Allmusic gave the album a negative review, saying "While it offers some decent dance grooves, this slick production does little more than rehash disco clichés without the sense of fun applied by bands like Deee-lite. Perhaps if the duo of Cheyne Coates and Andy Van didn't take itself so seriously, the project might not seem quite so empty." He highlighted "Who the Hell Are You" as an album pick.^[3]

Commercial response

The Polyester Embassy was a success in the band's native Australia, peaking at #4 and was certified Platinum.^[4] However, the album failed to match its success internationally, peaking at just #74 on the UK Albums Chart, and #63 on the Japanese Albums Chart.^[5][6]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Andrew Van Dorsselaer and Cheyne Coates, except for "Reminiscing" written by Graeham Goble. 

Notes

• The North American edition of the album omits "What Can I Do" and the original mix of "Everything You Need", while the Mobin Master 12" Remix of the latter is moved up to track 6 in place of the original.

Singles

• "Don't Call Me Baby" was released in November 1999, and quickly rose to #2 in the Australian charts, where it was remained for 6 non-consecutive weeks, held off the #1 spot by "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65. It was eventually certified 3x Platinum.^[8] The song was also a success internationally, in the UK it debuted at #1 and was certified Silver, and was performed on Top of the Pops.^[9][10] In the US, the song reached #88 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs.^[11]
• "Who the Hell Are You" was released in mid-2000 as the second single, and debuted at #1 in Australia, where it stayed for 2 consecutive weeks, and was certified Platinum.^[8] Internationally, the song failed to match the success of "Don't Call Me Baby"; in the UK the song debuted and peaked at #10 in the UK and remained in the top 40 for 3 weeks,^[9] and in the US the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, but failed to appear on the Hot 100.
• "Everything You Need" was released as the third single shortly after the album's release, and peaked at #6 in Australia where it was certified Gold.^[8] In the UK, the song peaked at #33.^[9]

A fourth single was released by the band, a cover of "Reminiscing", originally by Little River Band. The song was included only on the Japanese edition of the album, therefore elsewhere it was a single-only release. In Australia, the song continued the bands top 10 streak, peaking at #9 and achieving Gold certification.^[12]

Charts

References