Radioactive, RAR11224
LP, UK first press
1995
 
Media: VG+
Sleeve: VG
 
Some surface noise is quiet moments, sleeve has some shelf wear/signs of age but no writing or tears.
 
All pre-owned vinyl is professionally cleaned with a Project VC-E record cleaner before shipping.
 
 
Black Grape's debut, It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, is a surreal, funky, profane, and perversely joyous album, overflowing with casual eclecticism and giddy humour. Working with a band that is looser and grittier than the Mondays, Shaun Ryder sounds reinvigorated, creating bizarre rhymes that tie together junk culture, drug lingo, literary references, and utter nonsense. Ryder's lyrics have always been freewheelingly impenetrable, but this is now working with Kermit, a rapper that is the equal of his skills.
 
Even better, the music has deep grooves and catchy pop hooks that come straight out of left field. From the blaring harmonica of the triumphant "Reverend Black Grape" and the trippy sitars of "In the Name of the Father" to the seedy, rolling "Shake Your Money" and the stinging guitars of "Tramazi Parti", It's Great is filled with music that goes in unconventional directions without ever sounding forced.
 
Not only was It's Great When You're Straight a triumphant return for Ryder and his sidekick Bez, it was the first album they ever recorded that justified all of the hype.
 
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