''Bad Vibes'' is the third studio album by

Lloyd Cole Lloyd Cole (born 31 January 1961) is an English singer and songwriter. He was lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989 and subsequently worked solo. Early life Cole was born in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. He grew up in ne ...

. It was released in October 1993 on

Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label that was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label. History Fontana started in the 1950s as a subs ...

and reached number 38 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

and number 8 on the Swedish chart.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Johnny Dee of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' gave a mixed review of ''Bad Vibes''. He commented that, like Cole's previous two solo albums, there was "plenty to recommend" and praised the "majestic" "Morning Is Broken", the "lyrical wisecracks" of "So You'd Like to Save the World" and the "druggy

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

drawl" of "Love You So What". He felt the album then "very quickly get bogged down in arty sleaze", picking "Wild Mushrooms" as the "nadir" and adding that "there's more lyrical embarrassments" on "Can't Get Arrested". He concluded, "If only he'd stop trying to impress us. 'Identity Crisis – The Musical' would have been a better title."

Sarra Manning Sarra Manning is an English writer and journalist. She attended the University of Sussex and took an English with media studies degree. She became a freelance writer after submitting her work to ''Melody Maker''. She worked as the entertainment ...

of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' noted the album's "definite Sixties timbre, as in little acoustic refrains, gently thumping piano and windy chords like raindrops on windowpanes" and described Cole as "a slightly worn voice that breaks into throaty emphasis on a caustic word". She was critical of "Fall Together" and "Can't Get Arrested" for being "truly horrendous

' pastiches", but concluded, "Forget all your ill-conceived notions of what's credible and what's not and make room for 11 songs that put some aesthetic equilibrium back in your life."

Track listing

# " Morning Is Broken" – 5:19 # " So You'd Like to Save the World" – 3:30 # "Holier Than Thou" – 3:53 # "Love You So What" – 3:26 # "Wild Mushrooms" – 2:09 # "My Way to You" – 4:18 # "Too Much of a Good Thing" – 5:04 # "Fall Together" – 4:50 # "Mister Wrong" – 3:24 # "Seen the Future" – 3:21 # "Can't Get Arrested" – 8:25 1994 reissue bonus tracks #

"For the Pleasure of Your Company" – 3:42 # "4 M.B." – 4:46

Personnel

*Lloyd Cole *Ann Charlotte Vensgaarde *

Anton Fier Anton Fier (June 20, 1956 – September 14, 2022) was an American drummer, producer, composer, and bandleader. Family Fier, known as Tony, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ruthe Marie Fier and Anton J. Fier Jr., a former Marine and electrician. ...

*"Lightning" Bob Hoffnar *Curtis Watts *Dan McCarroll *Dana Vlcek * Fred Maher *

John Valentine Carruthers John Valentine Carruthers (born 1958 in Wortley, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English musician, guitarist, and composer. He is mainly known for being a member of Siouxsie and the Banshees from mid-1984 until early 1987. In the early 1980s, he ...

*John Micco * Matthew Sweet *Neil Clark *Peter Mark Technical *

Dave O'Donnell Dave O'Donnell is an American record producer, engineer and mixer, known for his work with James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Bettye LaVette, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, John Mayer, Lyle Lovett, Milton Nascimento, Keb' Mo' and Ray Charles. In 1984, ...

, Fred Kevorkian, Jon Goldberger, Lloyd Puckitt, Michael White, Mike Krowiak – recording engineers *

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he has a very ...

– mixing *David Sims – photography

Charts

References

1993 albums Lloyd Cole albums Fontana Records albums {{1990s-alt-rock-album-stub