The story began in 1989 when Ian Broudie began recording alone under the name Lightning Seeds and achieved success with the psychedelic and synthpop hit "Pure", from the album Cloudcuckooland,
which reached the UK Top 20. The same year "Joy" and "All I Want" were
also released but failed to make an impression. "Pure" had some success
in the United States Billboard Top 40, reaching No. 32. Both "Pure" and "All I Want" also reached the Modern Rock Tracks top 10.
So, when Jollification, the third album by the Lightning Seeds, was released, practically proved the band was at their finest moment.
Jollification was recorded and completed in 1993. However, in 1994
with a new record deal with Epic, the Lightning Seeds were about to
become a serious concern. One of the conditions were the Lightning Seeds
needed to become a band and tour.
The album is considered a sort of a slow burner, Jollification failed to set the album charts alight
initially, the same with lead single Lucky You. However, some joint
dates with Terry Hall and touring got the name out. In 1995 saw the release of "Change", with a Top of the Pops appearance giving
the Lightning Seeds their first top 20 single since Pure. This gave
Jollification the boost it needed, and with playing live and the release
of Marvellous, Perfect and the re-release of Lucky You, the sales of
Jollification increased at the point to reach No. 12 in the UK charts.
"Jollification" is where everything successfully coalesced for Broudie. With Britain now ready for great pop singles again, Ian was in his element. Alison Moyet is at her imperious best guesting on break-up drama My Best Day, yet it didn’t make the cut as one of Jollification’s five singles. Terry Hall is on backing vocals along with Ocean Colour Scene’s Simon Fowler. Yet it’s Broudie’s wistful voice which makes the album.
There are funk touches in the shuffling "Open Goals" (with Moyet present again, on backing vocals), and a grandiose sweep to the closing "Telling Tales". Mostly, though, for all the gloom cloaked in the lyrics, Jollification is where the 36-year-old Ian Broudie became a brilliant pop star. In the album’s wake, the FA chose Broudie to write England’s theme song for Euro 96. We all know what happened next.
The album became a critical success althought certain critics felt the album sound too produced, even thought it was Broudie's strongest batch of songs ever recorded, by the way, the album cover used computer graphics to create an enormous strawberry and depicting seeds with imposed human faces.
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