Reason Why?

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reason Why?
Angelic Upstarts studio album

Publication
(s)

1983

Label (s) Anagram Records

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

punk

Title (number)

13

running time

39:52

occupation
  • Singing: Thomas "Mensi" Mensforth
  • Vocals / guitar: Raymon "Mond" Cowie
  • Guitar: Brian Hayes
  • Bass: Tony feedback
  • Drums: Peter Lambert, Paul Thompson

production

Raymond Cowie

chronology
Still from the Heart
(1982)
Reason Why? Last Tango In Moscow
(1984)
Single releases
1982 Woman in disguise
May 1983 Solidarity

Reason Why? is the fifth studio album by the British punk band Angelic Upstarts and was released in 1983 on the independent label Anagram Records . With the single Solidarity it contains one of the most famous songs of the band.

History of origin

Reason Why marks the return to an independent label after four years on the major labels Warner Bros. Records and EMI . For the band this was initially a step backwards, as they were featured in the UK UK Top 40 and the album charts several times between 1979 and 1982 . With the album Still from the Heart , however, the band landed a financial and artistic mistake. Not only the critics spurned the album, but also the fans. The album was too poppy for both parties and so EMI was forced to release the band from the contract. There were also line-up problems. Mensforth and Cowie eventually hired bassist Tony Feedback and Irish Brian Hayes on guitar. They found a new deal with Anagram Records. Only the band did not have a permanent drummer, so they resorted to the services of the former Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson for the album . The recordings took place after a successful tour of the United States.

The Canadian drummer Peter Lambert, who recorded the songs The Burglar and Where We Started , is represented on the album . The album itself was produced by Raymond Cowie, who also produced New Model Armys Vengeance that same year .

Track list

A side

  1. Woman in Disguise - 3:09 (Mensforth / Cowie)
  2. Never Give Up - 2:54 (Mensforth / Cowie / Thompon)
  3. Waiting Hating - 3:07 (Mensforth / Cowie)
  4. Reason Why - 3:21 (Mensforth / Cowie / Thompson)
  5. Nobody Was Saved - 2:23 (Mensforth / Cowie)
  6. Geordie's Wife - 2:47 (Mensforth)
  7. Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - 3:36 (Mensforth / Cowie)

B side

  1. 42nd Street - 3:25 (Mensforth / Morrison)
  2. The Burglar - 1:58 (Mensforth / Hayes)
  3. Solidarity - 5:06 (Mensforth / Cowie)
  4. As the Passion - 2:25 (Mensforth / Hayes)
  5. A Young Punk - 2:52 (Mensforth / Hayes)
  6. Where We Started - 2:48 (Mensforth / Cowie)

Bonus tracks

Anagram-CD UK 1992 :

  1. Lust For Glory - 2:44
  2. Five Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest - 2:52
  3. Dollars and Pounds - 1:12
  4. Don't Stop - 3:07
  5. Not just a name - 2:51
  6. The Leech - 2:59
  7. Leave Me Alone (Live) - 2:40
  8. Liddle Towers (Live) - 1:51
  9. White Riot (Live) - 2:11

Single releases

Before the album, they released the single Woman in Disguise in 1982 , which was directed against Margaret Thatcher , combined with the B-side Lust for Glory . The second single was Solidarity in May 1983 . The song was sung by Terry Sharpe (ex- The Starjets , later The Adventures ). The Burglar was planned as the third single, but this consideration was later dropped.

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Mark Brennan: Liner Notes . In: Reason Why? (CD version) . Summit Records, 1997.