Releases
The Charlatans - Some Friendly 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition instores June 8th
Can it really be twenty years ago that The Charlatans furtively and then confidently appeared in the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays’ slipstream to carve their own distinctive, tough, psychedelic soundtrack for those brief, heady years when Manchester was the centre of the world?
From that auspicious start they experienced career highs and lows, broadened their musical base and endured to become one of the era’s most respected and successful bands.
Beggars Archive is marking the occasion with a gloriously re-mastered re-issue of the band’s No.1 UK debut album, Some Friendly, accompanied by a second CD of singles and sessions.
This Expanded Edition includes Some Friendly restored to it’s original vinyl sequence, plus the second disc of non-album singles and previously unreleased BBC sessions.
It includes the UK top 10 single (and perennial classic) The Only One I Know, the follow-up, Then, and the Over Rising EP.
The artwork has been put together by Kim Peters, the man responsible for all the early sleeves, and it’s as sharp as a Saville Row suit.
To celebrate the anniversary of their first record, The Charlatans will be performing Some Friendly in it’s entirety on selected dates, both in Britain and Europe.
The band are Tim Burgess (vocals), Mark Collins (guitar), Martin Blunt (bass), Tony Rogers (keyboards) and Jon Brookes (drums and percussion).
Tim, Martin and Jon have recorded an XFM special for the 20th anniversary of Some Friendly. The show broadcasts on Xfm (London & Manchester) on Sunday 16th May at 10pm GMT. Listen online xfm.co.uk.
- For more information, please visit http://archive.beggars.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Soaring Hammond organ, rubbery bass, sing-at-the-ceiling choruses — were never better than on ‘The Only One I Know.‘“ – SPIN
When The Charlatans emerged in 1991 with The Only One I Know, there were countless bands that sounded similar to them, but they immediately catapulted to the forefront of the Manchester scene, standing alongside such icons as the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. They had such success because they not only rode the groove like so many other Manchester bands, but they could also write great songs, drawing partially from the ‘60s-saturated Roses and the Rolling Stones. These were the gifts that made them among the greatest British suvivors of the time, rolling through tragedy and stylistic changes to amass a terrific body of work – one that was modern enough to play in clubs, but classic enough to stand the test of time.
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