Elastica is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Elastica. It was released on 13 March 1995 through Deceptive Records in the UK and DCG/Geffen Records internationally. This is the only album to feature the original line-up, and guitarist Donna Matthews.

Elastica peaked at no. 1 on the UK charts, selling over 100,000 units, and remained in the Top 10 for 5 weeks.

Production

On November 1, 1993, Elastica released their debut single "Stutter" to positive reviews from critics. This was followed up by "Line Up", released in January 1994. In an interview with Andrew Smith from The Guardian from 2002, Frischmann explained her inclination to write very short songs: "I have a low boredom threshold. I want the best bits — verse-chorus, verse-chorus, that's it. The whole thing of playing middle eights and triple choruses to finish isn't music, it's brainwashing. If you want to hear the chorus again, rewind it."

The band then retreated from public view for over a year before releasing their debut album. Frontwoman Justine Frischmann had been the subject of much media scrutiny due to her relationships with Suede singer Brett Anderson and later Blur frontman Damon Albarn. In an interview with magazine Melody Maker, Frischmann stated, "it’s imperative that you should be written about for your music, which is why we decided, after January, we needed to go away and prove ourselves."

| rev2 = The Guardian

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| rev3 = NME

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| rev4 = Q

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| rev5 = Rolling Stone

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| rev6 = Smash Hits

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| rev7 = Spin

| rev7score = 9/10

| rev8 = The Village Voice

| rev8score = A−

Elastica was well-received critically. The Los Angeles Times opined that "the smart, sassy savagings of losers and poseurs are a refreshing advance from grunge's gloomy self-absorption." The Independent concluded that "it is, yes, new new wave, and sometimes too close to old new wave: 'Vaseline' is Blondie and 'Waking Up' the Stranglers." Select ranked the album at number 9 in its list of the "50 albums of the year". In the U.S., the album was ranked as the sixth best album of the year by Mike Boehm in the Los Angeles Times, and the album was also highly rated by Rolling Stone, Spin and The Village Voice.

In their retrospective review, AllMusic praised the album, writing "what makes Elastica such an intoxicating record is not only the way the 16 songs speed by in 40 minutes, but that they're nearly all classics" and that "hardly any new wave band made records this consistently rocking and melodic". becoming, at the time, the fastest-selling debut since Oasis' Definitely Maybe the previous year. The record also did well in the US, climbing to a peak of number 66 on the Billboard 200 after 11 weeks on the chart. Two months after its release, it had sold over 59,000 units in the US according to Nielsen Soundscan. By the end of 1995 it had sold approximately 1 million copies worldwide according to Billboard. Around half of these sales were in America where it was certified as gold in December 1995.

Legacy

In 2013, NME called it the 191st greatest album of all time. The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2014, American LGBT magazine Metro Weekly ranked the album at number 38 in its list of the "50 Best Alternative Albums of the 90s". In 2017, Pitchfork listed the album at number six in its list "The 50 Best Britpop Albums".

Track listing

Personnel

Elastica

  • Justine Frischmann – vocals, guitar
  • Donna Matthews – vocals, guitar
  • Annie Holland – bass guitar
  • Justin Welch – drums

Additional personnel

  • Dan Abnormal (Damon Albarn) – Additional keyboards on tracks 3, 4, 8 & 11

Production

  • Marc Waterman – production, engineering, mixing
  • Phil Vinall – mixing
  • Alan Moulder – mixing
  • Paul Tipler – mixing
  • Bruce Lampcov – mixing
  • John Leckie – mixing
  • Mitti – mixing
  • Juergen Teller – album photography
  • Steve Lamacq – A&R
  • Mark Kates – A&R

Charts

Weekly charts

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! scope="col"| Chart (1995)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

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! scope="row"| European Albums (Eurotipsheet)

| style="text-align:center;"|12

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! scope="row"| Australia (ARIA Charts)

| 57

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Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

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! scope="col"| Chart (1995)

! scope="col"| Position

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! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

| 51

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Certifications

References

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  • Elastica at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
  • Elastica (US version) at AllMusic