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PROJECTS » DISCOGRAPHY

THEAUDIENCE

» Year: 1998
» Released: 17 Aug 1998
» Label: eLLeFFe/Mercury
» Sales: 12,000

01. A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed
02. Now That You Are 18
03. Mr. Doasyouwouldbedoneby
04. I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough)
05. Keep In Touch
06. I Got The Wherewithal
07. Harry Don't Fetch The Water
08. If You Can't Do It When You're Young; When Can You Do It?
09. Running Out Of Space
10. You Get What You Deserve
11. The More There's To Do
12. Bells For David Keenan
13. Shoebox Song
14. How's That?

Limited Edition Bonus Disc:
01. Mr. Doasyouwouldbedoneby (Original version)
02. I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough) (Original version)
03. A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed (Blah St version)
04. You Get What You Deserve (Piano version)
05. Keep In Touch (Piano version)
06. I Can See Clearly

UK Albums Chart: #22

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theaudience have sure ruffled some feathers in the short time they've been around. They could have slipped under the wire unnoticed; instead, they've added an extra bulge to The Maker letter bag on a weekly basis. But more of that a bit later.

If you've got their fine singles, "theaudience" isn't going to he a huge surprise. Singles always tend to be stand-outs and there's no exception here; the spiffing "A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed" with its Orange Juice plinks and plonks romps in as the album's opener, the Hazel O'Connor-ish "I've Got The Wherewithal" and... deep breath, "If You Can't Do it When You're Young; When Can You Do It?" both thrill with their slow, lazy vocal and epic kitchen-sink approach; even be upbeat, Smiths-y jangle of "I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough)", their weakest single to date, nestles in neatly as an album track. Take them away and... you still have a glittering debut.

Of course, there's a couple of arse moments, most notably the Radio 2-style "The More There Is To Do". Whatever, there's certainly no mistaking Sophie's voice; brittle and faltering it times, it nevertheless has enough charm and character to hold its own. The songs too are rarely as simple as straight three-minute romps. When they are - like the Blondie blast of "Running Out Of Space" - they bit you square between the eyes. Best of all though, you never know what a song's going to do next. It could float, it could canter, equally, it could whisper sweet nothings before ripping your head off and shoving overdriven guitars down your neck. But despite such a fine debut people are still slagging theaudience like nobody's business. The main objections?

1) theaudience are rubbish because Sophie Ellis Bextor doesn’t write the songs.
Duh! Liam Gallagher doesn’t contribute much to Oasis' songs, but doesn't get the same flak. No. What we seem to have forgotten is that songwriting is an art, as is being a singer; they don't necessarily have to stroll hand in hand.
2) theaudience are rubbish because guitarist Billy Reeves is proving some bizarre point about a music biz insider getting famous.
He's doing a pretty good job. It's happened before, too. Look at Neil Tennant, a music journalist who hated everything he heard, so downed pen and lo, a pop star was born.
3) theaudience are rubbish because of theaudienceblokes.
And who else is going to play the songs? What do you want, Sophie as a one-man band with cymbals strapped to her knees and a bass drum on her back?

If you still think theaudience shouldn’t be allowed on the grounds that the singer has a moonface or some such nonsense, why not take them at their word? See, a pessimist is never disappointed. Hey, who knows; if you're expecting the worst you can only be surprised.

A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed Ian Grimble and Mike Hedges; written by Reeves Now That You Are 18 Billy Reeves; written by Reeves Mr Doasyouwouldbedoneby Billy Reeves; written by Reeves I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough) Peter Collins; written by Reeves and Butler Keep In Touch Billy Reeves; written by Reeves I Got The Wherewithal Billy Reeves and Sophie Ellis-Bextor; written by Reeves Harry Don't Fetch The Water Billy Reeves, Ian Grimble and Mike Hedges; written by Reeves If You Can't Do It When You're Young; When Can You Do It? Billy Reeves; written by Reeves Running Out Of Space Ian Grimble and Mike Hedges; written by Reeves You Get What You Deserve Ian Grimble and Mike Hedges; written by Reeves, Sweeny, Alexander and Jones The More There Is To Do Billy Reeves and Patch Hannan; written by Reeves Bells For David Keenan Angie Dial and Nigel Butler; written by Reeves and Butler Shoebox's Song Dean Mollett and Patch Hannan; written by Mollett How's That? Billy Reeves; written by Reeves Mr Doasyouwouldbedoneby (original version) Billy Reeves and Nick Hannan; written by Reeves I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough) (original version) Ian Grimble and Mike Hedges; written by Reeves A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed (Blah St session) Billy Reeves and Nick Hannan written by Reeves You Get What You Deserve (piano version) Nigel Butler and Billy Reeves; written by Reeves Keep In Touch (piano version) Nigel Butler and Billy Reeves; written by Reeves I Can See Clearly (piano version) Nigel Butler and Billy Reeves; written by Grooveyard.

I GOT THE WHEREWITHAL

Released: 27 Oct 1997
Label: Mercury Records
HCP: #170

TRACKS:
01. I Got The Wherewithal
02. Je Suis Content
03. Outside; Out Of Space
04. Hellen and Polly

TRACKS (Limited Edition Vinyl):
[Side A]
01. I Got The Wherewithal
[Side B]
01. Je Suis Content

IF YOU CAN'T DO IT WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG; WHEN CAN YOU DO IT?

Released: 23 Feb 1998
Label: Mercury Records
HCP: #48

TRACKS:
01. If You Can't Do It When You're Young; When Can You Do It?
02. There Are Worse Things I Could Do
03. You And Me On The Run
04. The Beginning, The Middle and The End

TRACKS (Limited Edition Vinyl):
[Side A]
01. If You Can't Do It When You're Young; When Can You Do It?
[Side B]
01. There Are Worse Things I Could Do

A PESSIMIST IS NEVER DISAPPOINTED

Released: 20 Apr 1998
Label: Mercury Records
HCP: #27

TRACKS (CD1):
01. A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed
02. Penis Size and Cars
03. Ne Jamais Deçu
04. I Miss Leo

TRACKS (CD2):
01. A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed
02. Ten Minutes Which Improved My Life (Blah St. session)
03. Never Gonna Give It To You (Blah St. session)
04. I'm Always Ready (Blah St. session)

TRACKS (Limited Edition Vinyl):
[Side A]
01. A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed
02. Penis Size and Cars
03. Bells For David Keenan

I KNOW ENOUGH (I DON'T GET ENOUGH)

Released: 27 Jul 1998
Label: Mercury Records
HCP: #25

TRACKS (CD1):
01. I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough)
02. Harry Don't Fetch The Water
03. I Don't Get Enough (PMFF lite)(Went Down to 'Frisco Just for the Disco Mix)

TRACKS (CD2):
01. I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough)
02. Boutique In My Backyard
03. The Last Seven Minutes With You

TRACKS (Limited Edition Vinyl):
[Side A]
01. I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough)
02. Harry Don't Fetch The Water
03. Magna Carta vs Matthew Arnold

The promotion of theaudience was based on performances. Lots of performances! They did lots of gigs (about 30!) around the UK and took part in many festivals, which include the Bath Festivals and the T In The Park and V Festival.

This Morning

T In The Park

TV appearance

Public appearance

They appeared just few times on TV, most of times, Sophie was interviewed. However, they did performed in some of them, including This Morning.

» Some tracks of the album were recorded at Blah St, which is run by Patch's brother, Nick Hannan, who also produced an album track.

» Ne Jamais Deçú, the French version of A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed was translated by Lindsay from Supermodel, whose track theaudience covered - Penis Size and Cars.

» Harry Don't Fetch The Water is about Billy's grandfather. Billy once said: "Politics has improved and destroyed our lives. My grandfather was a working class Tory and that fascinated me, but at least during his lifetime he went from fetching water from a well to using an inside bog. Times have changed."

» You may wonder, who is Leo of I Miss Leo. He wrote the first review about theaudience, so Billy decided to homenage him. Their label eLLeFFe is also a play with his initial letter Leo Finlay.

» What about Hellen and Polly? Hellen was Billy's wife and Polly, his cat!

» There's an interesting trivia about Magna Carta vs Matthew Arnold - these are two rival schools from Egham. The Magna Carta orchestra who play in the song are Billy's mates, and had already worked with him on the Congregation album, Billy's previous band.

» I Never Have Been Done and You Get What You Deserve are the same songs, but why do they have different titles?!? Well, originally, I Never Have Been Done was a song by Congregation, but when Billy played it for Sophie, she liked it so much that she wanted to record it, then You Get What You Deserve was born. They changed the title, so Fire Records would not realised and not ask for publishing royalties.

» The lyrics for Keep In Touch "...now it's the cab fare and nowhere to take the aurprayer" is a typo - it's actually Ayr prayer as the city in Scotland. The girl's family in the song is from Ayr, she was the vicar daughter and Billy's first girlfriend.

» One of Billy's trademarks was to insert staccato breaks into the songs, such as Harry Don't Fetch The Water and Mr Doasyouwouldbedoneby - that was his attempt at squeezing post-rock elements into pop songs.

» The cover picture was taken from I Got The Wherewithal video.