Mansun - My Idea Of Fun (2004)

Paul Draper and Stove King met in the early 1990's, whilst working in the printing industry as photo re-touchers for rival companies situated opposite each other on the same industrial park in Little Stanney, on the outskirts of Chester. Through their shared love of David Bowie and 1980's new wave bands, including Duran Duran and ABC, they started socialising together at weekends, going to gigs in Liverpool and playing along to drum loops together in their bedrooms, formenting the desire of forming a band together. While King was a relative newcomer to playing bass, Draper had previously formed and fronted the electronic duo Grind with programmer-keyboard player Steve Heaton while studying at Thames Polytechnic, and they were often accompanied live by school friend Carlton Hibbert on drums. Grind released one 12" single in 1991 on the small What's In It For Me Records label, and they gigged around London at venues such as The Rock Garden and The Brain, and once supported Beverley Craven at the Mean Fiddler. Following the split of Grind, Draper applied for a grant from The Prince's Trust and set up a music company called Ambiance Productions, producing relaxation tapes to be sold in "hippie shops" across the north-west of England. In early 1995 Draper and King enlisted Maidstone expat Dominic Chad, who was the bar manager at the Fat Cat pub on Watergate Street in Chester, and with the aid of a drum machine, the trio began rehearsing at Crash Rehearsal Studios in Liverpool. 

They were spotted by passing A&R scouts Mark Lewis and Alan Wills, who were there to see Cast, and overheard the band through their rehearsal room door. They were offered a publishing contract with Polygram Music Publishing four days after reluctantly handing over a demo tape that had cost £150 to record, featuring 'Take It Easy Chicken', 'Skin Up Pin Up', 'Moronica' and 'She Makes My Nose Bleed'. Grey Lantern, as they were called at the time, after Draper's DC Comics influenced alter ego, which helped him overcome his nervousness on stage, soon changed their name to Manson, after the cult leader Charles Manson. Their self-financed debut release 'Take It Easy Chicken', came out in September 1995 on their own Sci-Fi Hi-Fi Recordings label, and it soon attracted the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJs Steve Lamacq and John Peel. Despite not having played a single gig, and later admitting that they couldn't play together as a band very well, they found themselves at the centre of a record label bidding war, resulting in them signing to Parlophone's sub-label Regal Recordings, releasing the follow-up single 'Skin Up Pin Up'/'Flourella' in November 1995. By this time they had changed their name to Mansun, following threatened legal action from the Charles Manson Estate, but when it was later reported that Charles Manson had started spelling his name with a "u", Draper joked that they should sue him in return. 

Following the release of their single, the band were moved up to the main Parlophone label, and released several EP's, including an expanded re-release of the debut single. The first line-up of the band alongside Draper, King and Chad had featured former Grind drummer Carlton Hibbert and drum machine programmer Mark Swinnerton, but after five months of touring, Swinnerton left the band in January 1996. As a four piece, the band continued touring, including support gigs with Cast, Audioweb and Shed Seven, until Hibbert was sacked in May 1996 following a series of rows with an inebriated Chad, that resulted in a bizarre incident that involved a pineapple being thrown at Chad's face in Cambridge. Throughout the early days of the band, Chad was involved in a string of violent alcohol fuelled incidents, and at one point the entire group was banned from every outlet of the now defunct roadside restaurant chain Happy Eater, all Hard Rock Cafes worldwide and every Holiday Inn hotel in the UK, because of his antics. Despite this, it was Hibbert who had to go, to be temporarily replaced by ex-Kinky Machine drummer Julian Fenton. In August 1996 Andie Rathbone joined as a permanent drummer, and February 1997 saw the release of the band's critically acclaimed debut album 'Attack Of The Grey Lantern'. Although the band had finished recording most of the album prior to Rathbone joining, they went back into the studio to record new songs 'Taxloss' and 'Mansun's Only Love Song', and to re-record several drum tracks. 

The album appeared to contain a conceptual storyline, which Draper referred to as "small town weirdo observations", and it was influenced by The Goon Show and Monty Python, whilst ending with a hidden track, "An Open Letter To The Lyrical Trainspotter", proclaiming (reportedly sarcastically) that "the lyrics aren't supposed to mean that much". Following the release of the standalone 'Closed For Business' EP in October 1997, the band found themselves short of songs when going into the studio sessions at Olympic Studios to record their second album 'Six'. Suffering from writer's block, Draper took inspiration from books that Chad had taken out with him on tour, such as '120 Days Of Sodom' by Marquis de Sade, 'The House At Pooh Corner' by A. A. Milne, and 'Dianetics: The Modern Science Of Mental Health' by L. Ron Hubbard, Quickly scanning them to get the gist of the books, he then formed lyrics based on them, with many of the musical ideas being assembled during soundchecks on the previous US tour. With the lack of complete songs going into the album sessions, Draper set out to put together works-in-progress at the weekends, so that there was enough material each week for the band to work on. Through constant touring, the band were now more confident about recording in the studio, and set out to replicate their live sound, making the album heavier and more guitar based than the more commercial sounding drum loop and synthesiser based sound of the debut. 

The album was preceded by the singles 'Legacy', which provided the band with the highest-charting single, and 'Being A Girl', while several more singles followed its release, including 'Negative' and a re-recording of the album's title track, 'Six' produced by Arthur Baker. The album was released in the UK and Europe on 7 September 1998, and in the US on 20 April 1999, with an alternative running order, different artwork, and the re-recorded single version of the title track. Draper wasn't happy with the album, and described it as being "commercial suicide", with many of the best tracks being relegated to b-sides. Mansun's third studio album, 'Little Kix' (early working titles included 'Magnetic Poetry' and 'The Trouble With Relationships') saw Draper and Chad decamp to the south of Spain in March 1999 where they wrote and demo'd ideas for the album. Draper claimed that following the commercial and critical disappointment of 'Six', he didn't feel any pressure to follow it up and therefore set out to go in a different direction with the new album, going for a more "acoustic-guitary" sound. Despite initially feeling happier with the new record, Draper refused to tour or promote it, and although 'I Can Only Disappoint U' gave the band their biggest selling single to date, Draper's refusal to promote the album led to it stalling at number 14 in the charts. 

Draper later claimed that he was demoted as the band's producer for 'Little Kix', as the rest of the band wanted to ensure he didn't go off on another tangent as with 'Six', and so former XTC and Police producer Hugh Padgham was drafted in, resulting in a more commercial sounding third album. In January 2001, prior to the final single 'Fool' being released off 'Little Kix', Draper announced that the band were set to enter the studio in March or April and that they wanted to release new material as soon as possible. By May they were considering whether to release an EP or to hold the material back for a full album, but in August, Chad posted on the band's official website to inform fans that the band had abandoned plans for an EP and were now halfway through recording their fourth album, which would be "harder" than 'Little Kix'. In March 2002, and with no sign of new material, it was claimed that the delay in the new album being finished was due to Chad injuring his hand after falling into a fire grate, keeping him from playing for four to five months, but it was later confirmed that the real reason was that Draper had been diagnosed with cancer during recording sessions at Rockfield Studios, after a blister appeared on his left hand middle finger that kept bleeding. 

He was diagnosed with Bowenoid malignancy, and responded positively to five cycles of chemotherapy, although he was unable to play for several months after his finger swelled up following treatment. Following Draper's recovery, the band embarked on a short UK tour during April and May, but by October there was still no sign of the new album. Following extended delays in the band delivering it to Parlophone, rumours spread in December 2002 that the band had been given an ultimatum that if they didn't complete the album by early in the new year, they would be dropped. In January 2003, a posting on the band's official Yahoo list claimed that a member of the band had quit, did not want to rejoin, and the remaining members did not want him back", and that as a result of this, the band had split up. Following months of speculation, the split was officially announced on 2 May 2003, and it was revealed that it was Stove King's departure that had resulted in the band's dissolution. With news of the split being confirmed, and with the knowledge that most of the self-titled fourth album had already been recorded, an online petition was set up by fans to persuade Parlophone to release the material. The tracks were then released in September 2004, along with some non-album singles and a selection of b-sides, in a 3 CD box set entitled 'Kleptomania'. This post expands that release by including every non-album track recorded by the band during their career, including one final single from the unreleased fourth album in 2004.  

Track listing

Disc I - 19995-1996
01 Take It Easy Chicken (original single 1995)
02 Skin Up Pin Up (single 1995)
03 Flourella (b-side of 'Skin Up Pin Up')
04 Ski Jump Nose (b-side of 'Egg Shaped Fred' 1996)
05 Lemonade Secret Drinker (b-side of 'Egg Shaped Fred' 1996)
06 Thief (b-side of 'Egg Shaped Fred' 1996)
07 Untitled (b-side of 'Egg Shaped Fred' 1996)
08 Drastic Sturgeon (b-side of 'Take It Easy Chicken' re-issue 1996)
09 The Greatest Pain (b-side of 'Take It Easy Chicken' re-issue 1996)
10 Moronica (b-side of 'Take It Easy Chicken' re-issue 1996)
11 Rebel Without A Quilt (b-side of 'Wide Open Space' 1996)
12 Vision Impaired (b-side of 'Wide Open Space' 1996)
13 The Gods Of Not Very Much (b-side of 'Wide Open Space' 1996)

Disc II - 1996-1997
01 No One Knows Us (b-side of 'Stripper Vicar' 1996)
02 The Edge (b-side of 'Stripper Vicar' 1996)
03 The Duchess (b-side of 'Stripper Vicar' 1996)
04 An Open Letter (b-side of 'Stripper Vicar' 1996)
05 Things Keep Falling Off Buildings (b-side of 'Stripper Vicar' 1996)
06 The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail (b-side of 'She Makes My Nose Bleed' 1997)
07 The Most To Gain (b-side of 'She Makes My Nose Bleed' 1997)
08 Closed For Business (single 1997)
09 K.I.Double S.I.N.G. (b-side of 'Closed For Business')
10 Everyone Must Win (b-side of 'Closed For Business')
11 The World's Still Open (b-side of 'Closed For Business')
12 Grey Lantern (b-side of 'Taxloss' 1997)
13 The Impending Collapse Of It All (b-side of 'Taxloss' 1997)

Disc III - 1998-1999
01 GSOH (b-side of 'Legacy' 1998)
02 Can't Afford To Die (b-side of 'Legacy' 1998)
03 Spasm Of Identity (b-side of 'Legacy' 1998)
04 Check Under The Bed (b-side of 'Legacy' 1998)
05 Face In The Crowd (b-side of 'Legacy' 1998)
06 Been Here Before (b-side of 'Being A Girl (Part One)' 1998)
07 Hideout (b-side of 'Being A Girl (Part One)' 1998)
08 Railings (b-side of 'Being A Girl (Part One)' 1998)
09 I Care (b-side of 'Being A Girl (Part One)' 1998)
10 I Deserve What I Get (b-side of 'Negative' 1998)
11 When The Wind Blows (b-side of 'Negative' 1998)
12 King Of Beauty (b-side of 'Negative' 1998)
13 Church Of The Drive Through Elvis (b-side of 'Six' 1999)
14 But The Trains Run On Time (b-side of 'Six' 1999)
15 What's It Like To Be Hated (b-side of 'Six' 1999)

Disc IV - 2000-2004
01 Decisions, Decisions (b-side of 'I Can Only Disappoint U' 2000)
02 Repair Man (b-side of 'I Can Only Disappoint U' 2000)
03 My Idea Of Fun (b-side of 'I Can Only Disappoint U' 2000)
04 Golden Stone (b-side of 'I Can Only Disappoint U' 2000)
05 I've Seen The Top Of The Mountain (b-side of 'Fool' 2000)
06 Promises (b-side of 'Fool' 2000)
07 Fade In Time (b-side of 'Fool' 2000)
08 Black Infinite Space (b-side of 'Fool' 2000)
09 The Drifters (b-side of 'Electric Man' 2000)
10 The Apartment (b-side of 'Electric Man' 2000)
11 Slipping Away (single 2004)
12 Getting Your Way (b-side of 'Slipping Away')