Happy Mondays - Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches

Madchester did not have a manifesto. It had this record. Released on Factory in November 1990, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches entered the UK album chart at number four and turned a shambolic Salford gang into the sound of a city that had discovered ecstasy and decided guitars and drum machines should get along.

Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne produced, having already remixed the band into something dancefloors could use, and their touch is all over it: Mark Day's loose, chiming guitar lines floating over grooves built to last twice as long as a normal pop song. "Step On" reworks a John Kongos track into an anthem, "Kinky Afro" opens by quoting "Lady Marmalade" and lands one of the great deadbeat-father couplets in British pop, and "Loose Fit" and "God's Cop" prove Shaun Ryder was a genuinely strange lyricist rather than just a chaotic one. Rowetta's guest vocals do a lot of the heavy lifting.

It is the high-water mark of the whole scene and one of the best British albums of its decade.

Newly remastered for this limited edition London Records pressing on red vinyl, with lacquers cut by Barry Grint. A striking color repress of an album that deserves to be in print.