Embrace - Blind (1998)

Brothers singer Danny McNamara and guitarist Richard McNamara started creating songs with the aid of a cassette recorder in Bailiff Bridge, West Yorkshire in 1990. Soon a drum machine was added, and an initial set of Goth-influenced songs was written and recorded, but ultimately scrapped, before a second set of songs was written. They recruited Mickey Dale to play keyboards, and after various auditions, drummer Mike Heaton joined the band. A period of consolidation of existing songs and writing of new ones followed, but it proved hard to settle on a name, so gigs were initially performed from 1992 onwards under one-off names, such as Curious Orange, Christianne F, Shimmer, Lady Bum, and Mesmerise. Eventually they settled on 'Embrace', and although he was familiar with the American band Embrace, Richard thought it was a good name, despite it having been used already. The band wrote a letter to seek approval from Ian Mackaye who replied that it was alright for the English band to use the same name, though he said that it could possibly cause some confusion. Steve Firth joined the quartet in 1996 to add bass to the group, and their current and permanent line-up was in place. In 1996 the band recorded a three track demo in a recording studio in Huddersfield, which was sold at concerts in cassette form, and this now extremely rare demo consisted of the songs 'Overflowing', 'Say It With Bombs' and 'Sooner Than You Think'. 

A second spell in a Manchester recording studio yielded some rough mixes, one of which was deemed good enough to be released on a cassette attached to the Leeds fanzine The Expression She Pulled. In October 1996, the group signed with the Virgin subsidiary Hut Recordings, but eager to establish indie credibility, they released their debut single 'All You Good Good People' on the hip indie label Fierce Panda in February 1997. Over the next few months, it was followed by the singles 'Fireworks' and 'One Big Family', which were both released on Hut, and although those two singles were successful, it was the re-release of 'All You Good Good People' on Hut in October that proved to be their breakthrough, entering the charts at number eight. After building a following through the release of the singles, their debut album 'The Good Will Out' was released on 8 June 1998 and went to number 1 in the UK Albums Chart. The album achieved critical acclaim as well as success in terms of sales, going gold on its first day of release, becoming one of the fastest-ever-selling debut albums by a British artist, and going on to sell over 500,000 copies domestically. Right from the start the band were extremely prolific in the recording studio, and their early EP's included a number of songs that were not included on that debut album, so this first in a series of posts gathers up all those non-album songs from 1997 and 1998 into one place.  

Track listing

01 Blind (from the 'Fireworks' EP 1997)
02 Dry Kids (from the 'One Big Family' EP 1997)
03 You've Only Got To Stop To Get Better (from the 'One Big Family' EP 1997)
04 Butter Wouldn't Melt (from the 'One Big Family' EP 1997)
05 You Don't Amount To Anything - This Time (from the 'All You Good Good People' EP 1998)
06 The Way I Do (from the 'All You Good Good People' EP 1998)
07 Free Ride (from the 'All You Good Good People' EP 1998)
08 Feelings I Thought You Shared (b-side of 'My Weakness Is None Of Your Business' 1998)
09 Don't Turn Your Back On Love (b-side of 'My Weakness Is None Of Your Business' 1998)
10 Love Is Back (b-side of 'Come Back To What You Know' 1998)
11 If You Feel Like A Sinner (b-side of 'Come Back To What You Know' 1998)
12 Perfect Way (b-side of 'Come Back To What You Know' 1998)