It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah

It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah
Studio album by Black Grape
Released	October 10, 1995
Genre	Alternative dance, Britpop
Length	46:16
Label	Radioactive Records
Producer	Danny Saber, Stephen Lironi, Shaun Ryder, Gary Kurfirst (exec.)
Black Grape chronology
It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah (1995) Stupid Stupid Stupid (1997)

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Allmusic

It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah is the first album by British band Black Grape. It was released in 1995. The album was seen as something of a triumphant comeback for both Shaun Ryder and Bez (both formerly of Happy Mondays). The album represented what some considered an evolution of the Happy Mondays sound on their 1990 album Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, with more of a hip hop influence, down mostly to the rapping of Kermit, formerly of the band The Ruthless Rap Assassins. The album was a critical and commercial success.^{[citation needed]}

The album art features a famous photograph of infamous international terrorist Carlos the Jackal colored in pop art style. This album art was inspiration for Issue 2 of the Image Comics series, Phonogram.

Some say the album title is a reply to the inquiry "Jesus, it must be great to be straight" from the Pulp song 'Do you remember the first time?'.

The opening lines of 'In the Name of the Father' are quoted in the novel The Demented Lands by Alan Warner.

The song "A Big Day In the North" was used as the opening song in the 1995 scifi movie "Virtuosity" with Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe.

The song "Yeah Yeah Brother" featured in the film "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006). The line It's Frothy Man in the song is partly a reference to advertising the 1970s soft drink Cresta.

The album was certified platinum by the BPI on 1 April 1996 and got nominated for the Mercury Prize, which lost to Pulp's Different Class.

Track listing

1. "Reverend Black Grape" – 5:12
2. "In the Name of the Father" – 4:21
3. "Tramazi Parti" – 4:45
4. "Kelly's Heroes" – 4:22
5. "Yeah Yeah Brother" – 4:10
6. "A Big Day in the North" – 4:10
7. "Shake Well Before Opening" – 5:40
8. "Submarine" – 3:50
9. "Shake Your Money" – 4:13
10. "Little Bob" – 5:33

Singles

• "Reverend Black Grape"
• "In The Name Of The Father"
• "Kelly's Heroes

Personnel

• Shaun Ryder - vocals
• Kermit - vocals
• Psycho - vocals
• Helen Vigneau - backing vocals
• Paul "Wags" Wagstaff - guitar
• Anthony Guarderas - bass
• Jed Lynch - drums, percussion
• Danny Saber - guitars, bass, keyboards, hammond organ, programming, mixing, engineering, production
• Stephen Lironi - keyboards, hammond organ, slide guitar, programming, production
• Martin Slattery - saxophone
• Michael Scherchen - programming, engineering
• Bez - vibes/dance
• Phil Ault, Ewan Davis - additional engineering
• Tom Lord-Alge - mixing
• Ted Jensen - mastering

Preceded by I Should Coco by Supergrass

UK number one album August 19, 1995 – September 1, 1995

Succeeded by Said and Done by Boyzone