The Charlatans (English band)

The Charlatans
The Charlatans, in the early 1990s
General information
origin	England
Genre (s)	Alternative rock , Madchester , Britpop
founding	1988
Website	www.thecharlatans.net
Current occupation
bass	Martin Blunt
singing	Tim Burgess (from 1989)
guitar	Mark Collins (from 1991)
Keyboard	Tony Rogers (from 1997)
former members
Drums	Jon Brookes (until 2013, †)
Vocals, guitar	Baz Ketley (until 1989)
Keyboard	Rob Collins (until 1996, †)
guitar	Jon Baker (1989-1991)

The Charlatans ( also The Charlatans UK in the USA ) is an English music group . Three of their albums have reached number one on the UK album charts . Her best-known songs include The Only One I Know , Just When You're Thinkin 'Things Over , One to Another and North Country Boy .

history

The Charlatans were founded in 1988 by Martin Blunt, former member of the mod band Makin 'Time , together with Baz Ketley and Jon Brookes in the greater Birmingham area . Blunt suggested Law Lords as the name , Ketley preferred the name The Charlatans . The decision was made by tossing a coin . Shortly thereafter, keyboardist Rob Collins joined the band, an element that had a major impact on the sound of the Charlatans. In this formation two demos were released.

Ketley left the band in 1989, the Mancunian Tim Burgess became the new singer and Jon Baker took over the guitar. The first single Indian Rope was released in January 1990. After that, the band profited from the Madchester boom: The second single The Only One I Know made it into the top ten , and their debut album Some Friendly , released in the same year , even reached the top of the album charts.

In 1991 the Charlatans gave concerts in the USA and Japan for the first time . In the same year Baker left the band and was replaced by Mark Collins, his debut was the new guitarist on the single Me in Time . As the Madchester boom flattened, so did the Charlatans' success; the second, produced by Flood album Between 10th and 11th (1992) was significantly less successful than the debut album .

Rob Collins served a four-month prison sentence in 1993/1994 for driving a getaway car, shortly after his release the single Can't Get Out of Bed was released, the accompanying album Up to Our Hips was again a little more successful than its predecessor.

The Charlatans made a kind of comeback with the hit Just When You're Thinkin 'Things Over and the accompanying album The Charlatans in 1995, their second number one album. They benefited from the mid-1990s Britpop movement spearheaded by Oasis and Blur . In June the Charlatans played at the Glastonbury Festival .

On July 22, 1996, keyboardist Rob Collins died in a car accident in Wales . An investigation found that he was drunk and not wearing seat belts. Collins left a wife and young daughter. Despite the shock, the group decided to keep going. On August 11th they appeared as support for Oasis in Knebworth , while Martin Duffy from Primal Scream helped out on keyboard . The single One to Another , which was released shortly afterwards, reached number three on the UK singles chart, the highest ranking for the Charlatans to date. It was followed in 1997 by two more top ten singles, North Country Boy and How High, and the number one album Tellin 'Stories .

This was followed by a change of the record company from Beggars Banquet Records to Universal . Keyboardist Tony Rogers, who had already accompanied the Charlatans on the 1997 tour, was an official member of the group on their next album, Us and Us Only (1999). Next followed the albums Wonderland (2001) and Up at the Lake (2004), whereupon the contract with Universal expired.

In 2006 the Charlatans returned to an indie label with the album Simpatico , this time to Sanctuary Records . In terms of record sales, they weren't as successful as they were in the 1990s, but they were still in the limelight as the opening act for well-known bands such as the Rolling Stones , The Police , Oasis and The Who . The single You Cross My Path (2007) was only released as a download , the album of the same name was initially only available as a free download, in May 2008 it was also released on CD and LP.

For the 20th anniversary of Some Friendly in 2010, this album was re-released as a 2CD Expanded Edition. The anniversary was accompanied by a small series of concerts in which the Charlatans played all the songs on the album and a few more from that time. A new studio album Who We Touch was released in September 2010.

Founding member and drummer Jon Brookes (born September 21, 1968) died on August 13, 2013 of complications from a brain tumor.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1990	Some friendly	UK1 gold (17 weeks)UK	US73 (27 weeks) US
1992	Between 10th and 11th	UK21 (4 weeks) UK	-
1994	Up to Our Hips	UK8th silver (4 weeks)UK	-
1995	The Charlatans	UK1 gold (18 weeks)UK	-
1997	Tellin 'stories	UK1 platinum (40 weeks)UK	-
1998	Melting pot	UK4th platinum (37 weeks)UK	-	Best of album
1999	Us and Us Only	UK2 gold (17 weeks)UK	-
2001	Wonderland	UK2 gold (9 weeks)UK	-
2002	Songs from the Other Side	UK55 (1 week) UK	-
	Live It Like You Love It	UK40 (2 weeks) UK	-	Live album
2004	Up at the lake	UK13 silver (8 weeks)UK	-
2006	Simpatico	UK10 (3 weeks) UK	-
	Forever - The Singles	UK38 silver (3 weeks)UK	-	compilation
2008	You Cross My Path	UK39 (2 weeks) UK	-
2010	Who We Touch	UK21 (2 weeks) UK	-
2015	Modern Nature	UK7 (5 weeks) UK	-
2017	Different days	UK4 (2 weeks) UK	-

More albums

• The Best of the BBC Sessions (July 14, 2008)
• Some Friendly Expanded Edition (May 17, 2010)
• Some Friendly - 20th Anniversary Concerts (Live album, May 31, 2010)

Singles

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1990	The Only One I Know Some Friendly	UK9 silver (11 weeks)UK
	Then some friendly	UK12 (5 weeks) UK
1991	Over rising	UK15 (5 weeks) UK
	Indian rope	UK57 (4 weeks) UK
	Me. In Time	UK28 (3 weeks) UK
1992	Weirdo Between 10th and 11th	UK19 (4 weeks) UK
	Tremelo Song Between 10th and 11th	UK44 (2 weeks) UK
1994	Can't Get out of Bed Up to Our Hips	UK24 (3 weeks) UK
	I Never Want an Easy Life If Me and He Were Ever to Get There Up to Our Hips	UK38 (2 weeks) UK
	Jesus Hairdo Up to Our Hips	UK48 (4 weeks) UK
1995	Crashin 'In The Charlatans	UK31 (2 weeks) UK
	Just Lookin '/ Bullet Comes The Charlatans	UK32 (3 weeks) UK
	Just When You're Thinking Things Over The Charlatans	UK12 (3 weeks) UK
1996	One to Another Tellin 'Stories	UK3 silver (6 weeks)UK
1997	North Country Boy Tellin 'Stories	UK4 (9 weeks) UK
	How high tellin 'stories	UK6 (5 weeks) UK
	Tellin 'Stories Tellin' Stories	UK16 (3 weeks) UK
1999	Forever Us and Us Only	UK12 (4 weeks) UK
	My Beautiful Friend Us and Us Only	UK31 (3 weeks) UK
2000	Impossible Us and Us Only	UK15 (4 weeks) UK
2001	Love Is the Key Wonderland	UK16 (5 weeks) UK
	A Man Needs to Be Told Wonderland	UK31 (2 weeks) UK
2004	Up at the Lake Up at the Lake	UK23 (3 weeks) UK
	Try Again Today Up at the Lake	UK24 (3 weeks) UK
2006	Blackened Blue Eyes Simpatico	UK28 (2 weeks) UK
	NYC (There's No Need to Stop) Simpatico	UK53 (1 week) UK
	You're so Pretty, We're so Pretty Forever: The Singles	UK56 (1 week) UK

More singles

• Loving You Is Easy (December 20, 2004) - radio single only
• You Cross My Path (October 29, 2007) - Free Download
• Oh Vanity (February 23, 2008, re-released November 3, 2008)
• The Misbegotten (May 5, 2008)
• Mis-takes (July 14, 2008)
• Love Is Ending (August 2, 2010)
• My Foolish Pride (September 20, 2010)

Video albums

• Just Lookin '1990-1997 (May 20, 2002)
• Live at Last (April 11, 2005)
• Forever. The Singles (November 13, 2006)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: UK US
2. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

• Official website
• The Charlatans at Allmusic (English)
• The Charlatans at Discogs (English)