· Over three sessions during the
course of 1990, The Charlatans recorded their debut album Some Friendly.
· The album was released on October the 8th. The band
members thought that some songs like Polar Bear and White Shirt were overproduced. Needless to say though the albums shot
straight to Number 1.
· The Critics had yet another shot to compare two great indie
bands that same year. Both the Stone Roses and the Charlatans were doing potentially well-known gigs that would make history.
The Stone Roses were doing the legendary Spike Island show which turned out to be both a success and a disaster with many
people at the gig ending up sick as the concert was held not far away from an Industrial Factory and the Charlatans were doing
Glasgows Barrowland.
· One of their best shows that year was when they played at the
Metro, near the Cubs Wrigley Field. The show was recorded and released under the name Isolation.
· But after a while, Jon Baker started feeling a bit unsure about
himself. He enjoyed the writing, rehearsing and so on but was not particularly enjoying the long-running promotion of the
debut album so he left feeling he had not much more left to contribute to the band and his efforts were useless.
· Out Jon Baker, In Mark Collins. The first song that Mark had
worked on was Me in Time, that was recorded in October and produced at Rockfield Studios. Unfortunately this was a tough time,
with Martin becoming depressed and the single going in at just Number 28 in the charts. The Critics were back at stabbing
the band in the back. It was a tough and cruel time. I was in hospital. I was totally
fucked up, seriously. It wasnt to do with the group, but I needed time out badly. It was like I was on this treadmill; it
was getting like a job. It wasnt self-pity or anything, just insecurity and an attack of paranoia brought on by personal stuff.
It was a bad time. I was over-thinking, over-analysing and John was leaving and I always thought the main thing about the
group was keeping it together. Martin Blunt
