Polythene (album)

Polythene is the debut studio album by Welsh rock band Feeder. It was released 18 May 1997 on the Echo Label, and then re-issued on 28 October in the same year in an Enhanced CD version, featuring their UK top 40 breakthrough single "High" and its video. The original version of the album was deleted soon after and is relatively rare due to this reason.

Polythene
Studio album by
Feeder
Released19 May 1997
RecordedMid 1996
Genre
Length51:03
LabelEcho
Producer
Feeder chronology
Swim
(1996)		 Polythene
(1997)		 Yesterday Went Too Soon
(1999)
Singles from Polythene
  1. "Stereo World"
    Released: 7 October 1996
  2. "Tangerine"
    Released: 27 January 1997
  3. "Cement"
    Released: 28 April 1997
  4. "Crash"
    Released: 11 August 1997
  5. "High"
    Released: 6 October 1997

Despite sizeable critical success, the album had minor commercial success, charting at number 65 in the UK albums chart. However, Polythene would later achieve Gold record status despite never having appeared in the top 50 of the album charts, a rare feat reflecting steady and consistent sales over a period of 20 years, rather than strong initial sales.

The album saw the group's early take on a more grunge-influenced sound, which was not seen on their other albums that followed. Many critics at the time called the band the UK's answer to the Smashing Pumpkins.[1]

Background

Polythene's working title was Here in the Bubble.[2]

Prior to the release of Polythene, Feeder had released several singles, which helped them build a cult following.[1]

The album carries over two tracks – "Descend" and "Stereo World" – from Feeder's earlier EP, Swim.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Metal Hammer
Q
Kerrang!

The band's second single off Polythene, "Cement" was given a 5/5 review rating by Kerrang!, and their "Single of the Week" accolade.[4] The album itself was ranked 6th in the magazine's best albums of the year chart.[5] Metal Hammer voted it the best album of 1997 in its end of year critic's poll.[6]

Kerrang! later included Polythene in their 200 Albums For the Year 2000 list in the "Essential Britrock" category.[7] It appeared at number 87 in an early 2005 Kerrang! magazine vote, ranking the top 100 British rock albums of all-time.[8]

Accolades
Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Metal Hammer UK Top Twenty Albums of the Year 1997 1
Kerrang! UK Top Twenty Albums of the Year 1997 6
Kerrang! UK Top 100 British Rock Albums of All-Time (readers vote) 2005 87

Track listing

All tracks are written by Grant Nicholas.

No.TitleLength
1."Polythene Girl"3:29
2."My Perfect Day"4:25
3."Cement"3:17
4."Crash"4:08
5."Radiation"4:38
6."Suffocate"3:53
7."Descend"5:20
8."Stereo World"3:24
9."Tangerine"3:58
10."Waterfall"3:10
11."Forgive"4:41
12."20th Century Trip"1:56
Re-release 20 October 1997
No.TitleLength
1."Polythene Girl"3:25
2."My Perfect Day"4:25
3."Cement"3:17
4."High"4:33
5."Crash"4:08
6."Radiation"4:38
7."Suffocate"3:53
8."Descend"5:20
9."Stereo World"3:24
10."Change"3:23
11."Tangerine"3:58
12."Forgive"4:41
13."20th Century Trip"1:56
Japanese release bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."Chicken on a Bone"3:46
15."Here in the Bubble"4:24
16."Swim"3:19
  • The album was reissued on 20 October 1997 with Polythene Girl being replaced with a remix by Chris Sheldon, non album single "High" was added to the track listing as track 4 and Waterfall was removed and replaced by Change as track 10 between "Stereo World" and "Tangerine"

Personnel
Feeder
Production
  • Chris Sheldon - production, mixing, engineering
  • Feeder - production on "Cement"
  • Brian Sperber - production, engineering and mixing on "Polythene Girl", "My Perfect Day" and "Crash", remix on "Cement"
  • Audrey Riley - string arrangements on "High"
  • Matt Sime - engineering, mixing on "High"
  • Steve Power - mixing, additional engineering on "High"
  • Howie Weinberg - mastering
Artwork
  • Jeremy Plumb - concept, design
  • Scarlet Page - photography
  • Dan McLewin - photography
  • Andrew Cameron - photography
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References
  1. Tom Demalon. "Polythene - Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
  2. ""Two Tracker" info page". feederanorak.co.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
  3. Polythene at AllMusic
  4. Kerrang! "Cement" review Archived 16 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Kerrang!'s Top 20 albums of 1997
  6. Metal Hammers Top 20 Albums of 1997
  7. "Kerrang! lists". rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  8. Tom Demalon. "Top 100 British Rock Albums of All Time". Kerrang!. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
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