''Leisure Noise'' is the first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

band

Gay Dad Gay Dad were an English rock band that formed in London in 1994 and broke up in 2002. The line-up of the band has included Cliff Jones (guitarist/vocalist), Nick "Baz" Crowe (drummer), James Riseboro (keyboardist), Nigel Hoyle (bassist) and ...

, released via

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

and

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...

on 7 June 1999. The album is a blending of

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

neo-psychedelia Neo-psychedelia is a genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the music production approaches and songwriting of 1960s psychedelia, either exploring emulations of the sounds of the era or applying its ethos to new styles of music ...

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

into

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

. Lyrically it is often about and constructed of rock history. The track listing was designed to mimic the traditional two-sided vinyl and the album was made available on vinyl.

Chris Hughes Christopher Hughes (born November 26, 1983) is an American entrepreneur and author who co-founded and served as spokesman for the online social directory and networking site Facebook until 2007. He was the publisher and editor-in-chief of ''The ...

produced the album, except for "To Earth with Love", which was produced by

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

and Mark Frith.

Gary Langan Gary Michael Langan (born 19 April 1956) is an English engineer, record producer, mixer and musician. Biography Langan's career started at age 18 when he worked as an assistant engineer at Sarm East Studios, learning the craft from Gary Lyons ...

handled recording and mixing;

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...

mastered the album at Masterdisc in New York City.

Critical response

;Accolades In 2014, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' included the album in its list of "30 Glorious Britpop Albums That Deserve a Reissue Pronto," saying "A music journalist turned rock star? It’ll never catch on… Hmmm, back in a sec… Anyway, ''Face'' scribe Cliff Jones might've cut a faintly ridiculous figure but he had the looks and – in "Joy!" and "To Earth with Love" – songs that could light up any Cool Britannic indie dancefloor. Just imagine those brash cuts freshly remastered."

Track listing

All tracks written by Nicholas Crowe, Cliff Jones, Nigel Hoyle and James Riseboro, except where noted. #"Dimstar" – 5:14 #"

Joy! "Joy!" is a song by the English rock band Gay Dad from their first album, '' Leisure Noise'', released as a single on 24 May 1999. It was featured in FIFA 2000 and in 2002 on a Mitsubishi television commercial. Additional vocals on the track a ...

" – 5:00 #"Oh Jim" – 2:46 #"My Son Mystic" – 3:25 #"Black Ghost" (Crowe, Jones, Hoyle,

Jim Irvin James Lawrence Irvin is an English singer, songwriter, music journalist and podcast host. Irvin was a singer in the English new wave band Furniture, who had a UK hit single, in 1986 with Irvin's " Brilliant Mind". Irvin contributed to ''Melod ...

, Riseboro) – 7:35 #" To Earth with Love" – 5:04 #"Dateline" – 4:43 #"Pathfinder" – 3:56 #"Different Kind of Blue" (Crowe, Jones, Hoyle, Irvin, Riseboro) – 4:51 #"Jesus Christ" (Crowe, Jones, Hoyle, Irvin, Riseboro) – 4:16

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. Gay Dad * Cliff Jones *James Riseboro *Nicholas Crowe *Nigel Hoyle Additional musicians * Carol Kenyon – additional vocals (tracks 2 and 10) *

Guy Barker Guy Jeffrey Barker, (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Early life Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year ...

– horns (track 7) * Lynton Naiff – horn arrangement (track 7) Production *

– producer (all tracks except 6) *

– producer (track 6) * Mark Frith – co-producer *

– recording, mixing *

– mastering Design * Peter Saville – graphic art * Paul Hetherington – graphic art * Howard Wakefield – graphic art * Paul Barnes – logo concept

References

{{Authority control 1999 debut albums Gay Dad albums Albums produced by Chris Hughes (musician) Albums produced by Tony Visconti London Records albums Sire Records albums