Million Seller
Million Seller is an album by the Welsh alternative rock band the Pooh Sticks, released in 1993.[2][3] The album was a commercial disappointment, and the band was dropped by Zoo Entertainment after its release.[4][5]
Million Seller | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1993 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock, pop | |||
Label | Zoo Entertainment/BMG[1] | |||
Producer | Steve Gregory | |||
The Pooh Sticks chronology | ||||
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The album's first single was "The World Is Turning On".[6]
Production
Million Seller was produced by Steve Gregory, with some assistance from Jim Rondinelli.[7][8] The album cover depicts frontman Hue Williams floating on a 45 of Elvis Costello's "Accidents Will Happen".[9] As on previous albums, the Pooh Sticks incorporated titles, lyrics, and melodies to popular songs in to Million Seller's 13 tracks.[10][11]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [12] |
Chicago Tribune | [9] |
Robert Christgau | [13] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [4] |
The Indianapolis Star | [1] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10[8] |
The Washington Post deemed the album "hopelessly arch, impossibly infectious pop-punk."[14] Trouser Press wrote that "with [Amelia] Fletcher’s voice sweetly balancing Hue’s, 'Let the Good Times Roll' and 'The World Is Turning On' are fabulous confections, candy-pop mountains of ABBA-rock production and witty/silly lyrics."[15] Robert Christgau considered the album to be "irony-pop gone hermeneutic—with nothing to say."[13] The State likened it to "a '90s version of Sgt. Pepper or Atom Heart Mother."[16]
Spin called the album "a desperately hummable, anxiously erotic masterpiece from a band with enough heart to make your head spin."[17] Stereo Review noted that "these Brit youngsters—rigorous pop formalists with a cutesy streak more than a mile wide—apparently see themselves as the missing link between Neil Young and Edison Lighthouse ... Few less auspicious concepts have ever been digitally preserved."[18] The Village Voice labeled Million Seller "Carole King's Tapestry done by self-conscious sugarpop punks trying to rock and roll their way out of self-consciousness."[19]
AllMusic called it "truly a classic pop record," writing: "Too polished and produced to garner alternative credibility, yet not the kind of record destined to get any mainstream exposure, Million Seller slipped between the cracks."[12]
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Million Seller" | |
2. | "Let the Good Times Roll" | |
3. | "The World Is Turning On" | |
4. | "Sugar Baby" | |
5. | "I Saw the Light" | |
6. | "Susan Sleepwalking" | |
7. | "When the Girl Wants to Be Free" | |
8. | "Baby Wanna Go Round with Me" | |
9. | "Sugar Mello" | |
10. | "Rainbow Rider" | |
11. | "Goodbye Don't Mean I'm Gone" | |
12. | "Jelly on a Plate" | |
13. | "That Was the Greatest Song" |
References
- Bacon, Scott (19 February 1993). "The Pooh Sticks 'Million Seller'". The Indianapolis Star. p. B4.
- "The Pooh Sticks Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
- The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. 6 December 2003. ISBN 9781858284576 – via Google Books.
- Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 6. MUZE. p. 589.
- Jenkins, Mark (26 May 1995). "Reworking a Beautiful Thing". Washington City Paper.
- Owens, David (30 November 2011). Cerys, Catatonia And The Rise Of Welsh Pop. Random House. ISBN 9781448116362 – via Google Books.
- "Album reviews -- Million Seller by The Pooh Sticks". Billboard. Vol. 105, no. 7. 13 February 1993. p. 47.
- Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 307.
- Kot, Greg (14 January 1993). "Rave recordings". Chicago Tribune. Tempo. p. 7.
- Benarde, Scott (7 February 1993). "MILLION SELLER, by The Pooh Sticks". The Palm Beach Post. p. 3L.
- Pahnelas, Bill (14 February 1993). "THE POOH STICKS, 'MILLION SELLER'". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. J7.
- "Million Seller - The Pooh Sticks | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
- "Robert Christgau: CG: The Pooh Sticks". www.robertchristgau.com.
- Jenkins, Mark (31 December 1993). "The Year in Rewind: Top Recordings". The Washington Post. p. N9.
- "Pooh Sticks". Trouser Press. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
- Miller, Michael (5 February 1993). "New Releases". The State. p. 10D.
- Sheffield, Rob (December 1992). "Spins". Spin. 8 (9): 93–94.
- "Million Seller by The Pooh Sticks". Stereo Review. 58 (5): 90. May 1993.
- Levy, Joe (30 March 1993). "World of Pooh". The Village Voice. 38 (13): 67.