The Good Will Out

In 1993, vocalist Danny McNamara and his brother, guitarist Richard McNamara, formed Embrace in the English town of Huddersfield, initially under the name Christiania F and later the Bus Conductors.[1][2] At the time, Richard was playing drums for the thrash metal band Gross Misconduct.[1][3] After placing an ad in a local publication, the pair drafted Mike Heaton to play drums.[4][5] Following a handful of live shows, one of which earned an unfavourable piece in Melody Maker, the band took a break from performing to focus on writing material.[4] Their sound during this time was a mix of Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division and the early work of U2.[6] During a performance at the Heineken Festival in Leeds, McNamara had an epiphany where he saw himself as "Ian McCullough or Bono or someone", and decided to perform as himself going forward. The day after, they scrapped all of the material that they had gathered up to that point and started again.[7] Over the next two years, they stayed in a rehearsal room, prior to Richard McNamara finding a recording of "Retread" in Danny's set of demos.[5][7] Richard McNamara felt this song was a turning point for their musical direction as he thought it sounded like no other act.[6]

Their bassist found religion, prompting him to be replaced by Steve Firth in 1996.[4][7] Around this time, the band sent demos to potential managers and eventually settled with Tony Perrin.[4] Leading up to an appearance at the 1996 Sound City festival in Leeds, they compiled 30 copies of a demo tape that was sent out to potential labels, receiving replies from 18 of them. Three showcases were held at the Duchess of York in Leeds; the band eventually signed to major label Virgin imprint Hut Records in September 1996.[7] They also signed with DGC Records in the United States.[5] Embrace were already friends with the head of Hut, who was promoted to the president of Virgin around the same time.[8] Perrin said he knew people at Geffen Records, who owned DGC; A&R staff member Tony Berg signed the band to the label.[4] Independent label Fierce Panda Records released "All You Good Good People", with "My Weakness Is None of Your Business" as its B-side, in February 1997.[5][9] It was promoted with a tour alongside the Longpigs, and caught the attention of music publications.[1][4]

Embrace, with Dave Creffield and Martin "Youth" Glover, produced The Good Will Out, which was recorded in early 1997.[7][10] Jonny Dollar, who mixed "Now You're Nobody", was asked to produce the album, but declined for personal reasons. Steve Osborne did additional production on "One Big Family"; Dollar's lack of involvement allowed Osborne to work with Embrace; he had wanted to work again with a rock-centric band.[4][10] The band attempted unsuccessfully to draft Steve Albini as producer, and had turned down Butch Vig previously.[8][11] All the previously released tracks on the final version of the album were re-recorded during the sessions.[12] Danny McNamara explained: "Everyone says we write songs like we're on our third or fourth album, but the early tracks still had the sound of a fledgling band so I wanted more definitive versions."[13]

Dave Creffield and the band produced nearly all the final recordings except for "All You Good Good People" and "Come Back to What You Know" produced by Youth at Hook End Studios, near Checkendon, Oxfordshire.[10][14] While Creffield handled most of the recording, Hugo Nicolson recorded "All You Good Good People" and "Come Back to What You Know"; both tracks had additional recording by Creffield.[10] Guitars on "The Last Gas" were recorded at an unnamed studio in Nottingham.[15] The piano on "That's All Changed Forever" was recorded at Whitfield Street Studios in London.[16] A 24-piece orchestra at Metropolis Studios in London was recorded playing the string arrangements.[17] McNamara thought the orchestra warming up "sound[ed] incredible", and ran into the studio's control room to have it recorded as the intro piece.[18] He asked the orchestra to repeat what they had been doing; they could not remember and just improvised.[19] On the second occasion the band worked with an orchestra, they had the tape rolling; the conductor can be heard filling out Musicians' Union forms.[20] Dale described the piece as capturing the "feel" and "all the excitement and ALL the nerves in the room".[21] "Fireworks"' piano was recorded at Metropolis as Dollar wanted the band to use the studio's Fazioli piano.[22] Youth and Nicolson mixed the recordings except "Now You're Nobody". Bunt Stafford-Clark mastered the album at Townhouse Studios in London.[10]

Musically, the sound of The Good Will Out has been described as Britpop and post-Britpop.[23][24] It was compared to the works of Oasis and the Verve, which McNamara felt worked as "good promotion" for the release, but clarified that "90% of 'The Good Will Out' was already written when these bands weren't even successful".[25] Consumable Online writer Sean Eric McGill avoided making analogies to either act, instead connecting to Embrace's sound to that of Queen, as he explained: "like Queen, Embrace writes finely crafted rock/pop songs that can only be described as 'huge'".[26] Wil Malone served as the conductor for a string section of the album, and Mickey Dale added keyboards to the recordings.[10] While the album's booklet credits Dale with helping to arrange the strings, Richard McNamara said Craig Armstrong (who worked with Massive Attack at the time) had helped in that regard.[8] The album's title is based on the proverb the truth will out, referring to being positive.[8] It opens with the 40-second "Intro", which consists of an orchestra setting up their instruments, ending with drum hits that segue into "All You Good Good People", which also features said orchestra.[27][28] Dale said "All You Good Good People" was the first time he had worked with the band; they required a string arrangement and had asked him for one.[29] The track began originally as "Mikes Fast", and went through multiple versions before ending up in its final form.[30] Varying tape noises can be heard, the result of the tape with Danny McNamara's vocals being fast-forwarded and rewound.[31]

"Sweetness" (1994) by Michelle Gayle influenced "My Weakness Is None of Your Business".[32] McNamara had Leonard Cohen-esque verses for the song for sometime and a call-and-response chorus, before writing the hook after hearing "Sweetness".[33] The band intended holding back "Come Back to What You Know" for their second album until publicist Scott Piering heard the song and pushed for its release.[34] McNamara said an earlier version of "One Big Family" was "a lot more chaotic", influenced by "Naked Cousin (1996) by PJ Harvey.[35] It features Richard McNamara on lead vocals and tambourine; the group vocals consist of friends, partners, and people from the street, under the name the Bricklayers.[36] "Higher Sights" is a power ballad in the vein of INXS, and was inspired by "You Do" (1995) by McAlmont & Butler.[37][38] Danny McNamara said he wrote the song after someone told the band they "weren't [B]ritpop enough".[39] Dale said the string players had struggled with the song as the scores were written in the wrong key; the players had to transpose the score while recording it.[40] "Retread", a ballad, details the end of a relationship.[27][41] The guitar riff was played on every guitar the band had before they settled on the final tone.[42] "I Want the World" features the use of wah-wah pedals and feedback, and was compared to the work of Oasis.[27][12] In its original form, the song sounded closer to the Jesus and Mary Chain; Richard McNamara attempted emulating Tim Burgess of the Charlatans.[43][44]

"You've Got to Say Yes" was about Heaton's best friend Dean who had an "incredibly tough life", and was influenced by the work of Curtis Mayfield.[45][46] Initially, the song was called "Shallow Time", had a saxophone, and a section in 6/8 time.[47][48] For "Fireworks", Danny McNamara sang a soul-esque rendition, before they added their instruments.[49] He wrote the lyrics to it while sat under a mixing desk.[50] The intro to "The Last Gas" is a snippet from a radio show about orangutans; it includes shouting by the Bricklayers.[51][52] The album's final three tracks are piano-led pieces: "That's All Changed Forever", "Now You're Nobody" and "The Good Will Out".[27] "That's All Changed Forever" was influenced by McNamara falling in love, and the affects love has on a person's life.[53] The chorus was inspired after the band saw Superstar, who had a song with a similar sound.[54] The lyrics include a reference to a conversation McNamara and Dale had at Heaton's house in 1995.[55][56][57] With "Now You're Nobody", Dale said the band took a "very Pet Sounds approach", like quieting the drum and bass parts, and adding a lot of reverb.[58] Richard McNamara said they dismantled a music box to sample its notes for the song.[59] "The Good Will Out" was the result of combining two separate songs, and is reminiscent of "Hey Jude" (1968) by the Beatles.[60][61] It had a different verse from what ended up on the album, which Jazz Summers said was acceptable, though McNamara thought he could do better, and subsequently re-wrote it.[50] Discussing the closing "la-la-la" section, McNamara said it was the "most emotional moment during the recording [...] Think about it, everyone understands La-la-la".[8]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[92]
Dotmusic	8/10[93]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[62]
NME	9/10[27]
Melody Maker	9/10[41]
PopMatters	5.7/10[23]
Q	[94]
Rolling Stone	[37]
The Times	[12]

The Good Will Out was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. James Oldham of NME saw the album as a collection of "uplifting optimism that substitutes vulnerability for bravado, and heartfelt sentiment for boisterous thrills". His only complaint was the band's "not so confident [...] crazed hedonism", concluding the release was "one of the great debut albums of the past decade".[27] Melody Maker's Mark Sutherland said after his first listen to the album, he was immediately struck "not its arrogance, but it's humility". He expanded on this by saying the band were "at their least engaging when they resemble their caricature [...] and merely endearing when pulling self-consciously 'classic' tricks".[41] AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the album had a lot of expectation on release; it was viewed as the "heir apparent to the lad-rock throne", and one listen of the album "illustrates why -- the group ingeniously combines the anthemic hooks and monolithic roar of Oasis with the sweeping aural majesty of the Verve". He said the songs were "quite good, and they're performed passionately".[92]

The staff at Dotmusic said the album "challenges The Verve and Oasis out to compare the size of their anthems and the sweetness of their ballads". They added that while the album, "sounds massively important, it lacks the soul of [frontman Richard] Ashcroft & co".[93] Rolling Stone reviewer Matt Diehel said the band "drag out all the Brit-pop devices" on the album from the "obvious Beatles references [...] to Stone Roses-ish hubris". He added the band's "main problem is lack of personality".[37] In a review for The Times, Mike Pattenden wrote that when the band "put the bluster to one side they hit a genuinely soulful note", but "when they try and rock their impact is diminished".[12] PopMatters editor Sarah Zupko said the tracks "don't quite possess the instant hooks" that Oasis member Noel Gallagher "is a master" of. Despite this, she called it "a pretty good album of middle-of-the-road Britpop".[23] Q writer Andrew Collins said tracks like "The Last Gas" and "All You Good Good People" were the band's "stock-in-trade" which was "rousing in short doses but punishing over an hour, chiefly due to Danny McNamara's limited voice". He noted strings were "employed relentlessly but the result is like underlining a shopping list for effect".[94]

The Good Will Out peaked at number one in the UK and number two in Scotland.[95][96] It ranked at number 52 on the UK's year-end chart for 1998.[97] The Fireworks EP charted at number 34 in Scotland and the UK.[98][99] The One Big Family EP charted at number 21 in the UK and number 22 in Scotland.[98][100] "All You Good Good People" charted at number seven in Scotland and number eight in the UK.[98][101] "Come Back to What You Know" charted at number four in Scotland and number six in the UK.[98][102] "My Weakness Is None of Your Business" charted at number seven in Scotland and number nine in the UK.[98][103]

The Good Will Out went gold on its first day of release, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) by the end of the year.[104][105] The album is ranked number 993 in All-Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd. edition, 2000).[106] NME ranked the album at number 12 on their list of the best albums of the year.[107]

All songs written by Danny McNamara and Richard McNamara.[10]

Personnel per booklet, except where noted.[10]

Citations

Sources

• The Good Will Out at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)