Baby's Got a Gun

Baby's Got a Gun
Studio album by The Only Ones
Released 1980
Genre
Length 39:02
Label Epic
Producer
The Only Ones chronology
Special View
(1979)Special View1979		 Baby's Got a Gun
(1980)		 Remains
(1984)Remains1984

Baby's Got a Gun is the third and final studio album by the English rock band the Only Ones. It was originally released in 1980, on the label Epic.

After the lack of commercial success with their previous album Even Serpents Shine, the Only Ones decided that it was time for a slight change of pace in their career. In an attempt to give their music a more contemporary sound, they joined forces with Colin Thurston, an in-demand producer famed for having co-engineered David Bowie's "Heroes" and Iggy Pop's Lust For Life (both 1977).[1] Guesting on the album would be Penetration's lead singer, Pauline Murray, who provided co-lead vocals for "Fools" and backing vocals for "Me and My Shadow".

The album was re-released in Europe in 2009 on Sony Music Entertainment, featuring rare bonus content. The reissue was a CD which comprises 15 tracks. It includes the original album digitally remastered from the original half-inch mix tapes alongside three bonus tracks.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [2]
Smash Hits5/10[3]
Robert ChristgauB+[4]

In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ and commented that "Prepunk and for that matter prepub, Peter Perrett may well have been an only one and he fits in now only because this is such a tolerant and/or commercially desperate time. He's not 'power pop', of course – on record, at least, power's got nothing to do with it."

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, critic Mark Deming gave the album three out of five stars and wrote that "Baby's Got a Gun is clearly the weakest of the Only Ones' three original albums, but for all its faults there's plenty here that testifies to the band's strengths; "Why Don't You Kill Yourself", "Strange Mouth", and "The Big Sleep" are splendid songs that show the band still had the goods and "Trouble in the World" and "The Happy Pilgrim" confirm they could reach for a poppier sound without losing their personality in the process."

Track listing

All tracks written by Peter Perrett, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The Happy Pilgrim"2:34
2."Why Don't You Kill Yourself"2:44
3."Me and My Shadow"5:42
4."Deadly Nightshade"3:10
5."Strange Mouth"2:32
6."The Big Sleep"4:58
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Oh Lucinda (Love Becomes a Habit)" 3:10
8."Re-union" 2:59
9."Trouble in the World" 3:05
10."Castle Built on Sand" 1:50
11."Fools"Johnny Duncan2:25
12."My Way Out of Here"Alan Mair3:53
Total length:39:02

Personnel

The Only Ones
Session musicians
Production team

References

  1. ↑ Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: pp.383-384
  2. ↑ Deming, Mark. "The Only Ones: Baby's Got a Gun > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  3. ↑ Hepworth, David. "Albums". Smash Hits (May 15–28, 1980): 31.
  4. ↑ "Robert Christgau: CG: The Only Ones". www.robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
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