Probably one of the most infamous albums to ever come out of Manchester, Yes Please! is perhaps best known for the fact that its cataclysmic critical and commercial failure bankrupted Happy Mondays' label, Factory Records, as a result of the band bleeding out the latter’s funds over the course of a chaotic and artistically stagnant production.

Happy Mondays had a meeting with McGough and Wilson, who gave the band three options on where to record: a studio in Amsterdam, which they all were against; a studio inside a formerly used church in Manchester, which was run by pop producer Pete Waterman; or a studio in Barbados. Waterman had made a pitch to produce the band's next album, which Ryder and Whelan were against while the rest of the band plus McGough were up for. Whelan stated if they went with Waterman, he would quit. All of them went with Barbados, bar Day who wanted to make the next album in Manchester. When asked by the band why he wanted to be in Manchester, Day reasoned that they all had families there. [22] The band toured New Zealand and Australia in February and March 2019, performing their 1990 album Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches. Here is a debut album that feels one step ahead of the times and even the band themselves. The signs of what was about to unfold are there in the shape of the absolute classics Kuff Dam and Tart Tart which sound like the E was starting to seep in to the bloodstream. Happy Mondays would catch up with their own ideas and push them further forward on their next album and with the help of Martin Hannett and Ecstacy they were about to release their first seminal album….Morley, Paul (2021). From Manchester with Love: The Life and Times of Tony Wilson*. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-25249-7. It perhaps goes without saying that the decision by the Happy Mondays to make their fourth album, Yes Please!, in the sun-kissed paradise of the Caribbean was not without incident. Recorded at Blue Wave Studios, a lavish complex owned by the reggae star Eddy Grant, its towering costs helped bankrupt Factory Records, the label on which it was released. With sales of 50,000 copies – far less than a quarter of its predecessor, Pills’n’Thrills And Bellyaches - it would be its authors’ last LP for 15 years.

This for me stands up with the Best. I willcontinueas always to make art, its the only thing I can do. We are hoping to take this Exhibition to other parts of the country, and we are also in talks about taking it to New York, for which we will be working on new works for. And I will continue toencourage Maria to paint and draw. Warburton, John; Ryder, Shaun (2011). Hallelujah!: The Extraordinary Story of Shaun Ryder and Happy Mondays. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-0781-0. Yes Please! was later reissued in 2000 through London Recordings. [100] It was included Rhino Records' Original Album Series box set in 2013, which collected the band's first four studio albums. [101] The album was re-pressed on vinyl in 2020 alongside their first three albums. [102]Howe, Jon. "Are You Man U, You? - When The Happy Mondays Played Leeds' Elland Road". Sabotage Times . Retrieved 11 August 2019. Despite relationships between Happy Mondays members straining, Ryder told McGough they had written enough material for another album. [16] The band and Factory Records wanted to enlist Oakenfold and Osborne for their next album, but the pair was fully booked until June 1992 at the earliest. [17] Concerned that they could not wait that long, McGough and Wilson decided to look for other producers. [18] Paul Ryder was listening to Conscious Party (1988) by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, learning that it was produced by Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club members Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, and thought they would be ideal producers for Happy Mondays' next album. [19] Around the same time, the band had a new booking agent, Ian Flooks, who also worked with Frantz and Weymouth. When Flooks caught wind that the band were looking for producers, he suggested the pair. [20] She especially shines on second single “Sunshine and Love,” which otherwise sounds like a bad Duran Duran rip-off and even contains these self-referential lines: “Ooh, we’d like to take credit for this/ We’d love to thank ourselves for this.” No idea if they were being ironic or sarcastic (it was the 90’s after all). But it does make you wonder whether they knew this album was going to bad — and if they even cared at that point. If you watch an MTV News feature from that time, it certainly looks like they don’t. In his years away from the Happy Mondays, Ryder released an album with another group, Big Arm, in 2008 and moved to Los Angeles in the late 00s. He also performed live with the New York funk group Tom Tom Club, whose members Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth (also of Talking Heads) had produced Yes Please!. a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "...Yes Please – Happy Mondays". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021 . Retrieved 11 October 2021.