The Menace (album)

Untitled

The Menace, released in 2000, is the long-awaited Elastica's second album.

After the release of their eponymous debut record in 1995, the band started touring and in the process started partying ferociously and dabbling on drugs. The first attempt to record their second work was in France and Ireland, by 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 recently had broke up with boyfriend Damon Albarn of Blur, then started to work on Brian Eno-influenced mood music with flatmate Loz Hardy of Kingmaker, resulting on tracks like "Miami Nice" and "My Sex", who ended up in the album. Frischmann reconnected with Annie Holland in early 1999 and formed a new line-up of the band, including keyboardist/vocalist Mew, guitarist Paul Jones (Lineoleum's former member) and keyboardist Dave Bush, formerly from The Fall.

The band listened to previous recordings of the material and decided to re-do it all in four weeks, in September 2000. Bush's ex-bandmate Mark E. Smith participated from the writing and recording process of two songs in the album ("How He Wrote Elastica Man" -- a pun with 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's cover, "Da Da Da", featuring the keyboards of Damon Albarn, under the name Norman Balda.

Track listing

1. "Mad Dog" (Elastica)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Phil Vinall

1. "Generator" (Elastica)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Marc Waterman

1. "How He Wrote Elastica Man" (Elastica/Mark E. Smith/Julia Nagle)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Phil Vinall
• Vocals and Guitar: Donna Matthews
• Guest Vocals: Mark E. Smith

1. "Image Change" (Donna Matthews/Elastica)

• Produced by Alan Moulder/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Alan Moulder
• Vocals and Guitar: Donna Matthews
• Bass: Sheila Chipperfield

1. "Your Arse My Place" (Elastica)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Phil Vinall

1. "Human" (Donna Matthews/Elastica/Gilbert/Gotobed/Lewis/Newman)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Phil Vinall

1. "Nothing Stays The Same" (Donna Matthews/Elastica)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Phil Vinall

1. "Miami Nice" (Elastica/Loz Hardy)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Miti Adhikari

1. "Love Like Ours" (Donna Matthews/Elastica)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Phil Vinall

1. "KB" (Elastica/Smith/Nagle)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Marc Waterman

1. "My Sex" (Elastica/Loz Hardy)

• Produced by Bruce Lampcov/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Miti Adhikari
• Bass: M. Box

1. "The Way I Like It" (Elastica)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Miti Adhikari

1. "Da Da Da" (Krawinkel/Remmler)

• Produced by Marc Waterman/Elastica
• Engineered by Tom Rixton/Phillip Bagnall
• Mixed by Phil Vinall
• Extra Keys: Norman Balda (a.k.a. Damon Albarn)

Singles

• Mad Dog - 2000
• How He Wrote Elastica Man - 2000

Personnel

• Elastica - Performer, Arranger
  • Justine Frischmann - Vocals, Guitar, Programming, Toy Keyboard, Photography
  • Mew - Keyboards, Vocals
  • Paul Jones - Guitar
  • Annie Holland - Bass
  • Dave Bush - Keyboards, Programming
  • Justin Welch - Drums
• N. Stuart - Photography
• D. Titlow - Photographyo
• Maya Arulpragasam - Cover Photo
• Steve Lamacq - A&R

Miscellanea

• "Mad Dog" 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.