BLACK GRAPE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Black Grape was founded by former members of The Happy Mondays, Shaun Ryder and Bez (a.k.a. Mark Berry). New band members included rappers Paul "Kermit" Leveridge, Carl "Psycho" McCarthy, drummer Ged Lynch (all three from the first wave of UK hip-hop and influential Hulme, Manchester act Ruthless Rap Assassins), guitarist Paul Wagstaff (from the Paris Angels), and Oli "Dirtycash" Dillon on ocarina. It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah contains ten catchy songs, most prominently the album's preceding hit single 'In The Name Of The Father', with influences from indie-pop, alternative, funk, disco, with rough guitar, rapping all glued together and produced by American Danny Saber. On release in 1993, the debut album immediately charted at the very top of the UK Albums chart and was certified Platinum.

Review: Black Grape return with brand new album Orange Head, released on DGAFF Recordings. Sallying forth as a Manchester favourite before wrenching the informal crown of national treasure, this duo lend cryptic humour to a post-punk purview, melding rock, hip-hop, acid house, psychedelic pop and reggae with Ryder's gutter poetry, delivered in his inimitable shyster's bark. As if to christen the public house of one's fruity dreams, the Orange Head is unique in its issuance as a double LP plus extra 10" thrown in, but that's just as well for such a playful and cantankerous album, which proves the ambition of multi-genre fusion works none the less well for chart-worthiness.