ELASTICA - S/T Debut LP w/ Free Elasticatalogue & Flexi (Limited Edition, Vinyl)

	£		26
	$		34

IMMACULATE condition, eminently collectable, now very scarce Limited Edition version of Elastica's debut LP on Deceptive Records. Comes with 7" Flexi Disc ( a cover of Adam & The Ant's 'Cleopatra') and 12 page booklet.

FORMAT: Vinyl LP, 33rpm & 7" Flexidisc, 45 rpm
RECORD LABEL: Deceptive
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK
RELEASE DATE: 1995
CATALOGUE NO: BLUFF 014LP

(NOTE: I am now play-grading all my vinyl. I can't promise to play everything all the way through, but will be checking for any curving or warping and/or excessive surface noise - hiss, snap, crackles & pops. And if there are any dodgy looking areas with gouges, scratches, pit marks etc. I will double check that there is no skipping or sticking, and that playback is not adversely affected)

LP: Excellent
FLEXIDISC: Mint
OUTER SLEEVE: Excellent
INNER SLEEVE: Excellent
BOOKLET: Mint    

POSTAGE: £3.00 UK. £4.00 EUROPE. £7.00 THE REST OF THE WORLD.

STORED OUT OF SUNLIGHT IN VERTICAL POSITION. FROM A PET, DAMP AND SMOKE FREE HOME.

ALL VINYL CAREFULLY CLEANED WITH ACC-SEES PRO VINYL LINT-FREE, ANTI-STATIC RECORD CLEANING CLOTH & GROOVESHINE RECORD CLEANING FLUID.

ANY QUESTIONS OR REQUESTS FOR MORE DETAILED PHOTOS ETC, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME.

I TRY & GRADE ALL SLEEVES AND VINYL AS FAIRLY & ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE, BUT IF YOU FEEL I HAVE GRADED THIS RECORD INCORRECTLY, OR IF ANY OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS INCORRECT PLEASE TELL ME.

ALL VINYL WILL BE POSTED IN A GLASS CLEAR, VERY BEST QUALITY 450G PVC SLEEVE, IN A CARDBOARD RECORD MAILER, WITH CARDBOARD STIFFENERS, REMOVING ALL INNERS TO PREVENT SPLITTING TO THE SEAMS IN TRANSIT.  

RECORD WILL BE REMOVED FROM ORIGINAL INNER & PLACED IN GENERIC PAPER SLEEVE FOR SHIPMENT.

        Tracklisting
A1         Line Up        
A2         Annie        
A3         Connection        
A4         Car Song        
A5         Smile        
A6         Hold Me Now        
A7         S.O.F.T.        
A8         Indian Song
       
B1         Blue        
B2         All-Nighter        
B3         Waking Up        
B4         2:1        
B5         Vaseline        
B6         Never Here        
B7         Stutter        

Flexi     Cleopatra

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Elastica's debut album may cop a riff here and there from Wire or the Stranglers, yet no more than Led Zeppelin did with Willie Dixon or the Beach Boys with Chuck Berry. The key is context. Elastica can make the rigid artiness of Wire into a rocking, sexy single with more hooks than anything on Pink Flag ("Connection") or rework the Stranglers' "No More Heroes" into a more universal anthem that loses none of its punkiness ("Waking Up"). But what makes Elastica such an intoxicating record is not only the way the 16 songs speed by in 40 minutes, but that they're nearly all classics. The riffs are angular like early Adam & the Ants, the melodies tease like Blondie, and the entire band is as tough as the Clash, yet they never seem anything less than contemporary. Justine Frischmann's detached sexuality adds an extra edge to her brief, spiky songs -- "Stutter" roars about a boyfriend's impotence, "Car Song" makes sex in a car actually sound sexy, "Line Up" slags off groupies, and "Vaseline" speaks for itself. Even if the occasional riff sounds like an old wave group, the simple fact is that hardly any new wave band made records this consistently rocking and melodic.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Elastica's brief, angular, and catchy punk rock became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1995. While the group reworked both the sound and the image of new wave and punk rockers like Adam & the Ants, Wire, the Buzzcocks, and Blondie, the band's songs are more pop-oriented and hook-driven than most of their influences, and Justine Frischmann's cool sexuality is earthier, yet more detached, than Debbie Harry's.

Guitarist/vocalist Justine Frischmann began performing professionally in the early '90s, forming Suede with her boyfriend Brett Anderson. In addition to naming the band, Frischmann was the group's original guitarist and continued to perform with them once lead guitarist Bernard Butler joined. However, she left the group soon after her relationship with Anderson ended. Frischmann formed Elastica after leaving Suede in 1991. Recruiting guitarist Donna Matthews, drummer Justin Welch, and bassist Annie Holland through advertisements, the final lineup of the band was set in 1993. Elastica released their first single, the roaring three-chord, two-minute punk rocker "Stutter," at the end of 1993. The single was a limited-edition run and it quickly sold out, thanks to radio airplay and rave reviews. "Line Up" followed a few months later. It also sold very well, yet some critics claimed the band appropriated the melody from Wire's "I Am the Fly" for the song. For most of 1994, the group was relatively quiet, playing the occasional concert and recording; nevertheless, the band's name stayed in the British press, largely due to Frischmann's romance with Damon Albarn, the lead singer for Blur, England's most popular band of 1994. Released in the fall of that year, "Connection," their biggest hit yet, suffered the same criticism, this time for taking the keyboard riff from Wire's "Three Girl Rhumba." On the eve of the March 1995 release of their debut album, the group was taken to court by Wire's publishers, as well as the publishers of the Stranglers (who claimed Elastica's new single, "Waking Up," took the riff from the punk band's "No More Heroes"); both cases were settled out of court before the album was released.

Entering the charts at number one, Elastica's self-titled first album became the fastest-selling debut in the U.K., beating the record Oasis' Definitely Maybe set only seven months earlier. As well as being a popular success, the record received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Like Oasis, Elastica managed to have a hit single in America with "Connection"; the single was a major modern rock radio hit, as well as reaching the Top 100 on the singles chart. Elastica continued to make headway in America by replacing Sinead O'Connor on the 1995 Lollapalooza tour, although the group suffered a blow when Holland announced her exit from the lineup. A follow-up LP was years in the making, and Elastica's future was the subject of considerable media speculation; in the spring of 1999 Matthews quit as well, although Holland soon returned to the fold, joining new guitarist Paul Jones as well as keyboardists Dave Bush and Mew. A new six-track EP finally appeared late that summer. Their long-awaited sophomore effort, The Menace, was finally released six years after the band's debut. After a year of inactivity, the band released a farewell single in England and announced that their breakup, which had been rumored about them for some time, was, indeed final.