Pills n Thrills and Bellyaches - Happy Mondays

I mentioned a few blogs ago that 'Madchester' was all the rage in Hartlepool, or at least it was in our group of mates. Everyone had their favourite bands, some which have stood the test of time and others that haven't. Of the true Manchester bands, it was the Happy Mondays that I preferred. Perhaps it was the fact that the shambolic guitar playing was easier for me to imitate or perhaps it was the rambling and sometimes insightful lyrics of Shaun Ryder. Not sure.
Anyway I remember the palpable excitement when 'Step On' was released as a few of us went down to a little independent music shop on Thornton Street (I think) to buy our copy.
The single, and album that followed, was a departure for the Mondays as the tracks had been essentially remixed for the album by the then producer of choice Paul Okenfold. For followers of music fashion it was a great album released at the height of the 'baggy' scene.
Listening to it over twenty years later it has lost none of its appeal and it was great bouncing down the street, on a cold and dark November morning, listening to 'Kinky Afro', 'God's Cop' and 'Step On'. Twisting My Melon Man!