Some Friendly by The Charlatans

Some Friendly is the debut album by British alternative rock band The Charlatans, released in 1990. Recorded at The Windings near Wrexham, Wales in 1990, the sessions proved somewhat fraught - the band fell out with the owners of the studio; "it was one of those studio bust-ups ... Rob and Martin were up to their old tricks, smashing stuff up and that" said singer Tim Burgess later. However, lack of songs proved to be the major problem. Having been together for less than a year, the band hadn't had the opportunity to stockpile songs. The album suffered as a result, featuring a few tracks that "had to go on there just to make up the numbers" (Burgess again). The band also felt that some songs (especially "White Shirt" and "Polar Bear") were overproduced, with the bass being lost in the mix and that the whole album sounded rather 'thin'. Both "The Only One I Know" and "Then" provided the Charlatans with hit singles, peaking at #9 and #12 respectively in the pop charts. In the UK the record went straight in at #1 in the album charts.