Leisure Noise is the first album by London band Gay Dad, released via London Records and Sire Records on 7 June 1999. The album is a blending of glam rock, neo-psychedelia, krautrock and gospel into indie pop. 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 produced the album, except for "To Earth with Love", which was produced by Tony Visconti and Mark Frith. Gary Langan handled recording and mixing; Howie Weinberg mastered the album at Masterdisc in New York City.
Critical response
Accolades Publication Country Accolade Year Rank Melody Maker United Kingdom Best Albums of the Year 1999 13th Mojo United Kingdom Best Albums of the Year 1999 28th Select United Kingdom Best Albums of the Year 1999 22nd In 2014, NME 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!" – 5:00 "Oh Jim" – 2:46 "My Son Mystic" – 3:25 "Black Ghost" (Crowe, Jones, Hoyle, Jim Irvin, 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 – horns (track 7) Lynton Naiff – horn arrangement (track 7)
Production Chris Hughes – producer (all tracks except 6) Tony Visconti – producer (track 6) Mark Frith – co-producer Gary Langan – recording, mixing Howie Weinberg – mastering
Design Peter Saville – graphic art Paul Hetherington – graphic art Howard Wakefield – graphic art Paul Barnes – logo concept
References