Thinks: School Stinks

Untitled

Thinks: School Stinks is the first album released by British pop band Hotlegs. The album, featuring the band's hit single "Neanderthal Man", was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport near Manchester and engineered by the studio's co-owners, Eric Stewart and Peter Tattersall. The cover, designed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, depicted a scratched school desk, a concept that was repeated two years later on Alice Cooper's 1972 album School's Out.

Thinks: School Stinks was released in some countries with an alternative cover.

Kevin Godley, in a 1976 interview, said the album included the songs and ideas that he and Lol Creme had intended recording in 1969 with entrepreneur Giorgio Gomelsky. Gomelsky had named the duo Frabjoy and Runcible Spoon, wanting to fashion them in the style of Simon and Garfunkel. "I still say that was a bloody good album," Godley said. "Most of the tracks were from the Frabjoy period and it's an interesting LP."

"Fly Away" had earlier been released on a Marmalade record label sampler, 100 Proof as "To Fly Away", credited to Godley, while the opening lines and percussive rhythm of "Run Baby Run" were later reworked to become the basis for "Art for Art's Sake" on the 10cc album How Dare You!.

The album failed to chart. Stewart, also interviewed in 1976, said Thinks: School Stinks had presented a problem because it was so different from "Neanderthal Man": "It was totally alien to what people were expecting from us. It was a good record, a little ahead of its time. It was similar to the things we are doing now. It was very melodic with chord structures that hadn't been used before – and some of the sounds that we used on that album hadn't been heard at the time."

Track listing

1. "Neanderthal Man" (Kevin Godley, Lol Creme, Eric Stewart) – 4:19
2. "How Many Times" (Godley, Creme, Stewart) – 3:57
3. "Desperate Dan" (Godley, Creme, Stewart) – 2:12
4. "Take Me Back" (Godley, Creme) – 5:01
5. "Um Wah, Um Woh" (Godley, Creme, Stewart) – 5:30
6. "Suite F.A." (Godley, Creme) – 12:53
   • 1st Movement – On My Way
   • 2nd Movement – Indecision
   • 3rd Movement – The Return
7. "Fly Away" (Godley, Creme) – 2:43
8. "Run Baby Run" (Godley, Creme, Stewart) – 2:50
9. "All God's Children" (Godley, Creme) – 4:55

Personnel

• Lol Creme – guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, arranger
• Eric Stewart – guitar, bass, vocals, arranger
• Kevin Godley – drums, vocals, arranger
• Peter Tattersall – left-handed boogey piano ("Desperate Dan")
• Mike Timoney – organ
• Rod Morton – on-beat tambourine ("Desperate Dan")
• Baz Barker – violin ("How Many Times")
• Ian Brookes – trumpet
• Mike Bell – saxophone
• Cheadle Hulme High School Choir
• Arranged and Conducted by Brian Day